Who says owning an old Volvo is expensive?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

David. I'm just wondering. Do you perhaps, maybe, dislike slugs and snails. ???



P.S. Where is the surely mandatory for you, photograph of the feeding device you specify?


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Not especially, they provide food for the hedgehogs (albeit only a little) and also the frogs that are resident in my garden. They also provide extra food for the birds. The flame thrower was perhaps alittle OTT but was intended as "fighting fire with fire" or using the monopeds own defences against them, to prevent them stealing the hedgers food.

Bit more difficult keeping wasps away but they tend to be daytime creatures so not usually a problem.

As for the photo, it's a normal side plate about 6" diameter - do you really want to see a photo?

[canis]

Never found copper particularly effective in my slug experiments. In particular, a ring made from the copper cores of electrical cable didn't contain any of the three slugs I put within permanently.

One of the slugs, after righting himself from his curled up position, looked around and noticed a loop where the cables were joined to form the ring. Seeing this was a means of escape, albeit smaller than himself, he made directly towards it and slithered/squeezed himself through with ease.

One of the slugs made his way slowly around the perimeter recoiling from the occasional touch. At the sight of this, I began to see there could be some truth to the copper theory.

The credulance was abruptly destroyed when the third of the slugs aimed directly at the nearest edge to the copper ring, climbed it and roamed the garden table.

Perplexed, I continued watching. The first had made good his escape. The second had decided he'd no option but to climb out. He didn't enjoy the experience, but still managed it. The third decided to mock me entirely by returning from his circuit of the garden table and climb back into the copper ring, just to drive the point home.

To date, I've not found any way of containing a slug that isn't cruel. I hate slugs but still don't particularly want to hurt them. Not only can they see, but they can see well. They can make plans, and effect them. They're strategic little buggers. People say cockroaches would survive best post-apocalyse, but my money is on slugs. My experiments have shown me they're intelligent and remarkably tenacious. They're truly disgusting, but brilliant survivors and nowhere near as vulnerable as people make out.

[Laird Scooby]

I haven't tried copper myself but i understand it works best when there are two pieces close together (but not touching) so the slugs bodily fluids/slime form the electrolyte in a small battery between the two pieces which then become anode and cathode respectively.

This is what gives the slugs the shock - a bit like a bird sitting on HV electric cables between pylons - they're on one phase of the 33kV lines transmitting the power to the sub-stations before it gets to our wall socket at 240V so with no earth or another phase for them to have a potential difference, they're not effected.

[aardvarkash10]

from the economics and practicality of driving older vehicles to slug repellant chemistry.

This thread is still on track then.... ;-)

[Stephen Edwin]

Well yes I need a photograph David. I am learning as best I can and I can read most pictures thank you. But I already know what a plate looks like thank you. As you have not actually used a copper based feeding device you cannot provide a photograph unless you find and image on the interweb?

I am in hope you are wrong and are that your local hedgehogs are NOT eating slugs. That .co.uk link if I remember correctly means that is an actually BAD diet for them. EEK. Likewise slugs are not here to be food for hedgehogs for the same reason. EEK.

Canis thank you. Although I'm not sure how you managed to watch. I suspect the two pieces of copper close together would be even more devastating. EEK.

Humans do kill other life. Sometimes horribly. And today let us remember humans kill other humans. Sometimes horribly. And what good has ever come out of that ???

11am was marked here today by prolonged ships sirens.



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[canis]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

Although I'm not sure how you managed to watch.

Haha! Know thine enemy. Think of the lives I could save if I could only persuade them they're free to roam the earth, just stay out of this bit. I could tolerate even a few, and in my madcap thoughts have even allowed them the use of the compost heap. No slug has been "removed" from that area for over a year. In the meantime, the rule of "Don't be a slug" shall remain strictly enforced for the time-being.

Unfortunately, that does mean being contained in a jam jar. I used to flush 'em down the toilet, and that's an effective removal technique, but that was in my old house where there was no garden and the toilet was geographically convenient. Yes, urban slugs are a reality. Glass jars are convenient. Maybe one day I'll find the time to relocate one in nature before it putrifies into it's own disgusting filthy slimey mess and get thrown into the dustbin.

Two strips of copper isn't a bad idea, and I have wondered about that myself occasionally. I've also considered using two different metals (copper and cadmium? Inconel, maybe? Think thermocouples) to produce a small electrical potential. Must admit, I've been looking at an old fly-trap device (the kind you used to see in butcher's shops) and considering some modification, hehe. But the real intention is to find some way to contain them, coraled safely and harmlessly, and returned to the wild somewhere far away. Because, among their many and diverse survival skills, I think they're very good mental cartographers. They know their way home.

I absolutely hate slugs, and yet I have this perverse admiration for them. They truly revolt me to the point of heaving. Putting poisons or chemicals down doesn't suit my ethics. Neither does any of the above and I need a solution.

Off topic by about a mile. Can't even remember what the thread was about, now! I shall stop rambling about my bizarre slug experiences and return you to our regular programming.

[albertsmith]

Myself and my husband, we have always had old cars.
Im 51 and Ive never owned a brand new car, they have always been over 5 years old. The volvo 940 we are having a few problems now and my mx5 mk2 had an emissions problem in the last mot and is due for new rear arches due to rust starting in the seams on the underside, but its still cheap motoring for us, insurance and tax wise.

But its pennies repairing small problems with older cars. Most young people dont want to learn about repairing a car so they fork out £250 a month or more taking five-six years paying for their new car while at the same time not being able to replace a bulb and again they pay out for that to be done.

Why pay £250 a month when something like our cars the part can be sourced easily through ebay, and other parts shops, my mx5 through cbs autos in burnley and autolink and ebay. Modern cars I really dont like as they all look exactly the same and you cant even take the headlights out on some!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by albertsmith

Most young people dont want to learn about repairing a car so they fork out £250 a month or more taking five-six years paying for their new car while at the same time not being able to replace a bulb and again they pay out for that to be done.

I blame anti-social media for this - most young people are so obsessed with how they look and taking selfies, they daren't get messed up changing a bulb or god forbid, the engine oil and filter.

I'm a similar age to you and if i'd taken a roll of film into the chemists to be developed and it contained 24 shots of me and obviously taken by me, the chemist would have taken me aside and quietly explained i was using the camera the wrong way round!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by canis

Two strips of copper isn't a bad idea, and I have wondered about that myself occasionally. I've also considered using two different metals (copper and cadmium? Inconel, maybe? Think thermocouples) to produce a small electrical potential.

Using copper is more effective than using exotic materials designed for thermocouple production, especially as the two slightly dissimilar wires/metals need fusing together to create the p.d. across the junction. Besides, the output of something like a K-type thermocouple is probably less than the slug would self-generate. Even the humble car battery uses two similar lead plates with water as the dielectric (the acid is only there as a catalyst) but to get the dissimilar electrodes necessary for the electrolysis, one lead plate is covered in lead-antimony in traditional batteries.
Modern batteries have silver-calcium which increases the required charging voltage by approximately 0.6V but that's a whole different subject.