Massive spider in lounge, shut the door and sealed with masking tape last night,now what?

One of my favourite movie quotes.

I feel you OP, my DS moved to Australia almost two years ago and sends me photos of huge spiders that appear in their apartment, makes my skin crawl.
I try not to kill them if I can but the cats love a leggy snack.

I’m not happy with spiders at all, by the way but unfortunately fly spray does not kill only the exact insect you aim at as the mist goes into the air.

I have the trapdoor spider catcher and a suction one. I use the trapdoor one more, but the handle isn’t that long as you still need to be able to hold it in place and slide the door across. You can turn it so the door falls shut but sometimes that squishes the spider. Another tip is to get a plastic cup to catch it, then you can throw the whole lot out the door and retrieve the cup etc later. I also read some where to put conkers in the corners of your rooms to keep them away. DH thought it was ridiculous but I think it helped!

Have you tried it on false widows ? Didn't seem to work for me .

Thankfully, I'm not scared of spiders and can pick them up with my bare hands.

I wonder if there's a business opportunity here? I could be like an emergency service for arachnophobes.

I have every sympathy with anyone who has a phobia, I was totally bird phobic for decades until I had CBT for it. It had got so bad I thought I might have to give up driving, because stupid birds fly at your windscreen and the urge to just duck and put my arms over my head was getting near impossible to resist. And I had to be able to drive to do my job, so that would have meant jacking it in.

AI Overview

+5

"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/B9aM4rH692M" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen> 1]

Kill it?

Had a coworker who was like that about autism and allergies. Said they didn't exist because when she was at school, none of her friends had either. Funnily enough, she didn't like spiders and got the rest of us to get rid of them. So OP, ask someone to do it for you.

Haven't read whole thread OP as it started with some really unkind comments.
Get someone to help you - get your vacuum cleaner (preferably a cylinder one with a long narrow pipe). Have it ready to switch on at very short notice. Get the person to open the door and go in. When they find it, switch on and suck it up in vacuum cleaner. Meantime you can stay outside the door to monitor if it comes out. This is how we deal with it - one of my DC is really phobic about them. You will then know it has been dealt with. it won't survive the dustbag, but my DD likes to keep the motor running a minute or so longer, and even stuffs a tissue into the pipe afterwards to stop anything coming out - it can't though - its dead. Hope this helps. 🌸

They only kill what you spray.

Spray the spider and it dies. Spider goes in the bin so it cannot be eaten and kill anything else. What else dies as a result?

They don't hold it at the end of spider season at all, it's late spring so that the learning can be embedded in practice when spider season comes around. At the end of spider season would be pointless.

the problem with this approach is that poisons are pretty indiscriminate and kill all sorts. I get a phobia though.

I loathe them too. And it's an inborn fear I read. Because some spiders are dangerous. I'd open the door spray the room with strong insecticide. And leave it for a few hours.

What's the connection between an irrational fear and adulthood?

I assume you know what irrational means and you're just being nasty

The only thing about this approach is you now don’t know where the spider is! I’ve got one of those contraptions that gently picks the spider up from a distance and it seems to work very well. I guess you could urgently order one from Amazon. https://amzn.eu/d/0aMZ0dHU

@lightclock I seriously would have done the same. Next day delivery on spider traps from Amazon the sticky kind and stick in every corner and under the furniture and you’ll catch it

A can of red Raid spray works wonders. Few sprays and it dies within seconds. Some will blast me on here for killing it but hey it works.

Just to add, I attended "spider school" at London Zoo about 15 years ago. It was quite beneficial, but annoyingly they often hold it at the end of spider season, apparently they do this so the house spiders they use are nice and big by then. It did work for me but if you're not constantly exposed to spiders after, it does tend to wear off, so unfortunately this did happen as it was the end of the season.

Anybody who thinks these phobias are just "silly".... there was a grandmother there who actually accidentally ripped the feeding tube from her premature grandchild whilst jumping up after seeing a spider. That's what finally drove her to seek help. My own friend who took me to the class actually had her cancer stricken mum come round in the middle of the night to shift her fridge freezer out the way to catch one.

There's nothing rational about a phobia.

Actually do you have a cat or access to one? They like eating spiders.

Burn the house down of course

What a cunty reply

🤣🤣🤣

I used to live in Kent but I like the vibe here. It's just the wildlife can periodically get a bit full on.

Have to say I had the same once and it took me about 4 months to finally use the lounge properly again. Get one of those cordless hoovers and hold it while ur in there incase u see it again

No - let it roam freely around the house.

Spiders kill flies. It boggles my mind how many people seem to be unaware of this. Spiders are excellent for pest control.