# Slugs



## GRIMBEE (Apr 3, 2007)

C'mon keepers I really wanted a answer on this.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

I am not sure really but this year, I have had a real problem with them.


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## hummingberd (Aug 26, 2006)

ok, me too. I'm not kidding! I just figured I wasn't keeping my grass trimmed enough. I hope that they aren't doing anything naughty. Hope someone who maybe knows what's going on will give us an answer!


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## JohnBeeMan (Feb 24, 2004)

A pat of butter and a litlte white wine and 400 deg oven will get rid of all of them(Escargo).


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## d.asly (Apr 28, 2008)

*slugs*

I was in Washington D.C. a few months ago and 
found a certain hill covered in a few hundred (540 to be exact) slimy slugs.


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## gingerbee (Jul 22, 2006)

Hummingberd,

I'm not kidding either! Slugs are a serious problem if not checked- do you want all that in your honey? Luckily they're not that bad here, but the idea of keeping the grass trimmed makes sense, probably the best method.

I've seen them around my beeyard too, wondered about this myself. They leave a slimy trail when they're about at night, not hard to follow. They're usually gone by dawn, aren't like us humans, don't like the light of day. Must be guy slugs, hoping for a rendevous with my girls. Table salt does wonders if they reallly become a problem, but I guess any kind of salt will probably work? 

Any ideas about roaches? They get in the woodwork and are about as disgusting. I don't want to use chemicals, am trying to stay organic.


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## Ted n Ms (Apr 25, 2008)

*slugs*

I put a good amuont of salt around my hives no grass, no slugs. Salt is cheap.


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## Dr.Wax (Apr 30, 2008)

I am not aware of slugs causing any problems for bees. 

Not every creature seen near your hives is a pest, in fact the vast majority are perfectly harmless.


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## okb (Apr 16, 2007)

Ive seen them around some of mine after the rain. There is no grass around my hives and they are off the ground so I used slug bait on the ground but not directly in front of the hives and that got rid of em. 

P.S. Escargo is just nasty IMHO.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

A shallow bowl of beer left out over night and the snails will be drowned in it the next morning!


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## Dr.Wax (Apr 30, 2008)

Slugs are perfectly harmless to bees of course.

Humans on the other hand..

But go ahead, hose it down with DDT.
Knock yourself out.


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

RayMarler said:


> A shallow bowl of beer left out over night and the snails will be drowned in it the next morning!


Ray, You got that right....but don't waste good beer! If you don't have any stale beer, buy the cheapest you can find. Slugs love beer!

Shallow dish with beer in it...so they can slime their way into the dish and drink themselves to death!


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## GRIMBEE (Apr 3, 2007)

Beer is a good idea. I'll be doing the bowl of beer, its not just the bees but my garden also. good solution


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## Ted n Ms (Apr 25, 2008)

*slugs*

Ever poured salt on a slug....he melts. Thats why i think salt works to kill grass and keeps slugs at bay.


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## hummingberd (Aug 26, 2006)

Well, if the slugs aren't hurting anything, why kill em? They must provide something important to the ecosystem. Of course, I'm just a crazy hippie-in-training.


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## IndianaHoney (Jun 5, 2006)

I'm with hummingberd. Why would you kill them? They don't get in the hives, they'd never get past the entrance even if they tried. If the bees are ignoring them, its because they're not a pest.

As for the roaches, the only solution is chemicals. But even they do not get into the hives, they just like the dark area between the outer and inner covers. They are nasty looking, but they don't get anywhere near the nasty that comes with the common house ****roach. Makes me want to loose my dinner thinking about it.

What I find more of a problem is those black funnel type spiders that like to use my inner covers as hunting ground. I have popped my outer cover many times only to find a big fat black spider with a bee in its mouth. No matter how many I smash, it seems that three or four are ready to take their place. I killed one a few days ago that was as big as my thumb, I even caught it killing one of bees. Made me made enough to go a spider killing spree at each and every hive that I visited that day. Even though in reality, they don't kill enough bees to make a difference.


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## GRIMBEE (Apr 3, 2007)

OK you don't want me to kill the slugs, but its ok to kill spiders


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Pour a small amount of beer into a shallow container. 
The snails and or slugs die in the beer and the bees are not bothered.
I have seen dead out where the comb is covered in slime.
Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries


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## Dr.Wax (Apr 30, 2008)

> I have seen dead out where the comb is covered in slime.


I would not be surprised if slugs got in there after the bees moved out but I have never heard of slugs invading an active bee hive.


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## Scott J. (Feb 6, 2007)

"I would not be surprised if slugs got in there after the bees moved out but I have never heard of slugs invading an active bee hive."

I have seen and evicted more slugs this last spring then I ever have. Now that it has warmed up and dried out, I have not seen any in the hives. For the most part I don't think they do any harm. So I don't kill them. I have tried in years past to get of slugs in my garden and flower beds with various treatments. Several years ago I stopped trying to kill them. I figured all the stuff I was pouring on the ground probably was not good either. The beer in the bowl does work, but isn't that considered alcohol abuse?


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## IndianaHoney (Jun 5, 2006)

GRIMBEE said:


> OK you don't want me to kill the slugs, but its ok to kill spiders


Spiders kill bees, slugs do not. I don't care if you kill them, just wondering why you would bother. Seems like it would make more of a mess on you BB by killing them, than if you just let them leave on their own. Most of the time I don't even bother killing the spiders, not worth the time. But when I see a hive that has 10 spiders in the inner cover, I kill them. Does it really make a difference, probably not.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

diatomatous earth on the ground does a good job keeping slugs away.

Dan


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## okb (Apr 16, 2007)

IndianaHoney said:


> Spiders kill bees, slugs do not. I don't care if you kill them, just wondering why you would bother. Seems like it would make more of a mess on you BB by killing them, than if you just let them leave on their own. Most of the time I don't even bother killing the spiders, not worth the time. But when I see a hive that has 10 spiders in the inner cover, I kill them. Does it really make a difference, probably not.



Makes my pollen traps harder to clean when they slime it.
They usually die before making it to the traps when they are killed.


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