Wildlife
There are are a number of natural enemies of slugs and snails that should be encouraged into the garden to help keep pest numbers down. Some of these will also help control other types of pests too.
Click here for the slug summary table.
Hedgehogs
Slugs make up a small part of a hedgehogs diet and for this reason they should be encouraged into the garden. Research has shown that if used in accordance with manufacturers instructions metaldehyde pellets like Bio Slug & Snail Killer pose little risk to healthy hedgehogs*.
To encourage hedgehogs provide plenty of hiding & nesting places like log piles and dense shrubbery. Ensure ponds have shallow sloping slides so any wildlife that falls in can escape easily. Feeding hedgehogs can encourage them to stay in the area but use proprietary hedgehog food or tinned cat food.
*The study is an officially approved monitoring test of the German Federal Biological Institution at Munster (BBA Munster, Germany) and took place in 1996.
Although they prefer worms
Hedgehogs will sometimes eat
slugs too
Birds
Some birds such as thrushes and blackbirds will eat slugs and snails. To encourage them into your garden provide water, food and nesting sites. Dense shrubbery is important for birds to escape into away from predators. If you have a cat put a bell round its neck and ensure feeding sites etc are out of reach e.g. tall bird tables. Find out more about bird safety.
Adult Blackbird
Frogs & toads
Also snack on slugs. Creating a wildlife pond is a sure way to encourage amphibians into your garden.
Toads are useful slug
predators and a sign of a
healthy garden ecology.