Birds possibly eating Sluggo

Last evening I put Sluggo (the bait for slugs) out around all my opening hostas and some of the tiger lilies. Today pretty much ALL the Sluggo is gone. The only thing I can figure is that the birds ate it. Don't think the squirrels touched it. Is this going to cause them any great harm? It does have iron in it. It says safe for pets and wildlife, but I am wondering how much iron it takes for a bird to have heavy metal poisoning. Would you worry about your birds? Should I put more out now to protect the plants, assuming the birds would still eat it? Karen

Does the ingredients list include metaldehyde? This is the usual stuff in slug pellets, and is very toxic to wildlife - so much so that I'd recommend that slug pellets should never be used.

Resin

It is only Iron Phosphate 1% and other inert ingredients as filler. It is labeled safe for pets and wild life, but I don't know about birds since they are so much smaller than most dogs/cats/raccoons, etc. Will they develop iron toxicity? Karen

If that's the only active ingredient, they won't cause any problems for birds. I'd also doubt they'll have any effect on slugs, either, but that's another matter!

Resin

liebran,
The "organic" fix I have used for years is to put out shallow containers (lids will do) with beer in them. Recess them into the ground and place several around your hostas. The slugs will crawl into the beer and drown. Empty each morning and rebait as needed. I use this in my strawberry bed too.

It does, because the iron does something to stop their appetite, so they stop eating and starve. Yes, the beer works sometimes here, but I got a great recipe from someone on one of these lists that really does the job from here. I'll have to find and post it. No beer, but flour, yeast, etc. They just love it. Later, Karen

Liebran, I'd love to have your recipe. I'm always open for something new. I have 5 cats and 4 dogs so have to be very careful what I put out. I occassionally bake my own bread so flour and yeast are no problem for me.

OK, here is the recipe for the slug bread. It worked really well fo me. I would leave it out several days and it would keep working. Until the container got pretty full and then threw all away and started over. The writer used cat food cans. I don't have a cat, so had to use tuna cans or I cut a little off the top of margarine containers. All worked.

Recipe:
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. Yeast
Mix in a quart container. Fill 1/4 with lukewarm water. When nice an bubbly add more lukewarm water to make 3/4 full. Stir or shake. ADD enough flour (usually 1/2 to 3/4 cup) . Shake. Should make a pancake like batter. Put in the cups and put out. The writer says that next morning they should be full of quite dead fat slugs. And that's what I found. Hope it works for you, too. Let us know. Karen

The Sluggo works great for me. If the birds don't get it first, that is. The jays seem to love it. I find that if I put it out after dark, when the slugs/snails eat, but the jays don't come down to the ground, there are usually a bunch of dead slugs/snails a few days later. They don't die right away.....as stated above it curbs their appetite.....as I understand it they become constipated and therefore always feel full.....but as long as they aren't chomping on my plants I don't care how long they live. Cruel? Maybe. Do I care? About slugs and snails, not much.

I also use Sluggo and it does get rid of the slugs - nasty little varmints. As much as I hate them, however, I can't kill them where I can see them die (i.e. salt or ammonia) - makes me feel guilty, I think. But not much. So I put the Sluggo out at night and pretty much eliminate the problem. And I don't have to watch.

Thanks, all. My DH did research on the active ingredient on the web and found out that it is indeed safe for birds, kids, dogs, etc. So I will take advice and put it out at dusk and hope the slugs get it before the birds. That could get a little expensive. Thanks everybody. If they really get bad, I mix up some of the slug bread bait and that gets a bunch of them. Karen