To get rid of snails in your garden or home, try planting snail-resistant plants, sealing off all gaps in your home, and using substances like salt or garlic.

While they may seem slow, small, and fairly harmless, snails actually cause damage to your home and garden and can even pose health concerns. These slippery mollusks harbor bacteria and parasites and cause significant damage to water features and even your home’s pipes. In a few words, snails are not welcome as garden or house guests.

Thankfully, there are many tried-and-true methods for getting rid of snails for good.

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How to tell if you’ve got a snail problem

While the most obvious sign of a snail problem is snails in your home or garden, sometimes snail problems are less noticeable. Watch out for these telltale signs that you’ve got a snail problem:

Slimy secretion trails on plants, surfaces, and garden soil

Small translucent white eggs in damp soil

Ragged holes in your plants, especially beans, cabbage, tomatoes, and lettuce

If you notice any combination of these signs, you’ve likely got a snail problem. This may not seem like a huge deal, but snails can cause more damage than you’d suspect.

Why should you worry about snails?

They’re unsightly. Snails are slimy mollusks that leave your plants and produce covered in mucus. There’s nothing worse than picking a fresh tomato or head of lettuce to find a snail munching away on the other side. If your garden brings you joy, a snail invasion is likely to kill that.

They damage your plants. Snails can cause serious damage to flowers, leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and even your lawn. They can also kill young seedlings. You work hard to maintain your garden, but snails can put a real damper on your efforts.

They can destroy pipes and water features. Snails carry parasites, so if you have a fish pond in your garden, they can kill your fish. If they’re left to breed, your pond will become a snail resource battleground. And if things get really out of control, they can start to clog your water feature pipework.

They’re parasitic. Snails don’t just cause harm to fish—they can harm your health as well. Snails carry harmful parasites such as liver flukes and parasitic worms. Some of these worms can cause bilharzia, a seriously devastating parasitic disease. Protect your health by getting rid of snails as soon as you can.

What attracts snails to your home?

Snails have moist bodies and keep themselves hydrated by finding cool, damp shady places to shelter in when it’s hot outside. They love leafy green plants to munch on but are particularly fond of the following plants:

Basil

Beans

Cabbage

Dahlia

Delphinium

Lettuce

Marigolds

Various vegetables

Some snails even feast on succulents, grass, and crops. Considering the kind of food and shelter snails need to survive, your garden makes a perfect home for these pesky mollusks. Even corners of a damp basement or cellar are popular places for snails to hang out.

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Tips for filing your water damage insurance claim

8 ways to get rid of snails

Getting rid of snails can be quite the task as your garden is the perfect environment for them. Fortunately, there are many trusty methods to get rid of snails without bringing pest control in.

Use a liquid bait

Liquid bait, such as beer, works wonders to control your snail problem. Fill a shallow bowl with the liquid and place the bowl close to where you’re noticing snail activity. The snails will be enticed by the bait, crawl into the bowl, and drown. The next day, get rid of the drowned snails and refill your bowl to repeat the process.

Use traps

You can attract the snails away from your plants by scattering orange rinds around your garden. The snails will flock to the rinds, where you can easily catch and dispose of them. Many garden stores sell snail traps that work similarly. The downside of this method is that you’ll have to kill the snails yourself or transport them far from your home.

Use barriers and snail repellents

If you want to get rid of snails without harming them, using barriers and repellants is a great idea. These will force the snails out of your garden and continue to repel snails in the future. Here are a few barriers and repellents to try:

Copper: Copper creates electric shocks, making your garden an uncomfortable place for snails to live because this causes them to lose their sense of navigation. Place a strip of copper around the outside of your garden or sprinkle the soil with flakes of copper to repel them.

Diatomaceous Earth (DE): This non-toxic substance works wonders for repelling snails. It's made from fossilized tiny aquatic creatures called diatoms and has coarse edges. Sprinkling DE around your garden will make it much harder for snails to crawl around, so they’ll avoid it altogether.

Coarse substances: You can also use things like sandpaper, small eggshell fragments, lava rocks, or coffee grounds to repel snails from your garden.

Use predators

If you’re able, introducing chickens, geese, ducks, or turkeys to your property is a great way to keep snails to a minimum because these birds are natural snail predators. You can also use frogs, beetles, nematodes, and birds. Placing a bird feeder or bird bath near your garden may be a great way to keep your snail problem at bay without caring for new animals.

Use snail-resistant plants

Some aromatic plants are less attractive to snails and actually have the power to repel them from your garden. Here are some examples:

Hostas

Lavender

Rosemary

Sage

Poppy

Geranium

Fuchsia

Nasturtium

Lantana

These will beautify your garden and keep snails away!

Use salt, chemicals, or pesticides

If you want to kill the snails, a sure-fire way to do so is by using salt, chemicals, or pesticides. You can sprinkle salt around your garden to dehydrate and kill snails, but be careful—salt can harm other plants and animals. Iron phosphate, bleach, and store-bought snail control solutions will also kill snails, but be careful to follow directions and keep wildlife and pets away from your garden when using them.

Change up your watering schedule

If you water your plants in the evening, try watering in the morning instead. That'll make your garden drier at night when snails like to come out and eat. A drier garden is less attractive to snails, so this simple adjustment might do the trick.

Get rid of their eggs

Snails lay eggs on the surface of your garden soil, so if you till or plow your garden, you’ll likely get rid of the eggs. Afterward, spread gravel, woodchips, DE, or other movement-inhibiting materials to dissuade snails from laying there again.

MORE:

How to get rid of moles and other rodents

Methods for getting rid of snails in your home

Getting rid of snails in your house is different—it’s not like you can spray pesticides or scatter salt all over your floor! Here are two ways to eliminate snails inside your home:

Use bait: Using bait is a family and home-friendly way to eliminate snails. Pour a small amount of beer in a shallow bowl where you’re noticing the snails to trap and drown them. Just make sure the bowl is out of reach from small children and pets.

Seal off access points: If there are snails in your home, they must be getting inside through an access point. Use a flashlight to follow snail trails back to a gap in your home. Use caulking to seal small gaps around areas like windows, doors, and the foundation.

How an exterminator gets rid of snails—and when to call them

Sometimes, snail problems get out of control, and nothing seems to be stopping them. If you’ve tried a few of the above methods without any improvement, it’s probably time to call a pest control company.

Here’s how professionals deal with snail problems:

They’ll inspect your property. Professionals will look around your garden and home to identify where the snails are coming from, the species of snail they’re dealing with, and how serious your problem is.

They’ll treat the problem. Depending on what kind of snails are infesting your property and how extensive the problem is, your exterminator will use bait, traps, and barriers to eliminate the snails from your home or garden.

They’ll schedule follow-ups. Quality professionals will ensure they’ve solved the problem long-term. They’ll ask for follow-up appointments to ensure the snails are gone for good and implement further treatments if necessary.

How to keep snails out of your home and garden

The easiest way to eliminate snails is to prevent them from coming to your property in the first place. Here are a few preventative methods to keep snails away from your home and garden:

Make your property less attractive to snails: Common snail hideaways include tall grass, underneath moist wood and tarps, and damp soil. Keep your lawn short, mulch your garden if possible, and pick up any boards of wood or loose tarps around your property. Switch to drip irrigation to keep soil drier if possible.

Plant snail-resistant plants: Snails will be deterred from your property if you plant fragrant herbs like lavender or rosemary or other plants such as hostas, poppies, hydrangeas, and lantanas.

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How to choose the right kind of home insurance for you

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Can I get rid of snails naturally?

Yes! You can use safe, non-toxic methods like trapping snails with orange rinds, sprinkling coarse substances around your garden, using liquid traps in your home or garden, using natural predators, or planting snail-resistant plants.

Are snails dangerous to my health?

Snails can pose a threat to your health. Snails carry many dangerous parasites which can be transmitted to humans in certain circumstances. These parasites can cause diseases as serious as bilharzia, which is almost as detrimental as malaria.

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