To be scared about the spider season this year

@Whatever555 You can sign up for priority or pre-notification when the London Zoo course bookings open. They are so popular they book up immediately. So if you’re interested in doing it, contact them and ask about this.

I had a spider phobia for about 30 years and did this course a few years ago. It’s been life changing. So I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. I am now not afraid of them, and can catch them in glasses and dispose of them myself. This was unheard of pre-course!

I really feel for anyone living in a "spidery" house.

I couldn't do it. Especially not the big uns. I understand the fear and the vigilance.

We cultivated some populations of cellar spiders in our last (full of crevices, Victorian) house. It helped that some areas of the house were a bit damp. Not bad enough to need treating but you'd notice a little bit of paint bubbling etc

Anyway, after that I only saw dead ones. Still had to suck then up with the hoover, couldn't bear to get close just in case.

@Whatever555 I am just back from the spider friendly course in London zoo which I did there just last Saturday. It was absolutely amazing. I am exactly the same as you in terms of my phobia and I also live in a old house old Victorian house which I spend two months of every year being petrified to walk into a room or turn on a light. But by the end of the spider course on Saturday I was holding a live tarantula in my hand although I can honestly say that holding a tarantula was less scary than dealing with the house spider. I don’t think I will ever love house spiders and I think I will always be afraid of them, but I think after the course I am now going to be able to just get a glass and pop it over them and slide the cardboard under it and put them outside and that’s a massive step forward for me. I also used to find that the London zoo course was always booked up but then I signed up for their E Mail alerts by which you can get advance notice of the courses so once I did that as soon as I got the email I went straight on and booked my spot but yes I spent about three or four years constantly going online to see if I could book in, the only way to get it is to is to sign up and give them your email address and then you’ll get advance notice of the courses honestly do it. It’s one of the best things I ever did. It completely change my outlook and as I said it’s not like I’m completely fear free now but I feel a lot more in control.

Oh God 😣 absolute worst nightmare!!

@Whatever555 I fully sympathise. I too am totally petrified and always feel nervous especially before bedtime in case there are any lurking around. I had a huge one run across the bed covers last summer and I think it's traumatised me for the rest of my days.

Another vote here for cellar spiders if you can manage to live with a few of them as they scare away the house spiders (witnessed :).

OP I couldn’t read and run.

I understand. My last house was like this. It was derelict for a year before we moved in and renovated, and I’m convinced there was some sort of colony there. I wasn’t keen on spiders before we lived there, but had a full blown phobia by the time we left.

It was hideous. People who haven’t lived somewhere like that just can’t understand. It was most days - lift a towel from the floor and there’d be one there. Leave a drawer open and they’d be in your clothes. In your shoes. I had one in an open cereal box and it ran out when I tipped the cereal in my bowl. I could go on and on.

It makes you so incredibly on edge to live like that. I couldn’t watch tv after 9pm ish because they’d start coming out. You’d be on the sofa and one would suddenly run out across the floor. They were absolute monsters too. It’s making me shudder even now.

I have never lived in a house like that before, and if I did again I would move. Is moving an option for you?

You are absolutely not being unreasonable, weak, pathetic, irrational etc. People who haven’t lived in a house like this can’t understand.

And although MN might burst into flames if admit it, eventually DH had to start culling them. If we put them out they just came back. It was really awful, but not all houses are like this.

I really hope this season is better for you. The fumigation sounds good - get all the loft/roof space done maybe?

I only kill the ones that come in the house, except for cellar spiders, everything else gets a dose of whatever toxic chemical is closest to hand.

With regards to the last part of my post - there are people with phobias of dogs but if a random dog showed up in their house they wouldn't kill it and dogs are a hell of a lot more "giant" than spiders.

I don't kill any insects, I keep some as pets actually and find them fascinating. I just don't believe fear gives you the right to kill something.

I'm terrified too and live in an old Victoria house. There was a product called SpiderEx we used for years but for some reason it isn't for sale in the UK anymore. There's probably a Cruelty to Spiders lobby somewhere. Anyway NOPE is a good alternative and then a week late I spray peppermint a week later. We only find corpses now and TBH that's horrible too. The fear is absolutely primitive. Even a photo can spook me.

Fumigating is a really good idea. I do this whenever I move into a new house. Also my cats eat the small ones we have here in Somerset.
When I lived in Bedfordshire the size of the spiders there were epic. I swear they were tarantula hybrids.

Your experience would have freaked me out, and would definitely have led to me having bad dreams too. I hope this year is much better for you!

@BloodandGlitter
I don't spray the spiders (or ants or bugs) but spraying it across the inner window ledge or door frame every spring creates a barrier they won't cross. Similar to you finding a shut door.

Yes to cellar spiders! They are the strange, fine-legged ones but they attack and eat other spiders, including massive house spiders, I've watched them in action!

Hang on a minute, I completely agree with you, especially since those sprays kill a lot more than just spiders, but your remark at the end there is very unhelpful and it’s not how you win people over. People with phobias understand very well that their fears are irrational. Poison isn’t the answer but neither is making people defensive.

Get some hypnotherapy for your phobia. Spiders are perfectly fine and important creatures. Please stop killing them!

Peppermint is not scientifically proven, to my knowledge, and from my own anecdotal experience a) I regularly use peppermint oil in diffusers and have pet tarantulas and they don’t care, and b) I currently have a house spider web in my herb planter stretched across the mint so she doesn’t care either! My gran swore by conkers at the windows to keep them away but that’s equally untrue.
The only solution to prevent them is pesticides but that is cruel and indiscriminate.

Exposure is the best solution. I used to be terrified of spiders…couldn’t be in the room with one. I started watching videos about spiders, then about people who keep them as pets, then I got my first tarantula baby and while I was still a bit scared of them at that point, I continued to learn how misunderstood they are. The house spider running across your floor is absolutely terrified of you. They won’t chase you - they can’t see well enough to chase you even if they wanted to! They’re actually hard to pick up cause they’re scared of us - they are very reluctant to touch us.

And we have no dangerous spiders here in the UK. Pictures of bites going manky are skin infections. Scaremongering gives the shitty news outlets something to post.

I cultivate the cellar spiders. I can cope with them and they eat the chunky bastards. My DH can’t believe I’m so protective over the cellar spiders, we’ve got loads of them but they’re my wonderful Pretorian guard.

I have a different irrational phobia of something probably harmless. So I don’t know why we end up with them but it’s definitely a case of “the wand chooses the wizard” or rather, “the phobia chooses the sufferer”. I would not begrudge anyone a spot of sympathy over a giant thing they’re scared of. Ignore the arseholes.
Imagine how oblivious you’d have to be to live under the delusion that you go through life harming nothing in the ecosystem and attacking others for doing normal pest control.

I 100% believe you. Live in a flat that is next to a big park Well maintained garden but the spiders are massive. As big as my palm (not including fingers). I've had huge anxiety about them. Walking into bathroom at night to find massive ones running around. Having them be quite aggressive too. Coming towards us rather than running away. Henry hoover is a life saver, hoovering every few days minimum. And if it's a big one I hoover up a handful of salt too to make sure it doesn't come back out. I also change the bags outside.

I am not scared of spiders, and I do not squash bugs I find. However, when we had an infestation of ants a few years ago I used a product called Deathlac on the window sill and around the window frame inside and out. This was about 5 years ago and I still find dead flies and beatles on the sill. It's like indorex but I can only assume x100 in strength! I imagine that speaks around the skirting boards etc would really help keep the spiders at bay.

Eta: I did know someone who had a phobia of spiders so although I'm fine with them I absolutely get how bad it can be. I'm scared of worms which is ridiculous!

I’ve never killed a spider, unless chucking them out of the bathroom window kills them. I also don’t eat meat or fish, no leather coats or handbags or purses, I don’t have a pet so don’t buy tinned cat/dog food, I don’t use fly spray, and if someone here uses some random spray because they’re scared of spiders, then I’m fine with that. Even if nine people on this thread want to use sprays then between the ten of us we are still killing fewer animals than most brits.

I drink coffee which has god knows what insects in it. Most people do.

And yes, a fear of spiders is irrational. Everyone has an irrational fear of something and most people have unconsciously arrange their lives to deal with that, whether it’s live in a city so they don’t have to drive, or take a job that will never involve public speaking or whatever. It’s a really really common fear to have.

Everyone watch out for the false widow special cradle /hammock webs. They are prolific and invasive and leave a nasty bite. Even the baby spiders can make huge webs. I saw a teeny tiny one take out a massive fly no problem and there are rumours they can take bats out

Use a spider vacuum , they gently suck it up, and you release it outside
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Katcha-Battery-Operated-Vacuum-Catcher/dp/B00FGOYI94/ref=asc_df_B00FGOYI94?mcid=ae81a344aa4e32f9a494ad7ecab77b91&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697244770528&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15689793002839943112&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9213543&hvtargid=pla-782518084200&psc=1&hvocijid=15689793002839943112-B00FGOYI94-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1

I'm not scared of spiders and even cohabit with false widows most of the time (I've even been bitten by one a few times when it managed to crawl into my leggings) but I do lose my mind in summer with all the flies that fly into my house so I do sympathise. Not sure what the answer is for you, hypnosis to try and lower your fear perhaps? I also keep a plastic tub and bit of card to remove bugs that go where they ought not to, even handy for wasps I find!