Help - Arachnophobia living in a spidery house!

[Oaktreelife]

Have any arachnaphobes here successfully lived in a spidery house? How do you banish them?

I'm not joking that my phobia is real - it's the worst of anyone I've ever met. Over the last few years I've only lived in new build flats in the 4th / 5th / 6th floors and thankfully spiders don't go there (who knew) so I lived a blissful existence. Now married with DC we have just moved to a house. I had a feeling spiders might be an issue but tried not to overthink and concentrate on all the benefits for my family of our new home... but OMG!! We are renting a Victorian property with a courtyard garden, and the garden is just FULL of them!

I don't understand why. Growing up my parents had a garden and I don't remember so many spiders and webs everywhere. Is it because it's a courtyard surrounded by other homes? We had a gardener come and jet wash it all and I put up fairy lights and a little table and chairs, but only 3 weeks later and the lights and chairs are covered in cobwebs 🤢🤢

There's an outdoor shed and I've not opened the door as I'm petrified! My DC are little and curious and I'm trying so hard not to pass in my phobia but am sure they'll pick it up.

The worst thing is I saw two MASSIVE black spiders horrible things in the sash windows today (outside) and I know that come September they'll be coming indoors.

I know I sound crazy but anyone should has arachnophobia should understand. I'm yearning for our old high up new build home!

Is there anything I can do to scare them off? Why are there so many? How can we deter them? Has anyone successfully done this?

(Ps I know curing my phobia would be best but I've no idea how you do that).

I cured my phobia by doing the friendly spider program at London zoo
i was terrified before
now I not remotely bothered by spiders. And can quite happily take a big one out in a plastic tub into the garden
i cannot tell you the relief of not worrying about them anymore

I've not tried them but there are apparently plug in things that have a noise that they hate (but humans can't hear). I was thinking of trying one in the autumn as we had ones last year that were so big I should have been charging them rent.

Spiderex spray - you can spray it round the inside of the window frames (when they’re open if you’d re what I mean) so the spiders outside won’t come in.
you can also spray it on the furniture and in corners etc.

Get a cat? They can be quite good at hunting spiders in the house.

Couple of old wives tales: conkers placed in the house (do they hate the smell??)

See-through bag of shiny 5p pieces, the reflection confuses their vision and wards them off.

Just to say I've got the plug in things. Useless. I found a cellar spider sat on top of it!

I have had arachnophobia since I was small. When I got pregnant I was determined my dd wouldn't be scared so I started to get near them. I think this is called exposure therapy or something. Then when she was 2 we went to a hallowe'en event and there was a tarantula. I held it and it ran up my arm. When she was 3 we moved in a house where we had loads of spider. Massive ones and my DH had to go away for two weeks. He bought me a spider catcher and now I'm chief spider get rid of-er in the house. I find the more you get hysterical then the more the spider seems scared and starts running away and that's what scares us. If you can catch them quickly and not get into a battle trying to kill them then the less anxious you get. It's a horrid viscous circle. But that is how you break it in my opinion. Good luck op. If all else fails get a cat. We have one and I rarely see them. Also if you get the spindly thin daddy long legs type leave them be as they eat the disgusting ones.

Vicious circle not a viscous circle 😂

Oh no! That plan is now out the window.

Another fan of the London zoo course here (other zoos do similar too if London is too far) - still make me jump sometimes if a big un pops out unexpectedly but once I've spotted I can move him outside no problems.

Not keen on my spidery shed either but can cope with it.

I had the plug in repellent at my old flat, getting that seemed to coincide with less chunky spiders, though now it's plugged in in my cellar. With the cellar spiders 😄

They're cheap enough to try, as are conkers and sprays (Indorex flea spray is meant to keep them away, maybe similar to Spiderex mentioned above?) but I think the phobia courses, whilst not cheap, are a good investment. Cat, less so, I've seen a house spider literally run into mine, and nothing 🙄

I spray a mix of peppermint oil and water around the door frames and window sills. they don’t like the smell. Cinnamon works too. Also down the plug holes
I used to get massive spiders at my old flat(ground floor- wooden window frames) and had a glass and junk mail to hand to catch them. Once i started doing the peppermint once a week it massively reduced the number that would sneak inside

A lot of posters will probably heavily criticise why I’m about to tell you but I’m a severe arachnophobic and the actions I’ve taken have made a huge difference. Flea bomb and flea spray every room (if you’ve got pets/kids) follow the guidance - we do this twice a year, we have sticky traps in keep places around the house. We’ve caught some big ones in there. I leave the spindly spiders as I’ve read they eat the big black ones. There is also another powder which you can deposit around which has also worked well and someone on here recommended it - can’t recall what it is called but I also use that.

I feel your pain! I moved from a second floor, remarkably spider free flat to a first floor flat in a oldish building which is definitely not spider free! I plan to move in a few years and will be heading for somewhere high up in a modern building again! Not just because of spiders. I liked living up there for lots of reasons but the lack of eight legged flatmates was a big plus!

I use 'zero in' spider repellent spray (be warned it has a horrible picture of one on the bottle - I am not normally bothered by pictures of them but this one is particularly freaky! I have stuck masking tape over it!). It is non toxic but they don't like the smell and I think it is quite effective. I had a bit of an invasion of the skinny cellar spiders in my bathroom and sprayed this all around the extractor fan and window, haven't seen one in there since.

I also have a 'katcha' vacuum thing which I really wasn't convinced would work but it's been amazing for catching the skinny ones. I've actually bought a second one for the car just in case! I am not sure how well it would do against a big black one but have read positive reviews so will give it a try come September!

I know about the skinny ones keeping the numbers of the big ones down but I find the skinny ones equally creepy so they get evicted!

@ PinkBuffalo I have often thought about doing the friendly spider program but I have tried hypnotherapy and it, sadly, didn't work for me. Had you tried anything else prior to the friendly spider program? I am much better at managing my fear but it would be amazing to be unbothered by them!

Buy some Indorex spray. It's marketed as a pet flea treatment, but many people buy it because the side effect is it kills any insect that flies or crawls. We live in a very, very old house in which every room has loads of beams. When we moved in, spiders were literally dropping on our heads. Someone mentioned this spray. I bought it, sprayed it on the window frames, skirting boards, beams and lightly over the carpets and all I found thereafter was dead bodies.

The effects last for at least six months before you have to respray.

Cats.

Four cats = very rare to see a spider (alive)

Hypnotherapy

Get a cat.

Im terrible about spiders and I moived into a house with a lot. I got a cat and trained her to hunt spiders (rewarding her with cat treats when she did) the hunting paid off but also I swear there were less immediately like the smell of cat kept them from coming out into the open as much

And yes indorex, also has the side benefit of stopping fleas for the cat you have to get....

There is also another powder which you can deposit around which has also worked well and someone on here recommended it - can’t recall what it is called but I also use that

Diatomaceous earth maybe?

Peppermint oil spray on any open windows every day from April until the windows close in October. I too am a huge arachnophobe. I have a problem with the commercially available sprays as they have pictures of spiders on them. So I make my own.

I want to do one of those courses but they seem so expensive

We’ve had hardly any since starting to use peppermint oil. It might be coincidence.

They're not cheap, but out of 40-odd on the day I did mine, only 1 person by the end couldn't catch a big house spider in a cup, so the success rate is pretty impressive

I have no idea if it's true, but I read they don't like citrus, so all my cleaning products are citrus scented and tbh it seems to have made a difference.
Clean and hoover regularly, if there's fewer bugs for them to eat and they're constantly disturbed they usually move on.
Throw out any cardboard, they seem to love the stuff.

I find it's the little jumping spiders that cover everything in webs outdoors, a big dustpan brush works well to get rid.

Another advocate of peppermint oil spray around doors and windows here. It definitely seems to have reduced the number I get coming in. I have a real phobia too, I can’t even look at pictures of them.

That is it @Lellochip

I was also worried about the cost but I had to do something it was actually ruining my life. Can honestly say it was worth every penny to not be frightened in my own home