I would rather contend with some measly slugs than snakes and scorpions any day! Haha.... Being born and raise in the north east the thought of snakes and scorpions make me cringe! One year i tried using copper rings and it didnt stop them for some reason? I will deff give it another shot this year because the amount of slugs in this area is overwelming.
Yea man I hate the snakes and shit, there was an easy 2-3 foot long bull snake right in the middle of the patch last year, freaks us all the hell out.
I have also found a few obnoxious slugs have crossed the ring occasionally in the past. However, when I did a ring and then physically wrapped some copper 6-8 inches around the stalk from where it enters the dirt ad up to the fist set of branches, they could never pass that. They can take it for a second if they are very hungry but constant contact over their whole undersides will cause them to fall off in my experience.