Snail & Slug Facts & Information
Protect your home or business from snails and slugs by learning techniques for identification and control.
Treatment
How do I get rid of snails and slugs?
What Orkin Does
Orin Pros are trained to help manage snails, slugs, and other household pests. Since every home is different, your Orkin Pro will design a unique program for your situation.
Keeping snails or slugs out of your home is an ongoing process, not a one-time treatment. Orkin’s exclusive A.I.M. solution is a continuing cycle of three critical steps—Assess, Implement and Monitor.
Orkin can provide the right solution to keep pests in their place...out of your home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Behavior, Diet & Habits
Understanding Snails and Slugs
Appearance
Slugs are soft-bodied animals. Depending on the species, adults can be 25 to 100 mm long.
Snails are also soft-bodied animals. Snails have shells and can withdraw inside them. In harsh conditions, they can seal the shell and stay alive inside for several years.
Where do they hide?
Slugs and snails hide in damp places during the day. They stay under logs and stones or under ground cover. They also hide under planters and low decks. At night they come out to eat. They make a slimy trail as they move around.
Diet
Both slugs and snails eat leaves of plants. Since snails have shells, they need calcium in their diet. If limestone is not plentiful, they will sometimes feed on painted surfaces.
Reproduction
Both slugs and snails lay eggs in the spring and summer. They put the eggs in damp, protected places. Snails cover their eggs with soil. The eggs hatch in a few days. The immature animals develop into adults in a few months. Both snails and slugs can live for several years.