Spider season 😭

[Hardknocks]

I need all your foolproof tips. DH and I both scared of spiders, it’s pathetic. I just found a giant house spider in the bathroom and we both spent half an hour working out how to trap it, it involved a broom because both of us were too scared to go in the room and a very big tub!

I hate them so much, I can handle the smaller ones but the giant ones make me want to cry.

I hate people who kill spiders, and admit to doing so. Should be ashamed of themselves.

Im not the first to admit it and i wont be the last.

There's an awful lot of strong language on here. "hate people" and "despise people". That's pretty ugly language tbh.

Perhaps go and have a lie down before using aggressive language.

Would you eat a spider?

Indorex. You won’t see any for months after spraying it

Surely the ugliest language is comments like - 'I hate spiders if in my home they die. The choice of weapon is broom/mop/ shoe/ book/ lighter & spay. [sic]'

For people who would not kill (and torture) innocent creatures who do not harm, this is very upsetting to read.

Hysteria is no excuse for cruelty.

Where did you get this from please

I have Arachnophobia, it's not a case of just "growing up" it's a real fear and concern, I wish I didn't have it. Fortunately I have a fiance who isn't remotely bothered by them so he always catches them and puts them out in the garden.

@EvilNextDoor I need to be checking my grapes and bananas for what?!

What am I looking for? 😮

That’s a couple of people who’ve mentioned Indorex now, so I’ll get some. We’ve had some big ones this year already.

DH looks after the spider population in our house, removing them as requested (by me through loud screaming) with a spider catcher. He’s also told me a couple of interesting facts recently: 1) there will be more spiders this year than usual because it’s been a bad summer for wasps who normally eat them (good news for the wasp phobics at least and 2) Chester zoo has lead a successful programme in the Fenlands to bring back large numbers of raft spiders which are huge and can walk on water.

My cats and dog are all frightened of spiders and that’s my fault because they’ve watched me screaming. They all now hide behind me when a big one appears!

If you are in the UK then there are no such thing as 'giant' housepiders.

Just leave them alone fgs theyre not plotting to attack you, theyre just going about their business minding their own business.
Think how enormous and terrifying you are to the spider.
Unimaginably big and scary.

I used to be scared then I stiffened my spine in Australia and learnt to deal with spiders bigger than a plate.
Not pleasant but had to be done.
Bowl and piece of stiff card.
Please do not kill them.
They dont like essential oils like peppermint, and neither do rodents, so you could add some to white vinegar and use it as a wipe down of surfaces.
irrational fears need to be faced

Someone mentioned Indorex isn’t suitable if you have pets unfortunately! I use peppermint along the skirting boards, windows, and doors… don’t know if it ‘works’ but it makes me feel better 🤣

edit: I looked it up on Amazon and it’s a flea spray? So presuming people buy it because they have pets with fleas?

@loropianalover it is indeed a flea spray technically but it will kill (and continue to work for about 6 months), anything creepy crawly

It works fantastically on spiders but is marketed for fleas

I did the London Zoo Spider Friendly Course years ago. It helped for a while, but the phobia gradually came back.

I will buy some Indorex.

My spiders seem to have evolved as I only tend to see them high (ceilings and and cornice crevices) where the cats can't get to them.

I salute their ingenuity. But if they come to cat level they are taken out.

We had a massive, massive one (pretty sure after googling the horror that is a cardinal spider it was one of them) living in our hallway. It would often be sighted as it would kind of hang around by a crack in the skirting where it joined the front door. I was honestly jumping in and out of the house.

The cats don't usually go down in the hallway (we have another internal door) but one followed me out to get a delivery and managed to catch the giant spider. Except stupid cat didn't kill it and upon seeing how big it was, obviously had second thoughts. Ashamed to say I left cat and spider trapped in the hallway. I shut the internal door and went upstairs. When I came back only the cat was there!!!

Not sure what I'd have done if I came back and only the spider was there??

Apparently you just need to keep pets away for a certain amount of time after spraying - here it says 2 hours but elsewhere I've read 30 minutes https://www.viovet.co.uk/knowledgebase/a55-Using-household-flea-sprays-near-cats#:~:text=I%20would%20recommend%20keeping%20the,through%20for%2010%2D15%20minutes

Do you not have any phobias?

These are amazing! I couldn't be without mine

I agree

I am sorry to say @Insidenumber09 that they can and do crawl into and over your bed. I used to feel relatively safe, once I had inspected my bedroom thoroughly before getting into bed and glanced around the room a few times while reading my book but twice now I have woken in the night to find one of the big house spiders on my pillow. I was beside myself and utterly freaked out all night both times. Before that I had trained myself to accept them and deal with them calmly (using a glass and postcard) but now I have regressed to feeling jittery every time spider season comes around 😬
I have always thought that the females live in your house all year round and the males come in looking for them in the Autumn?
In solidarity with everyone who is fearful, it's not nice.

No. Why not answer my question?

So years ago I lived by a canal, one of those bloody raft spiders made it into my house! I've never seen anything like it! It was more like a crab but with lots of legs and a spider body, just freaky! I was on my own and ended up going next door to beg for help. The very kind neighbour recognised what it was and managed (very bravely) to get it into a tupperware box,and took it back to the canal.

I am absolutely petrified but luckily for me DH can pick them up and throw them out. He has no problem with them. So during spider season DH isn't allowed to go anywhere overnight 🤣

Right, here goes. I am an expert in this field, albeit self proclaimed!
1/First off, declutter. Spiders like cardboard and fabric, but hate plastic. By a load of plastic storage boxes and put everything in it, inc shoes by the door.
2/ clean and vacuum regularly and ensure no dead flies around.
3/ window screens on all open windows all year round. You can buy kits off Amazon.
4/ RAID! (The cockroach one) Is your friend. Spray into all gaps, behind wardrobes, under furniture, skirting boards. It's the Novichok of the spider world. One drop kills them and it keeps on killing for 4 weeks after you have sprayed. I spray round twice a year before going on holiday so that we don't breathe it in.
5/More RAID. You will need 6 cans! One in each room so that you can grab them really quickly. Ideally you will have two in holsters attached to your hips. These must be new previously unopened cans. When you first use a new can, the spray comes out in a jet and can hit a moving spider from 3-4m away. Again, once you've hit it, it doesn't matter if it tries to crawl away. It will curl up and die within 30 seconds.
6/ employ the services of a professional mastic man. They are professional gap fillers and will very quickly and professionally fill any gaps, inc behind the toilet and pipes etc. it is money very well spent.
7/ consider getting a new partner who isn't scared of spiders.

Ignore all the crap about spiders being your friends, that you can deter them with conkers and get those little gentle spider grabbers to put them inside. Those who suggest it have absolutely no idea of the sheer horror and magnitude of the house spider!

A few years back when it was really heavy snow we had a huge house spider in the house, I got my husband to catch it but there was literally not one surface outside to put it on that wasn’t a foot under snow so I got my Husband to take it round to our neighbours house in an empty tin to live there - he was mortified lol 😂