Mastodawn

Years ago I had a housemate and she told me that every night, a slug would leave a trail on her bedroom mat and this was going on for years. She could never find it or catch it.

She went away for a week or so for work so I poured some salt on her mat.

Next morning I go look and I find the slug stuck in the middle of the mat unable to escape.

Took a photo of it, tossed it out into the garden and vacuumed the mat.

Showed her the photo when she returned and told her what I had done. She was so relieved that the phantom slug had been dealt with.

Sadbutdru Jun 13, 2025

This leads to more questions than answers for me.

Where was the slug coming from, and if it had got onto the mat despite the salt, why couldn’t it go back the same way?

My guess is it got in through the window and was never able to find its way out and probably hid somewhere in her room during the day, coming out at night to uh… feast on… no idea.

It’s probably like a fly, can find its way into houses and things but not get out. It probably found a way onto the mat through the least resistance and then didn’t find a way back out by the time I found it.

Mothra Jun 13, 2025

They’re actually quite resilient especially if weather is humid. They don’t need to eat every night either. I’ve had slugs in houses where there was no visible food left for them, and they stayed. They do like scraping mold and rot off a variety of surfaces, so it’s most likely it survived on whatever was growing or rotting underneath the carpet, or behind a damp wooden skirting or windowsill. Stuff that us humans wouldn’t notice unless went literally looking for it

jballs Jun 13, 2025

Maybe this is a regional specific thing, but if I kept finding a weird streak in my bathroom, I would never in a million years assume a sneaky slug suspect.

This was in her bedroom, and it looked like the regular snail or slug slime trail.

If you had seen it in person, you’d have known.

jballs Jun 13, 2025

Of I misread it was in her bedroom. That’s waaaay worse! I wouldn’t be able to sleep with a rogue slug on the loose.

someguy3 Jun 13, 2025

What’s a bedroom mat?

A small rug I guess, just a square piece of carpet that I couldn’t bring myself to call a rug.

samus12345 Jun 13, 2025

A mat that’s in a bedroom.

usernamefactory Jun 14, 2025

It’s a room with a big mattress you can sleep on - but please, my name’s not Matt.

WhiskyTangoFoxtrot Jun 13, 2025

Decoy slug.

Asafum Jun 13, 2025

“hearty amount of jam”

Annnnnd now I have slugs and ants.

saltnotsugar Jun 13, 2025

Slug diplomat makes agreement with ant diplomat.
Ants carry away salt.
Slugs share jam.
OP unwittingly made bug super alliance.

Knuschberkeks Jun 13, 2025

but what’s in it for the Amts? They do all the work and habe to share their bounty.

saltnotsugar Jun 13, 2025

It’s classic slug politics where they throw their weight around on the international stage.

Initiateofthevoid Jun 13, 2025

This is classic short-sighted ant-centrism. With no slugs in the region, the local supply of salt and jam will collapse. While the slugs do benefit more from the deal, ants should not use that as an excuse to make demands of their allies.

ssɐqɯnᗡ Jun 14, 2025

They now have enough salt to wage war on the slugs, the slugs win will be temporary until the ants weaponize the salt.

idiomaddict Jun 13, 2025

Arachnids can definitely be bugs in my book, but I had never considered mollusks before!

samus12345 Jun 13, 2025

An informal term for minibeasts of all types.

Minibeast - Wikipedia

pdxfed Jun 14, 2025

“minifauna” is going on my list.

someguy3 Jun 13, 2025

Something something scorpion.

anomnom Jun 15, 2025

Put cinnamon around the outer wall and ants will stay out. Not sure what it does to slugs though.

SkaveRat Jun 15, 2025

Great, now half my kitchen cabinet is poured onto the floor

Sadbutdru Jun 13, 2025

The ‘fiery death’ is actually they melt into a surprisingly large amount of very liquidy goo. You don’t want that in your fitted carpet…

ShinkanTrain Jun 13, 2025

They spread a handful of salt on it, we’re past caring about the carpet

Kornblumenratte Jun 13, 2025

Salt is easy to vacuum. An encrustation of a dried salt-mucus-protein mush though - that’s another level!

Kruh Master Jun 13, 2025

Do slugs even like jam? I really don’t feel like doing a web search 😂

Chromebby Jun 13, 2025

Wow I had no idea slugs went into people’s homes like that

idiomaddict Jun 13, 2025

And much like some other superstitions/religious beliefs, we now see the practicality of putting a line of salt across thresholds to your house! The first time I considered food safety in conjunction with a desert people in 4000 bc, I realized the Talmudic prohibition on consuming shellfish and pork was pretty logical.

To be clear, they aren’t all reasonable (for example: black cats and the ban on mixed fiber textiles), but I’m always excited to find another prescientific belief with a scientifically grounded benefit.

juliebean Jun 13, 2025

the ban on mixed fiber textiles was about banning practices common to competing religions in the local area during the bronze age. it makes sense as a way to increase group identity. you can easily see the same thing today, whenever Group A has an enemy, Group B, and vilifies things they see as emblematic of Group B, even if they’re objectively pretty neutral.

idiomaddict Jun 13, 2025

In that vein, any dietary restrictions that those around you don’t have, have a logical basis of furthering your in group cohesion and distancing yourself from your neighbors, just because sharing meals with people generally deepens relationships (or honestly, any restrictions of any type that differ from those around you serve to other you from them, thereby driving you together as a group). That is a scientifically substantiated benefit, but it’s not quite what I was getting at, because it’s not inherent to the rule itself, but rather how it applied in that specific context.

That said, I didn’t realize that about the textiles and it’s super interesting!

zarkanian Jun 13, 2025

Yes, they fucking do, and it’s annoying as hell. Also, super gross when you step on one barefoot in the middle of the night.

oni ᓚᘏᗢ Jun 13, 2025

in which kind of regions? Stealth slugs are new to me

fakeman_pretendname Jun 13, 2025

Much of Britain, certainly.

They can get through a gap of 1-2mm (about 1/32 - 1/16 inches) through cracks round door frames, along the holes for water pipes, in tiny cracks between bricks or concrete.

They have an amazing sense of smell and are especially fond of cat food or that tiny bit of lettuce that fell underneath the fridge.

zarkanian Jun 13, 2025

in which kind of regions?

Wet ones. Maybe slugs stay out of your home if the humidity is low? I wonder if a dehumidifier could be a slug repellant.

squaresinger Jun 14, 2025

Only if you take the deal.

Pistcow Jun 13, 2025

Sounds like he’s immortal.

madjo Jun 13, 2025

Tower Defence in real life.

Holy shit. What a throw back. That was one of my mates at university who did that, the exact post. It must be about 15 years old

webghost0101 Jun 13, 2025

So what you’re saying is you are able to update us with the results?

SaharaMaleikuhm Jun 13, 2025

I expect the maze to be massive, spanning the entire house by now. Anything else and I would be incredibly disappointed.

Only one update was given on Facebook lemmy.world/…/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a…

I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don’t remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.

webghost0101 Jun 13, 2025

Thanks for the reply!

jaupsinluggies Jun 14, 2025

I once got rid of ants by leaving a small pile of sugar out for them.

I like to think the ants that found it took it back to the nest and said “hey guys look what we found!” then got “don’t be so stupid! humans never do that! It’s obviously a trap, don’t ever go back there”

Tautvydaxx Jun 13, 2025

Hello nice to meet you, now that we know each other I will post that I know the friend of a guy who posted this photo, thank you.

Javi Jun 13, 2025

You think that’s impressive? I’ve responded to a comment from someone who spoke to the friend of the guy that posted this video.

AlecSadler Jun 13, 2025

Did he awaken to a scattered graveyard of slugs or did one actually make it?

Only one update was given on Facebook lemmy.world/…/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a…

I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don’t remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.

Signtist Jun 13, 2025

Did the slugs just use the sides of the door frame to skip over the edges of the maze?

samus12345 Jun 13, 2025

Serious, who doesn’t realize slugs can climb up walls?

Only one update was given on Facebook lemmy.world/…/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a…

I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don’t remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.

JohnnyCanuck Jun 13, 2025

So what happened!?

Only one update was given on Facebook lemmy.world/…/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a…

I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don’t remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.

Fedizen Jun 13, 2025

Well then what happened? Did one complete the gauntlet?

Only one update was given on Facebook lemmy.world/…/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a…

I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don’t remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.

𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘 Jun 14, 2025

Your mate is hilarious!

xttweaponttx Jun 14, 2025

You’re a flipping legend for posting the update! Cheers!!

DasAlbatross Jun 13, 2025

Sam and Dean Winchester approve