Spiders

I'm the same @bellalou1234 and also live alone. I now keep all doors and windows shut in August and September (read that last year and it was the first year without the bastardy monsters marching in). I also allow a cellar spider to take up residence in each room. I don't like them but I'd rather have those eating the big ones instead of me having to deal with them. They just stay in one spot and don't move about.

My terrier is rubbish btw. My last one was too!

I did have a big one in July which caught me out for being early but it disappeared under the bath and I know that's where a cellar spider lives. Never saw it again!

I've just arrived back from holiday and am dying for a long sleep but cant forget that just before I left there was a massive spider in my bedroom that I failed to catch! I am sure he is in here somewhere waiting for me.

What is the Indorex spray? I'll try anything but the one I am finding when I google says it is a flea spray?

Oh they’re in London, trust me!

We get them every year, they unfortunately tend to congregate in DDs room. Many years ago there was an absolutely huge one under her pillow when I made her bed.

The peppermint spray comes out now.

Thanks @SquishedMallow, most interesting and quite grim at the same time. Still, if they’re wrapping up and eating the big buggers then I’m all for it!

I can completely emphasise, I'm absolutely terrified of them. Luckily I have a small army of friends who come to help me get rid of them. Had to get a friend round at 10pm one night last week and he had to sit with me after cause I was so shaken up.

Last year I had one crawl over me and I moved out for 2 weeks and didn't come back till the pest controller had been and had a full deep clean from a cleaner who was fine with spiders. She was really lovely and didn't judge the fear.

My handyman is coming tomorrow and one of the things I'll be discussing is ways he can hopefully help me with spider proofing my place even more 🙈

I'm doing the friendly spider course at London zoo soon and I'm really really praying it helps me even slightly.

Please could someone explain to me what the aversion to spiders is all about? They're not dangerous in any way (in the UK) and they're not disgusting like, say, maggots, nor do they spread disease as far as I know.

I'd genuinely like to know because I don't understand it at all. Or is it not possible to explain it logically?

Yeh I've just looked it up to confirm: it's all in the web. They have messy complicated webs that are easy to ensnare much bigger prey in. When they've sufficiently wrapped it up /caused it to become tangled, they then deliver the venom. (I'm surprised something that skinny has the power in their venom to kill a much bigger spider. But I won't ask to many questions - they can carry on as they are 😁)

Apparently they can wrap them up pretty sharpishly in their webs. I believe it's the speed in which they can entangle them in their webs. Then they just wrap them tightly and Jobs a good un. I can't remember whether they inject them with venom at that stage or not. I'll have to recheck. It's not a myth though,: they really do get them .

One of my best ever investments! In fact, I once started a post about it on here. But the spider fearers, bless them, said that the long handle was too short 😁

I really shouldn't tell you this story... But word of warning, my mum and dad had a large house spider in the airing cupboard. Dad wasn't home. Mum sucked it up with the hoover. She was timid about emptying it the next day. Her sister was round the house and said "don't be silly it'll be long dead, give us that here !" And as she emptied the hoover bag, the great big spider ran up her arm 😱!!! She apparently dropped the whole bag in the bin pretty sharpish and screamed!

So never assume it'll be dead. Keep the hoover running for a good 5 minutes after you've sucked it up. I know it's cruel to kill them, but when you've got an actual phobia it's the only way relief is offered from it. Even when DH puts them outside I'm terrified they'll come back in (and it's happened before)

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

DH travels a lot in September annually. This year I will be shutting the windows as the cat, the 6 year old and 4 year old children are absolutely useless and refuse to remove them for me. The cat just watches them with boredom and the kids like to find their fake spiders and torture me with them as they are lifelike

I’m also curious - where do they put those monster spiders they’re eating? They are a tiny dot on legs. I’d love to know how this works.

I’m also team spider. They freak me out but I try to leave them, or trap and release the big ones I can’t bear to ignore. They pay me back in fly control.

I grew up with a cat with hardly any teeth. She would suck the life out of them and then spit them out on the stairs. Definitely became a household who put the light on after the first few times she did it. Disgusting cat.

This is the only thing that has ever worked. I actually love the cellar ones. I know they keep me safe from the scary chunky fuckers.

We have cats and they are great for getting rid of them but it’s sometimes worse as they will play with them and let them run before catching again which a) seems cruel but b) prolongs the spiders being in my house! I’ve tried everything; courses, hypnotherapy, went to some lectures on phobias, aversion and immersive therapy nothing has worked for me. Conkers, peppermint etc did nothing. Only thing that helps is the cats

Another vote for a cat

I feel your pain. I'm terrified. So much so (and I'd love to say I'm joking here but I'm not ) when my marriage was going through a really bad period, it's one of the factors that made me think twice about splitting up: the fact I'd be dealing with spiders on my own! (Luckily we're in a good place now me and DH)

Also, now and again (he's older) I think of things like how I'd deal with clearing the loft out/garage if he died 🙈😯 and the thought makes me panic (because of encountering large spiders )

I'm really horribly phobic.

I've joined a spider group on Facebook and it does help a little (I've gained more knowledge and people talk in positive language about spiders and it does kind of psychologically help with reconditioning ) I'm also now ok with them outside. And can leave small and medium ones indoors mostly alone.

I've identified two types I am petrified of : GHS (giant house spiders) and segestria Florentina. Those ones trigger a full blown phobia response.

I dread every September and late August (looks like we're there now 😬) because it's spider season. I don't even know how people do the paper/glass thing. There's no chance I'd get that close.

Nothing particularly works to deter. I have bought lemon diffusers and stuck them round the house as apparently they are repelled by citrus. But ... I'm not holding out too much hope

Keep windows closed if able. (Females are already resident in your home if they're there - it's the males that come in , looking for the females)

Cellar spiders (spindley ones) are great to keep and let breed : they will attack and kill the biggies believe it or not. Luckily we've got loads of them. I never kill them.

Indorex spray is meant to work. But people on here will disapprove as technically it's cruel. I've never dared try it as I have children and my son had asthma when young.

I feel your pain, OP! They make the unreachable ceiling above the stairs look like a Halloween display when they start moving in!

I have fly screens, and even that doesn't seem to deter them. I'm going to stick mesh over any holes behind sinks and pipework and things, but I'll probably still find them sidling through extractor fans. I just want peace when I come home, not a new housemate invading my bathroom!

Yep I'm a spider hooverer. Quick and effective way to rid them for my anxiety.

Learn more about spiders so you are not so scared? Get hypnosis anti phobia treatment! Sometimes just knowing more about a thing can help it be less scary though.

@PumpkinPie2016 @Tolber
I am the same i have asked just about every neighbour (and a complete stranger) to get a spider for me.
Even reading this thread is making me on high alert.
People recommending spider catchers dont seem to understand there are different levels of fear. If I see a humongous one, I can't be in the same room let alone 2 arm lengths away from it using a catcher (i have short arms!) And what if the catcher malfunctioned and it fell out? My neighbour got me a clear one with a "lid" that slid down. Of course I couldn't use it at all but the lid seemed to move way too easily. I'd be worried I'd hold it the wrong way and it would just slide open!

My poodle likes to play with them.