Mystery 'slime'on chopping boards

Thanks for your thoughts so far everyone. I thought it was maybe to do with chopping boards, but last night I left my iPad propped up in its case on the worktop, and found trails on it this morning. Aaaargh! I shall clear the worktop tonight and maybe sprinkle some salt over it. We had a big fly in the room last night and despite using fly spray at the other end of the room it was still flying about. Could it be a fly leaving a deposit after crawling over things? No sign of trails on the worktop.

Just a wild shot - could slugs be coming up from via your sink? They love damp, dark places. Perhaps a pipe not quite sealed off from the outside. Salt on the surface where you see the trails could show you if something is crawling about. Could it be something natural in the wood of the chopping boards secreting when left to dry. Hope you find an answer soon.

All this has made me scared to go to bed in fear of whats downstairs at night! ?

me too Elaine

We kept getting slug trails but I couldn't work out how it was getting into the kitchen. I came down for a drink in the middle of the night just in time to see it squeezing itself out of a tiny gap under our back door. It was so small you wouldn't have known it was there and it was a huge slug! I blocked it up and no more slug.

Slugs eat dog poo !

We get those on the carpet that leads to the yard - and indeed, if anyone goes to the kitchen for a drink of water during the night, we switch on the light (although we know where the glasses and the fridge are) because sometimes there are as many as five slugs moving about (and the net is in place, so I don't know how they manage to get in. When they see / feel the light, they begin moving toward under the cupboards. In used to pick them up with a small broom, put them on the dustpan, and throw them into the garden, but now I don't bother - I just sweep the rug and the trails go.

Once years ago when children were small I came down in the night for calpol or something and found ants marching all over the living room carpet. I was appalled. We never saw them in the daytime.

Oh most definitely slug, get up at 1am and you will find it! I run a continuous battle, how many people put slug pellets under their microwave!! I suspect the airbrick outside might be the point of entry. They love Brillo pads too.

If it looks like a slimy slug trail, it almost certainly is. Yukkk!

It could well be a slug; they vanish only to reappear the next night. I found one hiding underneath a close to the ground china cupboard. Try surrounding a chopping board with a ring of salt, but be prepared for an unpleasant jellified mess!

Do silverfish leave trails. They are more likely to be indoors and disappear in daylight.

My DiL2 has terrible trouble with them.

We have the same problem, definitely slugs, I hate them, we have horrible big orange ones here in France. Like BlueBelle I live in an old house and find part trails in places. I once found a little one in the cutlery drawer, everything was disinfected and dishwashed within an inch of its life - yuk.

We had one in our conservatory and came home after being away for a few days, we found snail trails all over. Windows, chairs, carpets. They’d had a whale (snail) of a time

Why not tidy them away at night.

Hire a hedgehog

Put a few slug pellets in a shallow container near the chopping board at night.

I agree with Elaine, go down to the kitchen in the night and see if you can catch anything “in action”.

It could be a rogue slug or a snail. They can get in the house on the bottom of garden clogs, wellies etc.
Last winter DH had a snail in his car that made trails all over the seats and drove him mad until he found it.
We guessed it had been brought into the car on his golf trolley.

Yep I agree can’t stand them but everything has a reason

Then we need more thrushes, slow worms, earthworms and anything else that will eat them BlueBelle!

Slugs and snails are very important. They provide food for all sorts of mammals, birds, slow worms, earthworms, insects and they are part of the natural balance. Upset that balance by removing them and we can do a lot of harm. Thrushes in particular thrive on them

Do slugs have any purpose in the grand scheme of things?

Apart from decimating plants, leaving slime trails everywhere and slithering inside your outdoor shoes, just waiting for you to shove your bare feet on to them? No, I don't think so Phoenix. Horrid things.

Do slugs have any purpose in the grand scheme of things?

I know that wasps can be pollinators, but what exactly are slugs for?

We get great big, huge stripey ones in our recycling bags, poor Mr P gets quite traumatised!

Sprinkle salt on the worktop and chopping board. Slugs don't like salt one little bit.