They are. Many creatures like them a lot. Leave them out in the day in the same place and you'll see the diurnal creatures like them too.

Dan

Predaceous ground beetles eat slugs, often the adults AND the larvae. There are many, many species of this 'genre' of beetles.

The larvae of lightning bugs (another kind of beetle) are big slug eaters, too. Rove beetles are considered a major predator of slugs.

Many of the common reptiles and amphibians feed on slugs. So do some birds.

Our use of pesticides of many kinds has reduced the population of these animals (I include insects as an animal) enormously. So has development and our typical mode of landscaping. We've banished a mixed ecosystem for turfgrass and a few plant beds.

Well, my garden's next to a large unmown meadow and a forest. I did put up a vole fence, which may keep out snakes and toads  although I've seen them from time to time within the garden. I put up birdhouses on the fence, which seems to have helped keep the slug population down this spring, but the inhabitants and their offspring have left the nest. I've also left stone piles, covered a hole with a rock slab, and keep out a basin of water to try to provide habitat for slug predators. Any other ideas for attracting them?

The easiest and most effective way I've found to get rid of slugs is to set out some kind of saucer/container (I use one of those things you put underneath a pot to collect the excess water) and fill it to a little ways under the top edge with beer. Supposedly slugs are attracted to the yeast and barley in the beer. They then climb into the saucer (or whatever) and drown in the beer. The first time I tried this, I set out the beer at dusk and the next morning I had about 20 dead slugs.

Also, if you still, for whatever reason, want to manually remove the slugs, just poor enough beer into the saucer to cover the bottom, then let it evaporate. The slugs still climb in as long as the residue left by the evaporated beer is not washed away by rain or your watering.

NYgardener, some other things to think about (which you may already be aware of) is to provide cover for the other animals in the form of shrubs, groundcover, etc. The beneficial insects are the real workhorses of our gardens and they need a pesticide-free (or nearly so) environment.

Another direction to take would be to figure out what it is about your environment makes it so great for slugs...and then change it! :-) It sure does sound like you have more than your fair share of these slimy things.

Although many people do not thinks so slugs do have a purpose here, just like all the other critters, including us, do. The primary source of food for slugs is decaying organic matter, the mulches many of us put on our planting beds and that is one reason why when you mulch there appears to be a population explosion of slugs. Slugs will also eat growing, living plants and that is why we love to hate them, if they would simply leave our plants alone we most likely would not even be aware of their existance. Fat too many people use in their gardens highly toxic and very broad spectrum poisons that kill off those things that would be predators of slugs, and since slugs are meals for many things they have evolved to be very productive, because the predators would soon eat them all and have no food left if they were not.

They seem to love collard greens and kale in particular, which I have in abundance. I suppose I could grow less of these, but they serve as a sort of trap crop.

One factor I can't do anything about is the vole fence; without it, I could barely grow anything. It may keep out the snakes, toads, etc. who would otherwise be casual hunters. And as I said, the bird houses only seem to be effective in the spring; there are still birds in the garden, but they don't seem to be feeding on slugs.

I don't use any pesticides and seem to be able to keep insect problems to a minimum. Growing plenty of alliums and wormwood seems to discourage Japanese beetles. I try to provide adequate spacing to reduce fungus. This is all a sort of integrated (or lazy) pest management approach. But it doesn't seem to be getting the job done for slugs.

Well, I suppose I could try letting some ducks loose in the garden. I could buy some garter snakes or toads at the pet store, but I don't want to introduce non-native species. Otherwise, I may have to keep hunting.

Go get some toads from surrounding fields and a snake there too. Ducks will make quick work of slugs (no chickens!).

Dan