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

342 replies

lightclock · 09/08/2026 13:20

What do I do now? Never enter the lounge again?

OP posts:
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7
Doingtheboxerbeat · 09/08/2026 18:09

Oh OP Mumsnet , is the worst possible place to come for sympathy for your arachnophobia I'm afraid. You will get some award winning insights informing you that you are simple-minded, spiders can't hurt you, they help with flies, to get a glass grip etc.

Best of luck to you 🥺.

LooksLikeIPickedTheWrongWeekToQuitDrinking · 09/08/2026 18:21

All the people wanging on about phobias… OP has NOT claimed to have arachnophobia, and says she’s usually happy putting spiders outside, pretty much confirming that she absolutely does not have a phobia of spiders.

”Phobia” on MN, at least, seems to mean “I don’t like it” rather than “I have an irrational fear”

Similarly, I’d never heard of emetophobia before I came here, but it seems 95% of MNers have it 🤔

Sidebeforeself · 09/08/2026 18:24

LooksLikeIPickedTheWrongWeekToQuitDrinking · 09/08/2026 18:21

All the people wanging on about phobias… OP has NOT claimed to have arachnophobia, and says she’s usually happy putting spiders outside, pretty much confirming that she absolutely does not have a phobia of spiders.

”Phobia” on MN, at least, seems to mean “I don’t like it” rather than “I have an irrational fear”

Similarly, I’d never heard of emetophobia before I came here, but it seems 95% of MNers have it 🤔

I take it you dont have a fear of heights up there in your ivory tower?!

CellophaneFlower · 09/08/2026 18:51

RoseField1 · 09/08/2026 15:52

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.

I went in September and was told that was the reason. Perhaps it's changed now but that was definitely the reason I was given as to why they didn't do it earlier.

Dontcallmescarface · 09/08/2026 18:54

ElectricLegs · 09/08/2026 16:32

It sounds like you need a man!

All the men in my life are wimps when it comes to spiders....I do all the catching here.

TaVeryMuchLove · 09/08/2026 19:34

If it’s really massive, you should invoice it for rent.

failing that, move out. Let the spider keep the house and be done with it.

TaVeryMuchLove · 09/08/2026 19:35

ElectricLegs · 09/08/2026 16:32

It sounds like you need a man!

This comment is far scarier than the spider.

Sharptonguedwoman · 09/08/2026 19:49

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Came here to say this.

Sharptonguedwoman · 09/08/2026 19:55

youdeserveit · 09/08/2026 13:33

Raid spray will kill them

Alternatively I have been known to use hairspray (brilliant), deodorant (rubbish) and a sinus rinse bottle to send one down the drain

Goodness sake. just pick it up and chuck it ouside. Killing unnecessary.

Sharptonguedwoman · 09/08/2026 19:57

Unexpectedlysinglemum · 09/08/2026 13:43

You need to call your dad if you still have him and get him to search every nook and cranny until it’s found. This is what my dad did for me when a beast ran into my wardrobe he went though alll clothes until it was found!

Are you not an adult?

EmeraldShamrock000 · 09/08/2026 19:57

I would have to overcome my fear and catch the spider. I would be too paranoid to sleep knowing he was lurking.

Sharptonguedwoman · 09/08/2026 19:58

Dontcallmescarface · 09/08/2026 18:54

All the men in my life are wimps when it comes to spiders....I do all the catching here.

Me as well. ExDp was a complete wimp about spiders. I was the one who caught them and chucked them out.

Minasama · 09/08/2026 19:59

Take a glass and a piece of card and trap the spider, then put it outside. These are the things we have to learn to do as householders! Or go and find a nice neighbour to help.

Allseeingallknowing · 09/08/2026 20:09

AllotmentOtter · 09/08/2026 17:32

These contraptions are brilliant!

OP I have a phobia too, although I'm not quite as bad as I used to be. Taping up a door may sound bonkers to anyone who doesn't have our phobia but I totally get it. Methods I've used before include:

Getting my neighbour round to remove the beast.

Home made scoop:
#1 an empty litre juice carton with the end cut off to form a scoop shape and the other end stabbed onto a long handled meat fork.
#2 a plastic flower pot sellotaped securely to the end of a broom handle. This one was used to remove a monster from the bath; bathroom window opened first, as wide as it would go, then scoop, lift and chuck in one smooth motion. And when I say chuck I do indeed mean flower pot, broom and all right into the garden.

Trapping the horror under a glass, drawing arrows on several pieces of paper and arranging them to form a path leading from the back door into the lounge and ending with a note by the glass saying Spider Under Here. Got up in the morning to find the arrows leading from the bottom of the stairs to the glass and a note from my DM saying Spider All Gone.

These days I use one of the thingies with bristles above if I'm feeling brave enough to deal with it myself (I prefer these because you can still maintain some distance between you and the abomination. The plastic ones with a sliding trapdoor are ok if the thing is on a wall and you can rotate the contraption to slide the trapdoor shut, but if Boris is on the floor you have to manually slide the door closed which means nearly touching the damned spider. NO!) or get DH or DDog in on the act.

Nothing beats this!

Massive spider in lounge, shut the door and sealed with masking tape last night,now what?
RoseField1 · 09/08/2026 20:13

LooksLikeIPickedTheWrongWeekToQuitDrinking · 09/08/2026 18:21

All the people wanging on about phobias… OP has NOT claimed to have arachnophobia, and says she’s usually happy putting spiders outside, pretty much confirming that she absolutely does not have a phobia of spiders.

”Phobia” on MN, at least, seems to mean “I don’t like it” rather than “I have an irrational fear”

Similarly, I’d never heard of emetophobia before I came here, but it seems 95% of MNers have it 🤔

Don't be absurd. If OP didn't have a phobia she wouldn't have taped the bloody room up and run away. Arachnophobia is extremely common and can apply to certain types of spiders and not others. You sound really ignorant.

Doingtheboxerbeat · 09/08/2026 20:16

Allseeingallknowing · 09/08/2026 20:09

Nothing beats this!

I just love your dedication 🤭 you demonstrate necessity being the mother of all invention .

LathkillDale · 09/08/2026 20:28

NRTFT, but do you know anyone with a cat? Send the cat in!

We had a massive spider on the wall of the lounge. I don’t mind spiders, but DC were screaming hysterically (the oldest has a genuine phobia of spiders and he taught it to the other two). A neighbour’s young cat walked up to the spider, put its paw up to pin the spider to the wall and ate it!

ClaireEclair · 09/08/2026 20:50

Grow up?

Damnedidont · 09/08/2026 20:56

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Spectacularly ignorant comment from someone who has no idea about phobias

TheFormerMrsTruelove · 09/08/2026 20:56

MidnightMeltdown · 09/08/2026 14:42

House spiders don’t go outside. They live in houses. They die outside.

Yes they do. I’ve seen one do it.

The British Arachnological Society say “It is, in fact, impossible to rid an area of spiders for any length of time because new spiders soon recolonise a house if the original inhabitants are killed off. They will constantly 'top-up' the house by entering through windows, doors, drain pipes, over-flow pipes, air-bricks, chimneys and in items brought into the house. During the autumn, many even fly on strands of silk, a process known as ballooning, and can drift indoors through windows or open doors”.

So by virtue of the fact that some come inside the house, they have to have come from outside the house.

Doubletroubledoubled · 09/08/2026 20:56

I’ve got better as I’ve got older but not long after we got married OH went to out to watch football one night and within minutes of him leaving one appeared on the stairs. I managed to put a glass over it and there it stayed until he got back hours later. Every so often I’d go and have a look to make sure it was still living.
Nowadays I’m much better with them, but once I know there’s one around it has to go. OH is happy to let them be and I’d put good money on the fact that if he sees one he doesn’t tell me.

TeaIsLovely · 09/08/2026 20:58

Call Zendaya and tell her to get him out of your house.

Tunnocks34 · 09/08/2026 20:59

This sounds insane but the things that helped my fear of spiders was talking to them. So if I’d see a massive spider I’d say ‘oh hello Dave? On your way home? Hope you’ve had a good day at work!’ Then I’d imagine this spider was just off home to his wife and kids. Now I can cope with being in the same room with a spider, even if one was say, in the bath whilst I used the bathroom I’d be fine. Wouldn’t be able to touch one though!

TheFormerMrsTruelove · 09/08/2026 21:02

Sharptonguedwoman · 09/08/2026 19:57

Are you not an adult?

Is there really nothing on earth that frightens you? Lucky old you.

Cobrakainerd · 09/08/2026 21:06

Sid the spider lives in our shed! As long as he stays in the hole in the brickwork and doesn't go near my bike I won't freak out. The day he does my shed will be nuked!