LONDON — The slugs are back, and this time there are even more of them.

Following 2015's slugocalypse, in which mild temperatures prompted a boom in both homegrown and introduced Spanish slugs, the slimy creatures are making a return en masse again.

A wet summer in 2015 followed by an unusually mild winter has meant that slugs across the UK have skipped their hibernation and spent the time eating and breeding instead, conservation charity Buglife told the BBC. It could mean an "explosion" in the slug population and problems in gardens across the country.

See also: Mild weather could lead to an explosion of slugs in the UK

There are some 20,000 slugs in the average British garden, Countryfile estimates.

They prefer temperatures above five degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) and lay up to 200 eggs per cubic metre. Buglife says that figure could rise by as much as 10% this year, thanks to climate conditions and a decline in predators including hedgehogs and amphibians.

"Due to climate shifts, warmer winters and wetter summers, we're seeing slugs become active all year round," Buglife's chief executive Matt Shardlow said.

"Whereas key predators like amphibians will only lay their eggs once a year, slugs are not so restricted."

"The impact of super-sized, sleepless slugs could spell devastation for our gardens this summer."

The Royal Horticultural Society offers a number of tips for dealing with slugs if they take over your garden, from heading out at night with a torch to transfer them away to a nearby field to placing barriers around pots that need protecting and setting traps, such as scooped out grapefuit skins, to stop them in their slithery tracks.