HI Scarlet. I am going to start collecting mine and give them to my neighbor who raises chickens. Since you are concerned about causing pain to slugs and snails, I guess you need to figure out what you want to do about them. Maybe use diatomaceous earth? I haven't tried it, but here's a link for you to investigate your options.

Here is a link that might be useful: slug control

Thanks Lily, i also like the idea of collecting, if I, myself wasn't the one doing harm. Well chickens have to eat too and at least someone would be getting something out of it. Great idea!

My neighbor recycles them. He puts a few nursery pots in an area where slugs are a problem and then puts empty beer cans in them. From there they go in the recycle bin. The drunken slugs don't know what hit em' when they're crushed.
Seems fairly humane to me.
Mike.... ;-)

Yeah, I'm with OP...I feel bad, but I'd feel worse if I let them eat my babies (they eat enough any way)...if I catch them..they're toast.

I feel the same way about cutworms...I can live without their species on the earth (more so than slugs and snails who are valuable recyclers).

The only value a cutworm has is to a bird :)

Mike,
Do you know how full the beer can has to be, i don't actually have any on hand but i could pick some up. So far all these suggestions are sounding better than the salt method.

I actually really like the chicken idea that's a great way of giving back, my loss can be their gain which is fantastic.

Your so right dbarron, it's pretty devastating to see my seedlings getting murdered during the evening hours when i can't keep watch.

Some super great suggestions, thank you :)

Many chickens won't eat slugs or snails - apparently it's an acquired taste for them - but ducks always will!

Just another idea...

Just a little bit of beer in the can works. Usually what's left after drinking one. It's the smell that attracts them.
Mike

I don't blame the chickens we've all seen what slugs and snails look like. Lucky for me that my friend also has a pair of ducks thank you for the tip.

Oh wow, that easy huh, i'm going to give it a go tonight and see what happens, thanks again Mike :)

Pigs eat slugs. They roll them around in their mouth to get the slime off before swallowing them.
I'll take slugs over pigs any day.
My neighbor's pigs got loose one time from their enclosure and made it to my garden through a barbed wire fence meant for cows and horses. They walked around my nursery beds with 4 inch seedlings with their snout about 4 inches in the dirt. What a mess! I chased the pigs back home and helped my neighbor repair the pig pen. He no longer has pigs, just cows.
Mike