Arachnophobia

[Spider12345666666]

I have a severe phobia of spiders and as it’s spider season I’m finding quite a few in my house and to top it off I looked up at the ceiling today and there were around 50/100 baby spiders grouped together that must of hatched in my room!!!!! It was horrific and I cannot relax at all tonight all I’m thinking is where are the mum and dad and are the more babies🙈 Is anyone else suffering with this and how are you coping ?

I find people laugh at me or tell me I’m ridiculous when I explain how scared I am, if I see one on the floor I freeze and my heart starts pounding and I feel sick. I will scream the house down if I’m alone but force myself to squash it with a slipper otherwise i know it will escape in the house and I won’t be able to stay here. Now I have a child I have to pretend I’m not scared because they absolutely love spiders ! I’m finding it so hard not to show my fear.

I feel silly saying all this and wish I wasn’t like this but it’s started to affect my life quite abit , if I need to go downstairs I will check every step for a spider before I step on it and will be checking all the floors while I’m walking around , any tips on how to cope ? I’ve bought nets to put on the windows to stop them getting in and sprayed repellent but there still getting in and the fact I had baby ones in here is making me think have i got an infestation?!

I actually do agree with you @IamJuliaJohnson. We shouldn't be killing stuff just because they're not cute and we hate them. We need to tolerate them.

Yes I'm definitely scared of giant house spiders. But the spider catcher I linked to above has really helped me get them away from me without harming them.

Which sprays are safe for cats? Are there any?

I am so spider phobic, they get hoovered of DH isn’t around to dispose of them.

@TheWonderCat

Which sprays are safe for cats? Are there any?

I am so spider phobic, they get hoovered of DH isn’t around to dispose of them.

Indorex is safe as it is to kill and prevent fleas but apparently also works on spiders.

Aw, sad at all the sprays

Hypnotherapy is the way to go

I'm with @Zeal and say it every year. The spindly ones are your friends. I'm petrified of house spiders, but I let the spindly ones be cos the enemy of my enemy is my friend! And they aren't scary, they don't zoom around, they just hang out in corners mostly. Occasionally one might abseil down but they're so easy to catch in a glass and move to another part of the house.

I have at least one in every room now and the only time they bother me is if they're directly over my bed, and then I just move them to the bathroom or hallway. There's a crop of babies over the stairs ATM, I'm leaving them alone. They'll self-regulate (by eating each other ) so there aren't too many for the environment.

Every year I post about them, I'm such a fan, and honestly, I'm so phobic of big spiders.

But I would never use the toxic sprays as recommended above b/c I wouldn't want to kill my pholcids.

So grateful for this thread!! even just thinking about them for too long is scaring me (why I often get scared to google tips)

I’m relocating soon and my biggest fear of living alone is not having anyone to help when it comes to getting rid of spiders. I can’t tell other people because they laugh and don’t take me seriously. Like a pp, I’ve also put myself in dangerous situations before because of my fear

This is going to sound really stupid but does anyone know if living higher up (e.g., 10th floor or higher in a new build flat) will make them less likely to come in? Whenever I think of being in hotels I’ve rarely had them despite some not always being clean, having crumbs etc

Also I am planning to get an extra strong vacuum
I think I’d aim to dispose of the vacuum bag immediately if I got one, to prevent it coming out overnight or something

@spotcheck

Aw, sad at all the sprays

Hypnotherapy is the way to go

But how do you get them to sit still for it?

Yep, Raid in the red can. It will die within minutes of it being sprayed even if it disappears. I pretreat areas with Raid too and it does seem to help as I don’t get very many. I also leave the spindly ones because I have seen with my own eyes that they do indeed catch the big ones, along with daddy long legs, wasps, other spindly spiders etc etc - it’s amazing how much they catch and consume, I don’t know where they put it.

Jeeze what a bunch of cunts you lot who are killing them with indorex spray…and other nasty chemicals

Do you know how much of a nasty death for a spider? Which actually play an important part of the ecosystem…

@Spider12345666666 I suggest you look at other ways of dealing with your fear, there is plenty of help out there you just need to be ready and open to support..but I suspect instead of doing something positive about your fear you will turn into the type of people on this thread you will buy the spray and be as bad as them.

@Ashleighz88

You all need a cat, a Maine Coon cat to be precise, I used to get soooo many spiders and even considered selling my house due to the fields at the back. I've not seen any in the 3 years since having him, except the dead ones he didn't fancy eating . Every night he literally patrols the perimeter. My absolute hero.

My Maine Coon isn’t bothered by spiders, just gives them a disinterested glance.

Having said that I actually haven’t seen a massive one for a couple of years, so maybe she does hunt them on her own time?

I am absolutely phobic, but I can’t kill them. That’s really shitty, for reasons given above.

Also, if you put them in the hoover they don’t die just so you know. If you/someone else puts them outside the house make sure they walk a bit before they let them lose, they make their way back in otherwise.

Loose*

I wish there was a service you can call late at night to remove them ! We had one on our bed a fair size I thought it was a moth at first, it ran and we lost it, we stripped the bedroom I literally layed on the floor and saw it, partner got it in a cup and chucked it out, I was ready to move out never take your eyes off of a spider ever!!

However, I don't agree with killing them because your scared but there are exceptions sometimes I suppose I'm the one sweating and shaking my partners the same but he's trying to overcome his fear

@HesterShaw1

OP I was the same for years. I could just about cope with smaller, spindly or outside garden spiders, but there was no horror like the giant house spiders. I was never a fan, but there was an incident when I was in the shower washing my hair and I opened my eyes to find an absolute monster a few inches from my face on the shower curtain. I totally lost control of my phobia after that, though I could never kill them. That crunch for a starters

Three things happened. My marriage broke up and my cat died (both of them resident spider catchers) so I had no choice other than to deal with my fear alone. And then someone bought me a spider catcher like ]]. Yes I was terrified using it the first few times, but I'm managing. It really works and it helps you to face your fears, but at a bit of a safe distance.

Oh my God! What a wonderful invention! My little ginger hunter cat dropped three ginormous spiders in front of me this spring. I almost cried. I’m off to order this fabulous thing right now

I just bought some indorex to deal with my flea infestation (thank you moggies) and the dead spider side effect is wonderful. Found a huge one whilst picking clothes off my daughters bedroom floor, I almost had a heart attack. Especially when it ran at my screams of terror. Why do they do that instead of using their eight hairy legs to run and hide?

@QueenOfDuisburg

I'm with you OP (and others in the same boat). Nobody understands how deep my fear is until they see me confronted with a spider! I find myself constantly on edge when in the house from late July until early November - it's real anxiety. Plus I spend a lot of the time leading up to the late summer/autumn worrying that it's almost spider season! I have done some very stupid things to try and get away from them too, putting myself and other in danger.

One thing I've read a few times now (I saw it on Autumn Watch last year too!) is that the thin, spindly spiders that like to hang in the corners of ceilings and walls actually kill the giant house spiders that are around now, so this year I have tried to embrace those as they are the lesser of two evils! I couldn't have one too close to me or touch one but I don't mind letting them stay in far corners of rooms. So far they seem to have been working (and I actually saw a house spider dead in the web of one in our porch a couple of weeks ago)!

I will look into these sprays though,

Is this actually true, I've been sucking them all up with the vacuum cleaner 😂

I'd like to know why the spider- repellent sprays always have photos of giant spiders on them! It's so stupid because people with spider phobias can't look at them! They should use a cute cartoon instead.

The spider season seems to be particularly bad this year. We've had lots of medium-sized ones and two real whoppers ☹. I'm lucky to have a DH who isn't phobic, otherwise I don't know what I'd do. Move out, probably.

Out garage is poorly sealed so spider city. I have no problem with all the types except the massive hairy ones. I'm on the waiting list forbthr ZSL fiemslt spider programme as I have had a few bad experiences in the garage.

It is so so great to hear from other people that feel the same i don’t know anyone with a fear as bad as me, thank you for all the tips I’m ordering some indorex spray now, I was also wondering if it was safe to get it on carpets etc aswell?

I don’t think we are a bunch of cunts. I won’t be able to relax if I know there’s a spider on the loose and I can’t catch it and put outside im too scared, the only thing I can do is squash it whilst crying.
I’ve had an awful incident last week where there was a gap in my skirting board and I saw GIANT hairy legs poking out and I don’t think I managed to kill it I sprayed a ton of raid down there and filled in the gap with filler but I’ve felt on edge all week I have never seen a spider that big in my life.

This is what was on my ceiling 😭😭😭😭 Horrific ! Surely that’s not normal I’m also scared of the thin spiders and daddy long legs so I can’t leave them either. Really hoping indorex works.

And you have proven my point….

So instead of dealing with your fear your going to kill them! In a rather nasty way I might add 🤷‍♀️ but that’s ok as long as you sleep better don’t worry about it hey?

I really dislike this thread people are so bloody ignorant

@BeautyQueenIamNot

And you have proven my point….

So instead of dealing with your fear your going to kill them! In a rather nasty way I might add 🤷‍♀️ but that’s ok as long as you sleep better don’t worry about it hey?

I really dislike this thread people are so bloody ignorant

Talk about being a cunt….

@SecretWitch

OP I understand being so scared. I'm much better than I was in that I can tolerate (ie not go batshit) over smaller ones and the spindly ones eg have left the spindly ones alone even in my bedroom and even came to bed the other day leaving one (not massive) downstairs. I think it's cause sh doesn't understand the phobia abs so dies t just remove them unless it's big or I make a fuss.

I still can't stand the big ones. Those of you with a phobia will get it. I'm home alone this week but luckily I have food neighbors who know about my phobia and would come over if I called so that gives me some peace of mind but I fear seeing one at an unsociable hour as I wouldn't be able to call in the middle of the night...

Saying I don't mind the smaller ones, there's one in my bathroom and I started a thread about it last night...