Wildlife incursion - not for the faint hearted

[Laura Corin]

We have an old-fashioned larder in our 18th century house that is not fully sealed from the outside. We hope to renovate very soon. In the meantime, we set a mouse trap and ignore the slugs.

This morning when I checked the trap - a spine, a tail and a puddle of mouse goo mixed with slug trails. Slugs doing what slugs do.

On a lighter note,  I rescued a baby frog from our kitchen and put him under a plant near our pond. He probably came through the door which we leave open for our old dog to come and go. This is our first pond year and we are enjoying it so much.

Eta - butterflies feeding on fallen apples in the garden.  The video seems to show via Chrome on my phone but not Firefox on my computer.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Laura Corin

[freesia]

You are made of stronger stuff than I! I guess this is an illustration of the British saying—Needs must. 😃

[Harriet Vane]

We lived previously in a fixer-upper that is 125 years old and yeah, wildlife incursion happens. Usually I “encouraged” dh to handle it. 

[MercyA]

Yay for baby frog rescue. 🐸

[Carrie12345]

I can somewhat cope with a dead mouse, but not THAT dead!

Toads love our garage for some reason. Thank goodness my kids are toad kids, because I am not.

[kbutton]

I didn’t realize slugs could do that to a mouse (vs. to plant matter—not well-versed on slugs, I guess!). I’m not sure I want to know how many slugs are required for the job in your pantry, lol! 

[Laura Corin]

24 minutes ago, kbutton said:

I didn’t realize slugs could do that to a mouse (vs. to plant matter—not well-versed on slugs, I guess!). I’m not sure I want to know how many slugs are required for the job in your pantry, lol! 

I didn't witness it, but they are biggish - maybe three inches long?  They are too light to trip the trap, so they often eat the peanut butter before a mouse can get to it.

[Starr]

We had an old house built in 1850 that came with many kinds of incursions over the years 🤣. It was enrichment for the cats and a pain for the people. Once i thought I was pulling a black sock out of the water by the sump pump near the washer and it was a vole! 

[kbutton]

7 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

I didn't witness it, but they are biggish - maybe three inches long?  They are too light to trip the trap, so they often eat the peanut butter before a mouse can get to it.

Oh, wow! The slugs I know about are tiny. 

[prairiewindmomma]

We set out shallow dishes (usually old pie tins or takeaway cartons) with old beer for the slugs. Anything yeasty smelling for a beverage works. Check the trap daily. We usually have a bountiful harvest this time of year.

[Melissa in Australia]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We set out shallow dishes (usually old pie tins or takeaway cartons) with old beer for the slugs. Anything yeasty smelling for a beverage works. Check the trap daily. We usually have a bountiful harvest this time of year.

This works really well for the garden slug variaty. We do the same, from my personal experience the really big 3 inch long or longer ones are carnivorous and not attracted to beer or vegetables. But that might be just a type we have here