Snails and slugs are both pests that can cause a lot of damage to plants in gardens. A simple homemade trap can reduce their numbers and make your garden more enjoyable to be in.
Homemade snail traps can be made with a range of materials and are easy to make. They can be a great way to deal with an influx of snails in your garden and they can also save you money.
One of the most popular snail traps is a beer or yeast trap that is buried in a garden and filled with beer or diluted beer solution. This trap is most effective in attracting and catching snails within a small area, so it can be a good quick-fix to get rid of the problem.
Another way to make a snail trap is to use a large plastic bottle and create a ramp for the slugs or snails to climb. You can do this by cutting a pair of 4-6cm square holes in the bottle, facing each other and folding the flaps downwards and outwards. Then bury the bottle upright in your vegetable patch, with the soil level coming up to a centimetre or so below the flaps.
You can use a variety of food to attract the snails or slugs into this trap, including kitchen scraps and even melon peel with some fruit leftovers inside. If you don’t have any kitchen scraps, you can use breadcrumbs or cereal grains that are similar to those a slug or snail might be used to eating.
The best bait for a trap is something that a slug or snail will be interested in, so it’s important to keep experimenting until you find the most effective. If you’re just starting out, it’s worth trying a few different baits to see what works for your specific garden.
Once you’ve found a bait that is effective, it’s time to set up your trap and wait for the snails to arrive. It’s a good idea to bury the trap in a place that you have already seen lots of snails, so they will be more likely to go there when they come out.
There are many different types of snail traps available on the market, ranging from live traps to poison traps. These traps all aim to attract slugs and snails with a scent or an attractive shelter and then kill them once they’ve arrived.
Poison traps use a noxious substance to kill the slug or snail once it’s inside. They are often more effective at reducing the population than other kinds of traps, but they can be dangerous if used incorrectly.
If you’re using a slug or snail trap that uses a poison, it’s important to dispose of the trap and dead snails properly, so you don’t end up with an unintentional pet killing. It’s also important to reset the trap regularly so that you can continue to catch the slugs or snails that are still living there.