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Slug fence

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I wouldnt fancy the job of collecting lion, wolf and bobcat pee, do they use a funnel?
 
Especially if paid peenuts:)

hi,
Guess you have tried some of these methods.? **broken link removed**

During a warm damp evening when slugs and snails seem to like to come out, a pinch of household salt on any slugs you can find, gets the job done.

E
 
Thanks for all suggestions so far, please see POST #1, I have edited it to save plowing through all the thread, hope it helps.

Cheers, Camerart.
 
Hi All,

Well the Slug fence was successful! One problem was that the copper soon got tarnished, even though most mornings I'd use a toothbrush for bodies, and soil that was on the track. Next time I would have a vertical wall with the track on the outer side, and perhaps, if I can find some scrap stainless steel, this might be better. Also make it an inverted L so that the rain stays off it. As for the complicated circuit I was looking for, the simple 12V battery with little solar panel, was maintenance free all summer, and even though many slugs etc must have turned back, some got halfway across before the slime cleaned the track enough for some current, then it was too late.

Hope this is of interest, Cheers, Camerart.
 
Good to see it worked, often the simplest means are the most effective.
 
That looks more practical, stainless wire is cheaper than chunks of copper, you can get stainless welding wire off a freindly fabricator.
I have told a couple of people about this since you first posted a couple of years back, I dont know if they actually implemented it or not.
If you want to reduce max current just put more bulbs in series.
 
C ..Slugs.. ( and snails) , love damp places to hide during the day like slabs , and old planks unfortunately inside your wooden raised bed is ideal , I found giving the blighters some other easy food works well ,soak a patch of soil, place on some potato peelings or veg waste and cover with a black seed tray and a brick , that will be irresistible just go out late at night and dispose of them...
 
With the copper track, I could test it when passing by shorting the wires, but with the app 1mm S/S the bulb only lights about 1/2 way round. Perhaps if I had one wire going one way and the other visa versa, it would light. I think welding wire might be even thinner, so I'm not sure what would happen.

I monitor for slugs that have been 'locked in' or hatching out, especially early on, and have some damp stuff to attract them. Needs less checking as time goes by, apart from when leaves hang over the boundary.

C. Note: Post #1 updated.
 
Hi,
If anyone is sti looking at this thread:
The stainless steel wire needed small kinks to make it spring enough to accommodate wet expanding wood, that i used for the fence (Skirting board size), but it still failed occasionally.
This year I've discovered electric fence wire. It's nylon? string with stainless steel threads woven into it, so naturally strong and springy.
C.
 
Yes thats been around for a long time, crafty of you to think of using it though.
You can get stainless 'rope' too, I used the inverted comma's there as the stuff I was thinking of is only 2mm dai, and certainly strong enough for the job.
 
Hi,
Last two times, I used to have a battery, with solar panel, and two separate tracks of wire. This time I wound one wire twice round the 'fence' (2 x 3 Mtr) total 10 Mtr, and use a smal 12v low power transformer with a small bulb in series as indicator and short circuit protection. I think it would still work if the 'fence' was much bigger.
C.
 
I dont want to sound like a rights activist here, however if you pulsed the system on for a second, then off for a 3 or 4 seconds you'd give the little critters chance to get the heck off the fence.
Are you using ac or dc?
My mrs wants me to do something like this, however since we moved a couple years back slugs are not much of a problem, though we still get snails.
I'd use a led and shunt resistor instead of the bulb.
I've never built an electric fence for wildlife, but I dud build one for people, it never got used, except for me touching it by accident, I think I invented a couple of new swearwords that day.
 
Hi Doc,
My intention was not to hurt them, just to turn them back, which it does, with no harm done. I have slow-worms also that eat the eggs. Actually when I had horizontal copper tracks, that was dangerous to them, as they would get halfway accross, clean the tracks, then get frazzled.
C.
 
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