Help - can a spider get out of a high-sided bath?

[DeeTreeDear]

Last night, I got up to use the loo and saw an ENORMOUS spider in the bath. The type that have a huge body and thick legs that wave at you.

I’m not a fan but thought I’d deal with the horror in the morning and went back to bed.

This morning, it’s not there! I thought it would reappear in the day but it’s now the evening and it has not reappeared. Can spiders escape a high-sided bath?? There’s no plug chain to climb up. Can they go back down the plug hole? I’ve never known that.

Where can it be???

I just let them be or help them out. I prefer spiders over flies anytime and the spider will make a web and eat the flies. My kids are forever removing the webs which is a real nuisance as far as I am concerned. Yes, a spider can climb out of a bath, I have seen it happen.

There are some very sensible suggestions here. Purchasing a better spider catcher, naming it Sandra and making friends with it, peppermint oil, getting a grip of yourself. However I think probably the best solution is to burn the house down.

Yes they are good at climbing out of a dry bath. More than likely it is now on the back of your towels or loo roll or dressing gown if hung up.

Same here, I’m terrified of wasps. In my defence, I was very badly stung around 10 years ago, my leg was twice its normal size and it was two weeks before it cleared up! Whereas spiders don’t bother me, I sometimes remove them for DD1 (17), who is scared of them.

They can come back up if you have tried to wash them down the drain.
They wrap their legs around their bodies, trapping air, then when you think they've been washed away, they may already starting to climb back out.
I saw some film of spiders doing this some years ago when they showed it on TV with a 'cut-away' bath.

Giant house spiders don't have the feet to grip on smooth surfaces. That's why they get stuck in baths.

This one might not have been a GHS or maybe there was something hanging down which gave them a way out. One way of dealing with GHSs that was often quoted on forums like this was to leave loo paper hanging over the side and the spider would find it and climb out. This was foolproof but there was no way of knowing where the spider had gone once it had escaped.

Depends on the species of spider. Giant house spiders don't have the feet for it:

No, giant house spiders generally cannot climb out of the bath on their own. 1, 2]

Why They Get Trapped

• Slippery surface: Bathtubs are made of smooth porcelain, acrylic, or enamel.
• Lack of grip: The tiny hairs on a spider's legs need friction to grip surfaces, which smooth tub walls do not provide.
• Falling in: Spiders often wander in at night to search for water and slide down the steep, slick sides. 1, 2, 3, 4]