Make Your Own Snail & Slug Traps!

Forget all the store-bought snail & slug remedies… the only true success I have had with snail and slug abatement has been homemade traps filled with beer. Yep, beer! The little fellas love the stuff! What got me hooked on the beer method was my beloved Hosta garden. Snails and slugs can devour a mature Hosta almost overnight!

In order to use beer as a lure, you may simply put the liquid in a saucer or shallow plate; but I found that I needed a cover over the beer to keep out tree debris and rain (which would result in more frequent refilling of the intoxicating substance!).

Steps to Make Your Own Snail & Slug Traps

I love to recycle and repurposed any time I can, so when my husband came up with the idea to repurpose my empty plastic Starbucks Iced Coffee containers into handy snail and slug traps I was delighted!

Items Needed

Plastic container with lid (the Starbucks iced coffee containers are used in this example because I like the green lid – – it blends into the garden nicely!). I get the Starbucks Iced Coffee at my local grocery store.
Exacto knife or box cutter
Scissors
Clear tape (packaging or scotch)
Beer

Step 1

Remove outer label from container.

Step 2

Use an exacto knife to cut out the base (at the first rung from the bottom of the bottle).

The base will now resemble a citrus juicer (but, don’t go there!)…

Step 3

Use the exacto knife to cut out the top of the bottle (with lid). Cut along the top rung of the bottle.

Step 4

Discard the middle section of the bottle.

Step 5

Using scissors, cut three rectangular openings at the base of the top section (the one with the lid). These openings will serve as the snail and slug access points to the interior of the trap.

Step 6

After you cut three openings, the top of your trap should resemble a lunar module with three legs!

Step 7

Tape the base (citrus juicer) to the three legs of the top (lunar module);
Notice that the legs and the base overlap.
Leave an opening of an inch or two (enough height for the snails and slugs to make an entrance!)

For added clarity I marked these openings with a black pen in this tutorial, but no pen markings are necessary for your project.

Step 8

Remove container lid and fill with beer, up to a point just below the three openings to the trap.

Step 9

Top trap with lid.

Step 10

Set a trap at the base of each Hosta (or any other plant that snails and slugs favor). One trap is typically sufficient for each plant, but if the plant is large then put two or more around its base.