To be scared about the spider season this year

Ardap from Amazon!!! I use it every 2 months on my windows, doors and skirting boards and haven’t seen a spider in just over 2 years that I’ve lived here. (Touch wood).

Do you think that heart attacks never hurt anyone @hahabahbag? Well, I wouldn't be surprised if a giant, scuttling, spider gives me a heart attack one day! I cannot even touch a photograph of a spider, and even if they are dead I can't stand to pick them up in a piece of kitchen paper to throw them out.

The smaller spiders called false widow spiders, that have a design on their backs that look like a human skull, can give very serious bites, that often swell up, and have been known to cause Sepsis in some unfortunate people!

Spiders make me have nightmares about them, and the constant fear of them cause me, and obviously a lot of other people, to spend the whole of spider season very stressed. Severe constant stress can cause all sorts of problems to our minds and bodies, so please don't say that the spiders in the UK are harmless 😩

It's Raid Ant and Cockroach spray that I use - I use "too much" and it always works. I do feel bad but I reacted so badly to being bitten that I can't risk it again. My quite brutal DM sprays them with extra hold hairspray them sp they curl up in a ball then gets them with her "spider stick" :S.

This is what we did (after seeing it on a post here a few years ago!).

The cellar spiders stay up high and out of your way. The ones we have seem to have learnt that they are tolerated as long as they don't come near me. They are also ruthless and efficient hunters of giant black house spiders!

We used to have a nightmare with them every year. So I got DH to bring in four cellar spiders from the outside toilet.

Haven't seen one GHS for the last two spider seasons!

Can anyone recommend spray that works ( that they have seen work)

Don’t think you realise how good spiders are at flattening themselves to get in the tiniest of spaces!

You can get cognitive behavioural therapy for phobias from the NHS.

https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt/

In your shoes I'd give it a go, as just the possibility of spiders might be enough to make you anxious

Fly screens get them up

It’s a long tube, you have no actual contact. Spiders can flatten themselves very well and can get through the narrowest gap or crack. Sealing all the windows and doors won’t prevent them. You have to open them sometimes! They can also get in via other routes, fresh veg, on shoes etc etc. Phobias can be successfully overcome with therapy - have you tried it?

Those of us with a real phobia are unable to get close enough to use one of those.

I have taken to sealing the bedroom window and any gaps in skirting etc with a polyfiller type substance to try to keep them out! I never use the bedroom window anyway and I'm sure it would be easy enough to bust it open in the event of a fire.

You do know they’re not actually running at you, or wouldn’t that spider in the garage be leaping on you every time you go near it? You are just an object in the way.

The spider vacuum I gave a link to yesterday is easy to use and solves the problem. Forget messy oils,conkers, lavender etc.

I've just looked at one of these sprays mentioned and it doesn't look like it works on false widows i also tried raid on false widows and it didn't seem to work

is indorex ok for pets?

I feel your pain, have a massive phobia of spiders. I find what has helped is spraying them, as I have an outside area that attracts them for some reason and when they die, I keep looking at it. It has definitely desensitised my reaction and I feel more able to cope with dealing with them. I dread September/October....but I cope a bit better now

I’m like you OP. I have three cats and rarely see them now and never big house ones. I also Hoover very well, focus on corners and keeping corners clutter free and I spray peppermint essential oil around the edges and corners in the season (I can’t even write the word!) I also spray a defensive ring of peppermint around my bed. I clean with Purdy & Figg peppermint spray in the season and so far so good!

I’ve been here 11 years and seen two live large ones.

My fear is so bad that a catcher would be useless to me. I can only deal with them via a Hoover. But three cats is the best way tbh. Though this will be the first year without my best catcher/eater so we will see.

They’re not going to run up the hoover, they’re as scared of you as you are of them. The worst that will happen if you miss is it will run away to hide.

We had loads when I lived in my mum and dad's detached house but fortunately I now live in a 3 storey terrace townhouse and I have never seen one on the middle and top floors. I suspect they go straight through.

Phobias are totally irrational. Mine is cranefly/daddy long legs. I have been known to bolt from the house down to the bottom of the garden.

But them big feckers don't mind their own business. They run at you, get in your bed, climb up on the couch etc... I'm terrified. I can cope with the cellar spiders cos they hang around in their webs minding their own business. We've got a big one in the garage but again it just reacts when something gets in its web, doesn't bother you otherwise. I have a spider catcher but last year one ran up the curtains and it was difficult to get. It was horrible. I really want one of those pop up mosquito nets, bit like a tent, to sleep in. I haven't even seen any yet and I'm checking clothes, towels, bed etc... I'm absolutely dreading it 😫

I totally sympathise @Whatever555Trigger warning ‼️ Recently my dog has started eating windfall plums from the garden which I’m actively trying to discourage for a couple of reasons; 1. Sometimes wasps are on them and I don’t want her to get stung; 2. Fear of her swallowing the pip. Earlier this week she came trotting in all spritely and proud and I knew she had something in her mouth. I gently coaxed her to release it. Her mouth wasn’t gaping enough for it to be a plum so I thought it was a wasp. She started slowing chewing then spat out the biggest now mangled spider I’d ever seen. I gathered it up with a tissue and binned it. A few minutes later she was coughing and spluttering a bit and out fell 2 long hairy legs and what I think was a bit of body 🤢.

Actually I think it’s not an irrational phobia , house spiders can give a nasty bite, and false widow spiders can also make a person very unwell from their bite. I hate spiders too, although the ones with the tiny bodies and spindly legs are always welcome in my house- they actually kill the big house spiders, and stay out of the way in a corner on the ceiling.

Congratulations on knowing the difference a lot of people don't. I was responding to a post by OP about how I probably happily kill insects. I have done a course in entomology and highly recommend it, I am fascinated by all things creepy and crawly.

@scoobysnaxx I said that other people with phobias don't kill the subjects of those phobias. It seems it acceptable to kill something that scares you if it's much smaller than you despite it not actually being out to harm you in anyway.
I used to be terrified of wasps full on screaming and crying if one came near me. I realised how stupid my attitude to something that wasn't trying to hurt me and was so small. Now they get escorted back out the window or I walk away from them. They have the same right to live as I do.

Love a big spider. Dobbie the house spider munches up all the flies. Friend not foe.

@susiedaisy1912 that was my first thought also what an horrific sounding spider !!

Bloody hell . @AnonymousReader what cockroach spray

Yes and when it's been recharged, it's a strong suction..

I then just tap the tube outside and spider escapes.