In order to maintain the integrity of his organic garden in the Pacific Northwest, designer Alex English used to trap the slug population in his garden using an empty tuna can filled with beer. He soon came to the same realization that all gardeners do when they create slug traps with a tuna can: Slugs are most active after rain, and with a good rain the beer is washed out of the tuna can — making the trap ineffective.
To address this, Alex fashioned a roof for his trap by cutting an aluminum can to keep the rain out the beer. Wanting a more attractive and safer slug trap (no sharp metal edges) he designed and 3D printed this beautiful garden slug trap.
It features gently sloping sides that allow the slugs to easily climb to their drunken death and a removable roof that keeps out rain.
While talking to Alex about his 3D printable Mason jar lids I mentioned she should combine his slug trap idea with the Mason jar lids for a truly large slug trap. For now, he mentions that working with the SCAD file you can adjust the dimensions of his slug tap to effectively trap larger slugs. You can download (for free) the file to 3D print the slug trap at Thingiverse….
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
