Slugs and snails are invertebrate animals (with no backbone). They are soft-bodied and covered with mucus to stop them from drying out. Their heads usually have four retractable tentacles for sensing the world around them, with the top two carrying tiny eyes. Snails can entirely retreat into coiled shells, unlike slugs, which usually don’t have shells visible. In truth, slugs have much reduced shells; for most species the shells are tiny and hidden out of sight under their skin.

There are over 44 species of slugs and 90 species of snails in the UK. They can be very tricky to identify and need close examination of features such as shell shape, sole colour and mucus colour. You can learn more about slug identification, including handy videos, on our Slugs Count project page.

Gardeners have long thought of slugs and snails as the bad guys, but we are beginning to understand just how valuable they are in the garden ecosystem.

Many slugs and snails feed on decomposing organic matter, such as dead leaves, dung, and even dead slugs and snails. They are beneficial animals to have in a garden as they are a valuable part of the composting process – that’s why you’ve probably seen them feasting in your compost bin, helping to turn plant waste into compost for gardeners to use.

• More fun facts about slugs

So, slugs and snails can be a gardener’s friend and should be welcomed in our gardens. In addition, they are important food for other garden wildlife, such as birds, frogs, toads, hedgehogs, slow-worms and ground beetles.

Only very few species of slugs and snails feed on live plants. In truth, only young seedlings and plants they find particularly tasty, such as hosta, are severely eaten. You might consider using some targeted controls in these few cases, or choosing to grow different plants (see below).

Some species of slugs and snails feed on live plant material, and this is why gardeners often consider them an enemy. The netted field slug, brown soil slug and common garden snail are some of the species most likely to be found feeding on garden plants.

These species particularly like to eat soft fleshy leaves and seedlings, leaving ragged holes made with their rasping mouthparts. The keeled slugs stay mostly underground and can sometimes be found tunneling holes in potatoes and other tubers.

Slug feeding happens at night, so often the holes and slime trails left behind will be the only clues as to who has been nibbling.

Here are our answers to your most common questions about how to deal with slugs and snails.

What makes slugs and snails go away?

• Choose plants that are less palatable to slugs and snails, such as woody plants, those with thick or waxy leaves and some herbaceous plants known to be less appealing to them. Check the list at the bottom of the page for a list of more slug-resistant plants
• Transplant sturdy plantlets grown in pots rather than young vulnerable seedlings. Transplants can be given some protection with cloches
• Predators should be encouraged in gardens to enhance a garden’s biodiversity: some birds, frogs, toads, hedgehogs, slowworms and ground beetles eat slugs and snails
• Torchlight searches can be carried out on mild evenings, especially when the weather is damp, hand-picking slugs and snails into a container. They can then be placed in another part of your garden, such as the compost heap or areas with less vulnerable plants, or left out for predators to take. However some species have homing instincts so may return to their preferred patch!
• Rake over soil and removing fallen leaves during winter can allow birds to eat slug and snail eggs that have been exposed, but this may make a less welcoming environment for predators and other wildlife

Do slug and snail barriers work?

Should I kill slugs and snails?

• This should only be used in a targeted manner, as it will affect all species of slugs, including the beneficial ones that do not feed on live plants
• The nematode biological control available to control slugs is unlikely to affect snails, as they rarely come into contact with the soil-dwelling nematodes
• To be effective, moist, warm soil – temperatures of 5-20ºC (41-68ºF) – is required. So, spring to early autumn is the best time to apply nematodes. Best results are achieved by applying in the evening to moist but well-drained soils; they may be less successful in heavy soils such as clay
• The nematode is available from refrigerated cabinets in some garden centres or by mail order from suppliers of biological controls (download pdf below)

Should I use slug pellets?