Do we get less hard on pests as we get older?

I used to do my utmost to get wasps out of the house until my dog was very ill after being stung by one [whippets seem to over react to stings]. I now just kill them, I'm afraid. Never really see slugs in my garden, but I have a lot of pathways and gravel so it probably puts them off..and plenty of thrushes as well.

I think I am more squeamish if truth be told. I can put salt on slugs, but rescue spiders from the bath or wherever as I think they are useful and if I do (occasionally) splat a fly or a wasp, I feel guilty as if I am being the hand of God! Like Frankel, I am happier to usher them outside to plague me another day!

Nowadays, I would rather usher a fly out the door than reach for the fly swat. I thought it was only us, going a bit soft - and we are probably a minority. My 2 year old grand-daughter will happily boot ants into oblivion - I think that's a bit harsh but I do squish one if it trespasses on the worktop.

I hate the damage done by slugs and snails and use pellets on the most eaten plants. However, I often find drying-out slugs on my patio and feel sorry for them, so I pour them a water trail to safety! I can't bear to step on snails either. Double standards I know!

Mamie Our cat is a great mole catcher. She brings them to our door. It is to see them, but they do cause havoc in the garden. She also catches our lovely little gecko's. Even - er.

Oh lovely Mamie. I used to find a toad on my spade quite often when I slid the spade along the ground to remove the moss build-up around the edge of my rockery plants. It would sit on the spade quietly and make no attempt to move. I once moved it near the pond in the back garden, and found it back in the front garden rockery a few days later!

I put my hand in a bag of compost to top up the tubs the other day and came out with a toad. Not sure who was more surprised! We have hedgehogs, field mice and moles in abundance. We get one of our neighbours in to trap the moles as they very destructive. We also have fire salamandars under the central heating boiler in the cellar.

In Oxford I used to put snails down the loo - they went down ok but when I lifted the drain cover they were all over the drain still alive....I didn't do that any more.

Or the vicar's wife!

Oh, goodness - imagine if they didn't go down properly and next time you visited the loo....

Friend of mine in oxon used to flush them down the loo.

What, worse than cutting their heads off?

I heard that too, and have tried very hard to get rid of that image.!
The Walkden stamp, that is.

That's rather a sweet outlook, if misguided, since we're related to all other animal life forms via evolution, so although some species that had developed into their present form before we did are still here, we all have the same forebears and started our evolutionary life journey at the same time.

I've had my present garden for six years and only recently discovered where the slugs live – underneath the leaf rosettes of Common Cat's Ear plants. I keep seeing hedgehog droppings so I guess the hedgehog(s), whose home(s) I haven't yet found, are eating well and keeping the slup population down. Frogs eat slugs too and we have some frogs, also rarely visible as there are so many places for them to hide.

No, me neither - and I certainly wouldn't cut their heads off as some gardening 'expert' advised!
It's a bit of a battle in our garden - I'm all for getting rid of the pests, but OH favours capture and release (in the case of mice, rats etc!).

As I've said in another thread I loathe gardening and can't bear the thought of killing creatures who are threatening my few plants. I'd try and do something to avert their attention - repellents and the like if I was worried. I've got this, perhaps naive, belief that these creatures were here before I came along and I've taken over their habitat.

DH gets lots and lots of slugs , we have separate gardens I don"t , have to say though even though they seem so appealing I kill mice and the reason being when we were away on one of our 5 week holidays they got into the house and chewed away quite a lot of things , droppings etc ! I did read in todays paper that rats infesting homes because it is so wet outside , is becoming an issue[Shudder, shudder]

Personally, I can't stand the squish.

I enjoy putting salt on slugs. I wouldn't sully my shoes by stamping on them.