How to Get Rid of Slugs in the Bathroom? (Doing This Works!)

Nobody wants to see slimy slug trails running up their shower walls, but if you recently did, you’re probably wondering how to get rid of slugs in the bathroom. It’s certainly not their natural habitat, so why are they even there?

To get rid of slugs in the bathroom, keep your drains and your entire bathroom as clean as possible. Consistently pour vinegar or bleach down your drain to kill any slugs lingering. There is no one-time fix. You have to be consistent. 

Getting rid of slugs is not as difficult or laborious as you might think, it’s actually quite easy and we describe and discuss it precisely in this article. You might be surprised how much you learn in the next five minutes.

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Slug Problems in Your House

It’s unnerving to wake up to slime trails all over your walls or even a few snails sitting in your shower. So let’s discuss why they love the shower so much and how to repel them.

Why Are There Slugs in My Shower?

Snails are attracted to moisture and shelter from predators. This makes your shower the perfect spot. Although it is not a pleasant sight to see, most times it is not a cause for concern. 

A snail won’t move into your shower for no reason. Most times they are seeking moisture and shelter.

Snails might be cute when they are outside in your garden, but people don’t want to see a couple of snails with a slimy trail sharing a shower with them.

Can Slugs Get Through Drains?

Slugs love our drains due to the abundance of moisture, little disturbance, and darkness it offers. As a result, they are very capable of finding holes in pipes and maneuvering through your drains.

Technically, slugs should not be able to even get into a drain, but sometimes there is a broken pipe where they squeeze in.

They are also nocturnal animals, which means you probably won’t see them moving around during the day.

How Do You Stop Slugs From Going to the Bathroom?

To stop slugs from entering your bathroom, you need to keep it clean and disinfected, especially your drains, shower, bath, and sink. Slugs are attracted to moisture, and typically a bathroom has a lot of moisture. 

You can disinfect your bathroom with bleach or vinegar. We recommend using vinegar as bleach since it is a highly harsh chemical that can ruin your plastic fittings.

However, vinegar is a great natural disinfectant cleaning product.

How Do I Get Rid of Slugs in My Drain?

There are a few ways to get rid of slugs that might be lingering in your drain. The easiest is pouring a generous amount of vinegar down your drain. This will dehydrate and kill any snails that are currently in your drain.

You can also sprinkle baking soda in your drain, the slugs will eat it and eventually die.

It would also be a good idea to contact a plumber to check your pipes for holes or damage where the slugs are slipping through.

How Do You Stop Slugs From Coming Into the Shower?

Keep your drains (and your entire bathroom) as clean as possible. Consistently pour vinegar or bleach down your drain to kill any slugs lingering. There is no one-time fix. You have to be consistent. 

Slugs do not like rosemary or lavender, so keep these herbs as natural repellents in your bathroom, or simply use Sluggo, which is pet safe.

You can sprinkle this in and around your drains, and on your window sill.

Is It Okay to Flush a Slug Down the Toilet?

You can flush a slug down the toilet if it is dead. Slugs absorb moisture so if you try to flush a living slug, it might not flush or they might just come right back. To kill a slug you can squash it.

If that is not something that you want to do, you could fill a container with soapy water and throw your slugs in the container.

The water will kill them and then you will be able to flush them down the toilet. 

Deterrents

There are natural and chemical deterrents for slugs and snails, we discuss both and how effective each is.

What Deters Slugs?

There are a few natural slug detergents, the most common being salt. Slugs contain about 80% moisture, so sprinkling salt on a slug will cause them to dehydrate. You could also sprinkle salt at their entry point to deter slugs.

If you’re not keen on using salt, you could use Sluggo which is designed to bait slugs and snails and poison them. It’s also safe for pets to accidentally ingest.

Alternatively, you could use beer to attract the slugs and trap them to set them free far away from your home.

What Do Slugs Hate?

Rosemary, anise, and wormwood are the most effective natural slug and snail repellents. Surprisingly, slugs don’t love to eat all plants and herbs. There actually are a few herbs that they stay clear of. 

They also do not like salt, as it naturally dehydrates almost anything and slugs love moisture. Slugs hate fresh ground coffee beans, it turns out they don’t like the caffeine.

You can spread salt or ground coffee beans around areas where you don’t want slugs.

Will Epsom Salt Keep Slugs Away?

Epsom salt will work just as well as table salt to keep slugs away, as it is a natural insecticide. In addition, the salt will dehydrate the slugs and eventually kill them, as slugs rely on moisture to survive.

Slugs leave a slimy trail, so you can trace them back to the entry point if you see these in your bathroom.

Sprinkle Epsom salt around the entry point at night because slugs are nocturnal, and you should have no slugs in your bathroom the next day.

What Happens to Slugs With Salt?

When salt comes in contact with a slug, osmosis occurs. Osmosis is when the water is drawn out of the skin of a slug, causing dehydration and eventually death. 

Slugs usually die within minutes of dehydration, so it is an effective way to get rid of slugs, although some might call it cruel.

According to Dr. Gordon Port, we don’t know if they experience pain while being dehydrated.

You might also enjoy our post on If You Can Vacuum a Cockroach

How Do You Get Rid of Slugs Permanently?

There is no permanent solution to get rid of slugs, but an excellent control method is to employ their natural predators, like birds, outside your house at their entry points into your house (or plants).

You can set up a bird feeder to attract birds, or you could simply pour bleach or vinegar down your drain once a week with hot water to kill any slugs that might be lingering.

If all else fails you should contact a local exterminator to take care of your slug infestation.

Can You Spray for Slugs?

You can make a homemade slug repellent spray with diluted vinegar and water or just with undiluted vinegar. If you use this spray at their entry points, it will repel any slugs from entering.

However, refrain from spraying it directly on the slugs if you don’t want to kill them. Vinegar dehydrates their skin, similar to salt, and then dissolves their body.

It causes a big mess which is also unpleasant to clean up.

Do Slugs Like Vinegar?

Slugs do not like vinegar at all. It dehydrates their skin and dissolves their bodies. So it can be a perfect pesticide to repel them from your indoor plants or just keep them out of your house. 

You could trace the slimy trail of a slug to identify their entry point and pour some vinegar in and around their entry point.

Another option is to pour vinegar into a spray bottle and spray it directly onto their body. Just note that it will be quite messy to clean up.

What Happens When You Put Vinegar on a Slug?

When you pour or spray vinegar on a slug, it will dehydrate and die within minutes due to osmosis. Their bodies will also dissolve into a slimy, mucus puddle, which is usually difficult to clean up.

Distilled vinegar is acidic, which means that it will eat through the mucus layer on the outside of the slug’s body, and eventually, it will start to dissolve the body itself.

Remember to never spray vinegar on a slug that is on a plant since the vinegar could kill the plant.

Permanent Fixes

If you consistently find snails and slugs in your house, or evidence that they’ve visited you through the night, it’s alarming.

So let’s discuss how to get rid of these not-so-welcome friends.

How Do You Permanently Get Rid of Slugs?

There is no simple one-time solution to get rid of slugs. However, there are easy steps to minimize the number of slugs in and around your house. The best is to keep your bathroom and kitchen drains exceptionally clean.

Slugs like the moisture and darkness that drains offer so you should regularly pour bleach or vinegar down your drains to kill any slugs.

You could also install a bird feeder outside your house as they are natural predators of slugs and probably will reduce the slug population.

What Kills Slugs Naturally?

Salt is the most common and easiest method to kill a slug without using chemicals or pesticides. Simply sprinkling a few salt granules onto the slug should be enough to dehydrate and kill the snail.

Alternatively, you could use diluted or undiluted distilled vinegar and spray it directly onto the body of the slugs.

Their bodies will dehydrate within a few minutes and start to dissolve. Although be careful not to spray vinegar on plants, as it can kill your plants too.

What Liquid Kills Slugs?

Vinegar is the best liquid to kill slugs. However, there are other liquids that you can use as bait, like beer. The snails are attracted to the beer and climb into it but eventually can’t get out and drowns.

Vinegar is the best natural method to kill slugs fast. This is due to the liquid dehydrating the skin of a slug, through osmosis, which usually kills the slug.

Usually, the vinegar will also start to dissolve the slug’s body.

How Do You Make Homemade Snail Killer?

The easiest homemade snail killer is pouring distilled white vinegar into a spray bottle and spraying it directly onto any snails that you see.  Just don’t spray vinegar on the snail inside your house. The snail’s body will dissolve.

If you don’t have white vinegar available, another option is to mix garlic or coffee ground beans with water and spray it around your house.

Snails don’t like caffeine or garlic and will go out of their way to avoid these smells.

Is There a Spray That Kills Slugs?

Vinegar is the best repellent spray that we would recommend as it is safe to use indoors or outdoors. It is also a natural product, so there are no chemicals that could be toxic to your family or pets.

A vinegar spray will kill snails quickly, but be sure to do it outside or on the patio, as it will cause the snail’s body to dissolve.

Also, it would be easier to spray it off the patio with a house than to try and clean it off your floor in the house.

Related Questions

Can Slug Slime Make You Sick?

Sometimes slug slime carries parasites, so accidentally ingesting it or touching it could cause an infection. Yet, garden slugs are typically not toxic, so there is no need to panic if you encounter slug slime.

Direct handling of snails and slugs is not advised, as the parasites, called rat lungworms, could cause severe headaches and stiffness of the neck.

This is not common though and not something to worry too much about.

How Do You Remove Slug Slime From Walls?

Using vInegar is the easiest method to remove slug slime from your walls. It also cleans your walls at the same time, win-win! First, you should dilute the vinegar with warm water by one part vinegar to 5 parts warm water.

If the slime is not coming off the wall you can increase the amount of vinegar you use to make the solution stronger. This is a great option, not only to clean slime off walls but also floors or any other surfaces.

Are Slugs Harmful?

Slugs are not harmful, toxic, or poisonous to people, but they are unpleasant to have in your house and they do cause damage to your garden. This is why people try to get rid of slugs through repellants like vinegar.

Slugs can be carriers for specific diseases and parasites such as rat lungworms and in a few cases, they can be dangerous to other animals and humans.

Although this is very rare and not something to be concerned about.

Where Do Slugs Come From at Night?

Slugs are nocturnal creatures, meaning they come out to eat at night and sleep during the day. They retreat to a dark, moist, and undisturbed environment during the daytime, like our drains and pipes.

Here is a list of some of the clever hiding spots that slugs retreat to during the day:

1. Under logs
2. Under stones
3. Underground
4. Drains
5. Pipes
6. Under planters
7. Under low patios/decks

Final Thoughts

You might have a love-hate relationship with the slugs in your home, i.e. they seem to love you and you hate them.

We hope that this article has eased your worries and has equipped you with all the methods and products to deter those slimy friends.