How to Get Rid of Snails

You probably won’t be happy when you see snails in your home, garden, or aquarium. If you just let the snails do their own thing, they will gnaw on plants, leave slime stains around the house or spread to the whole aquarium. Fortunately, you have effective ways to get rid of snails and protect your property. Whether you just want a natural solution or don’t mind using pesticides, you’ll be able to tackle these destructive snails.

Table of Contents

Get rid of shallow snails

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Make a beer trap to catch snails. Pour beer into a small container, such as a can. Bury this beer trap in your garden or near areas where snails often congregate, but make sure the mouth of the trap is about 2.5cm above the ground. The smell of beer will attract snails to come and fall into the beer and drown. ^{[1] X Research Source}

A little yeast added will also make the traps more attractive to snails.
You may need to set multiple traps, as each trap is only effective against nearby snails.
You can also use plastic cups, yogurt jars, bowls, or cake molds to hold your snail trap beer.
Don’t bury beer traps on the ground, as this can also cause beneficial animals to fall into the trap and die.

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Catch snails if you have time. Snails are most active in the early morning and at night, so these are the best times to go snail hunting. Put the snails in a bucket or other container to take them away. ^{[2] X Trusted Source University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Go to source}

You can also kill the snails you catch.
To catch snails faster, you can place a bowl or pot upside down in the garden, near places where you often see snails. Snails will often crawl under the potted plants and you will easily find them.

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Cold coffee spray to kill snails. The caffeine in coffee is bad for snails, and they will die if you spray coffee on them. However, you should remember to spray a lot of coffee for the snails to get wet, then they will die. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Make a pot of coffee and let it cool, then pour the coffee into a spray bottle for use in the home or garden.

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Spray garlic water to repel and possibly kill snails. Spray garlic juice around the house and yard as needed. If you find a snail, you can spray it with garlic juice. Garlic juice can kill some snails and scare them away.

Make garlic juice by soaking 3 crushed garlic cloves with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of vegetable oil overnight, then mixing with 1 quart of water and straining. Pour liquid into a spray bottle, add 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of liquid soap and shake the bottle before spraying.

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Use iron phosphate bait to kill snails. Iron phosphate is a molluscicide, which means it can kill snails and slugs. You just need to put bait in the garden or where you often see snails appear to lure them to eat bait. Snails will die after being exposed to iron phosphate. ^{[4] X Trusted Source University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Go to source}

You can find iron phosphate baits at a garden supply store or online.
This bait will stop the snails from eating, but it can take up to a week for them to die.
Iron phosphates are the safest baits because they are non-toxic to humans and pets.

Create an unfavorable environment for snails

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Water the garden in the morning to prevent snails from laying eggs. Snails need to lay eggs in moist soil. Since they usually lay eggs during the night, you need to let the soil dry before dark. If you water your plants in the morning, there will be a period of daylight to allow the soil to dry out. ^{[9] X Trusted Source University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Go to source}

If possible, you should choose a drip or permeable irrigation system to control soil moisture so that snails cannot easily breed.

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Clean up the rotten wet litter in the yard. Snails love rotting wet organic matter, so they’ll hang around if you don’t clean it up. Check your yard and garden for cleaning at least once a week. Be sure to remove these items and throw them in the trash or compost pile. ^{[10] X Trusted Source University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Go to source}

Don’t forget that the compost pile is where snails come to party. Don’t leave garbage as compost near the yard. You should also use abrasive material around it to prevent snails.

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Surround your home or garden with abrasive materials to repel snails. Good choices include shredded eggshells, diatomaceous earth, gravel, wood ash, and cedar shavings. All of these are insurmountable obstacles for snails. You can spread a thin layer around the area where you want to prevent snails from crawling. ^{[11] X Trusted Source University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Go to source}

Crushed eggshells are an easy-to-find material to repel house snails.
You can find diatomaceous earth, gravel, wood ash, and cedar shavings at your garden store or online.

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Scatter coffee grounds around the garden as caffeine can repel snails. Snails are sensitive to caffeine, so they automatically stay away from coffee grounds. You can scatter coffee grounds on the ground or around the floor if needed.

If you don’t drink coffee, go to the local coffee shop and ask for coffee grounds.

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Use copper wire or copper tape to prevent snails. Copper can give snails a slight jolt, so they’ll definitely stay away. You can wrap copper tape around potted plants, around the garden, or anywhere that snails frequent. If using copper wire, tie it around the pot or the poles for the tree. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Another option, you can scatter some copper coins around the area to be protected.
You can find copper tape online or at gardening stores.

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Grow plants that snails don’t like. These plants include foxglove, kumquat, Japanese anemone, dandelion, succulents, sage, and fennel. Each plant has a scent that snails don’t like or an unpleasant surface they don’t want to touch. If you plant these plants in your garden, snails will be less likely to come. ^{[13] X Research Source}

For example, you can place a potted plant near snails or crawling areas in the house.
Note that foxglove is poisonous, so it is probably not a good choice for homes with children and pets.

Prevention of snails in aquariums

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Quarantine aquatic plants for 2 weeks before adding them to the tank. Aquatic plants are the most common source of unwanted snails. Snail eggs and baby snails that often cling to aquatic plants will reproduce after entering the aquarium. Fortunately, you can avoid this by isolating the plants for 2 weeks before adding them to the tank.

If you see any snails appear during the quarantine period, remove them immediately.

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Treat plants with a solution of bleach and water mixed with a ratio of 1:19 before putting the plants in the aquarium. Make a bleach solution by mixing 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. Dip each plant in the solution and remove immediately. This will kill any remaining snails or eggs. Rinse the plant in clean water before placing it in the aquarium. ^{[14] X Research Source}

Just dipping the plant in the solution for 1 second is enough, so you can dip and remove the plant right away in one move.

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Clean the entire fish tank and gravel. You can clean the snails with your hands if you have time. Move the fish to a temporary tank, then drain all the water in the aquarium. Remove everything in the aquarium, including the gravel and substrate, then scrub the snails off the walls.

Replace gravel and screed for best results.
Wash plants and other decorations before putting them back in the tank. You can dip into a cleaning solution of 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. This solution will kill all snails and snail eggs.
If you don’t want to have to take everything out of the tank, you can use a siphon to suck up only the gravel and the substrate. In addition, you will need to pick up the snails that are clinging to the walls of the tank. ^{[15] X Research Source}

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Release fish to eat snails. Some fish that eat snails will help you clean the tank. When choosing a predatory fish to deal with, check the information on the fish you’re buying to make sure it doesn’t eat other fish in the tank. Also, remember not to buy fish that are too big for the aquarium.

For small aquariums, you can choose zebrafish or loris.
If you have a large aquarium, you can choose the American rat, catfish pictus, koi or large goldfish. ^{[16] X Research Source}
You have another option is to release a killer snail into the aquarium. It will eat other snails in the tank and won’t spawn much.

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Release the snail trap into the aquarium to catch and remove the snails. The trap will lure the snails into but can’t get out So you will easily catch and remove the snails without harming the fish. ^{[17] X Research Source}

Snail traps are available at aquarium stores or you can buy them online.
You can make your own snail trap by clipping a leaf of lettuce to the wall of the tank. Leave it like that overnight, the next morning take out the vegetables. Lettuce leaves will attract a lot of snails, and now you can keep them out of the aquarium! ^{[18] X Research Sources}

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Add copper sulfate that is not harmful to fish in the aquarium to kill snails. Snails are sensitive to copper, and they will die if copper sulfate is present in the water. Copper sulfate does not affect most fish, so it is a safe choice for most aquariums. ^{[19] X Research Source}

If you are afraid of fish dying, check the information on the fish you keep to see if it is sensitive to copper.
Do not use this method if there are shrimp or ornamental snails in the tank, as they are also sensitive to copper.
You can find copper sulfate online or at a pet store.

Advice

If you don’t have time to deal with an infested garden snail, you can call a pest control service. They have a snail extermination service and will help you get rid of snails in your garden.
Sometimes the presence of pests is a sign that your plants are not healthy. Caring for healthy plants is the way to prevent pests in the first place.

Warning

Avoid using salt to kill snails, as it can damage plants or the soil in your yard or garden.
Be careful when using coffee grounds as it can affect the pH of the soil.

Things you need

Get rid of shallow snails

Small container
Beer
Shove
Old flower pot (optional)
Cold coffee
Aerosol
Phosphate iron baits (optional)
Molluscicide containing ferric sodium EDTA (optional)
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
1 liter of water
1 teaspoon (5 ml) liquid soap
Chicken (optional)
Native tree (optional)
Rock garden (optional)

Create an unfavorable environment for snails

Watering
Drip irrigation system (optional)
Irrigation line (optional)
Eggshells, diatomaceous earth, gravel, wood ash or cedar shavings
Coffee grounds
Copper tape, copper wire or copper coins
Tree

Prevention of snails in aquariums

Shove
Bleach-water solution 1:19
Fishing racket
Temporary fish tank
Towel
Water
Siphon tube (optional)
Pebbles
Aquarium background layer
Prey fish or snail (optional)
Snail trap (optional)
Copper sulfate (optional)

Steps

Get rid of shallow snails

Create an unfavorable environment for snails

Prevention of snails in aquariums

Advice

Warning

Things you need

Get rid of shallow snails

Create an unfavorable environment for snails

Prevention of snails in aquariums

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