In Latvia, a summer cottage trend is gaining momentum: buying or catching hedgehogs and populating the area with them. Supposedly, this is one of the effective methods to combat Spanish slugs.
It turns out that this life hack is not only useless but also illegal. Biologist Dmitry Safonov explained why hedgehogs do not eat slugs and which law protects the prickly ones.
Hedgehogs Are Illegal
The invasion of Spanish slugs in summer cottages has spawned a whole business selling hedgehogs. As merchants assure, the animals will clean the area of unpleasant guests and provide a dose of positivity. Biologist Dmitry Safonov warns that buying hedgehogs from private sellers can primarily make one a subject of an administrative case.
Bitter and Viscous
The biggest disappointment for summer residents who bought hedgehogs will be the fact that the prickly ones simply do not eat Spanish slugs.
"Hedgehogs have too small a mouth apparatus, which will quickly get clogged with viscous and bitter slime. A hedgehog may try a Spanish slug but will immediately spit it out," the expert explains.
This is another fact explaining the invasion of the red invaders in summer cottages. It is hard to find an animal that would enjoy the taste of the Spanish guests.
Will Get Scared and Die
The expert highlights another point that makes artificially populating a summer cottage with hedgehogs a bad option.
"Like any animal brought to a new place, a hedgehog will simply get scared and be under stress. If kept on the site, the animal will most likely die, and if not, it will run away," the expert adds.
Thus, hedgehogs are absolutely useless in the fight against Spanish slugs. It is worth noting that the diet of hedgehogs includes smaller crawling creatures, such as field slugs.
Among the effective methods to combat the Spanish slug, the expert highlights the following:
mechanical collection of slugs in boiling water or vinegar (for this, prepare a container with boiling water or vinegar solution. Wearing gloves, collect the Spanish slugs into it);
replacing evening watering with morning watering (slugs love moisture, and evening watering promotes their activity all night. To keep the plantings in their original state in the morning, plants should be watered in the first half of the day);
creating traps from beer or fermented compote (buried containers with them attract Spanish slugs excellently. At the end of the day, simply collect all the guests in boiling water or vinegar);
cleaning up debris and decaying grass (do not allow the accumulation of junk, mulch, or decaying grass on the site. Such "houses" are an ideal place for the comfortable life of the Spanish slug).
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