I noticed the vile little creatures as I was coming down the stairs. There were a dozen of them on the plastic threshold just inside the front door. I scraped them up and dumped them in the garden. They were about 10mm to 30mm long and alive (wriggling). Quite disgusting, since I am squeamish about such things.
So what could I do to prevent them in future? I assume they're attracted to the warmth of the house.
MM
Baby Slugs. Salt or Slug Pellets. I have yet to find a gun to that the pellets. Baz
Tell your fan club only to contact you via email, home visits are a no-no
?????
Your hallway is never heated:-)
How wide were the worms?
I've sprinkled salt along the brass channel in the threshold. Let's see if the buggers dare to cross that. There were two more this morning, and that's when I decided on the salt.
MM
Nevertheless, it's 13 degrees wamer than outside.
Wide? You mean long, surely? They vary from about 10mm to 30mm. Little wriggly things. I expect that Dirk Diggler chappie from The One Show would get all starry-eyed over them, but I just find slugs and snails utterly repellent.
MM
It will corrode the brass fairly rapidly if damp. You would do much better with a few slug pellets.
Placed in the brass channel instead of the salt? How big are these pellets?
MM
Wriggly doesn't sound like slugs anyway. Photo?
Andy
No, I asked about the width of them.
Diameter.
It was the other poster who said they were baby slugs. They definitely wriggle when I'm brushing them on to my dustpan whence they are thrown on to the lawn. The underside -- though I don't look too close since I find them so repellent -- looks silvery, but the body is jet black.
*IF* another manages to get past my barriers of salt, slug pellets and the nuclear attack helicopters, I'll try to stop my gorge rising long enough to take a closer look ;)It's a pain being squeamish, but I always have been. Funny, though, I don't mind spiders, beetles, wasps, bees etc. I'm always helping spiders and daddy-long-legs out of the bath by coaxing them on to a towel.
MM
2mm
MM
Maybe not but a generic molluscicide like metaldehyde will also kill most other things that consume it. That is why they make the pellets blue so that birds don't notice them. Any non specific insecticide would probably see them off quickly too.
Salt will kill them but it will ruin the brasswork in the process.
The OP could perhaps ask someone else to take a macro photo of the things and then we might stand a chance of ID.
There were one or two lined up in front of the door (outside) when I came out this morning, but they were tiny. Maybe some more will approach in the next few days. I was right, though, about the silvery underside.
MM
Silverfish? I don't know if you want to google for pictures of them or not...
Can be a right PITA to get rid of.
Andy
or millipedes.
That sounds like millipedes. Have they got legs ?
Rob
I've only ever seen them indoors, not outdoors and trying to get in - although I suppose they have to come from *somewhere* :-)
No! Silverfish are tiny and are, er, kinda fish-shaped. These look like little black worms.
MM
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