Help! Ants and spiders in our new house?!

[AliceRR]

We moved into our new house about a month ago.

We noticed we had ants in the kitchen and a bit of any poison seemed to help really reduce the number I am seeing (generally on work top in kitchen near sink) but they are still here and I have since seen them in the front room on the sofa and fireplace, not loads, but I have seen a few so they are still a problem.

We do plan to redecorate and get new kitchen etc so we can cover up any gaps per whatever then but need to do something in the meantime.

Also, and this disturbs me more, in the last few days I have seen a little spider on the sofa I usually sit on at least three times. It looks like the same spider so could be the same one that just happens to come back (each time I’ve just knocked it onto the floor) or it could be more than one.

I sort of coped with seeing two in a day but now seeing a third(?) I am a bit freaked out.

I have a massive spider phobia. I could cope with the odd spider but the idea there might be a nest is terrifying.

Any experience / advice / reassurance please?

Thanks

I’m freaked out

I feel like there are crawlies all over!!

When we viewed the house (which was empty - it was a deceased estate) there was always food left out by someone presumable looking after the house 🤷🏻‍♀️

Dust and hoover everywhere.

Every nook and cranny.

That's what I do before I move in anywhere. We had silverfish here

I really did hoover and clean and didn’t notice anything so it’s weird!

@AndOutComeTheBoobs Was hoovering enough to get rid?

To get rid of ants use salt- I used to get them in the kitchen when the hot weather kicked in, so Now i go to our driveway where they originate and pour a load of salt into the holes they are crawling out from- did the trick last summer (my neighbours might think I’m the crazy woman with the salt though)

I sprayed bug spray round the skirting boards where I saw the bugs.

I never saw them again and we've been here 5-7 years now.

All you need to do with the ants is to follow them, work out where they are coming in and then a little squirt of sealant in the gap, no need for chemical warfare.

Can’t help with the spiders, try to think of them as new housemates?

If you had a spider's nest you'd have more than two or three.

Seriously, you'd be best off trying to get treatment for the phobia.

See, spiders are good with ant control. Can't you just see them as helpful lodgers that can be evicted next spider season?

Get some bait stations to keep the numbers down for the ants. They're hard to get rid of if they're nesting under the house and maybe get some help for the phobia. Every house without cats has spiders.

Or get a cat.

Could be worse.
Could be Ant and Dec!!

We’ve tried following the ants but haven’t managed so far

There have definitely been fewer since I put poison (powder) alone a gap in the tiles behind the sink

Can’t help with the spiders, try to think of them as new housemates?

😱

Honestly if it’s just the odd one I accept you get them in the house but the fact I saw three freaked me out but could still be the same one three times as I haven’t seen any other sign

You can buy ant traps which they crawl through then go back to their nest and poison their nest. With the spider try crushing it. Then you’ll know whether it’s the sane one.

With the spider try crushing it. Then you’ll know whether it’s the sane one.

😂😳

I get you op, I try to be all cool on the spider front but they freak me out how they scuttle about.

Out if interest have you moved anywhere more rural? We get all types of stuff now we back onto fields. It’s like the bleedin animals of farthing wood sometimes!

I had trouble with ants the first couple of years I lived in my flat. This stuff gets rid of ants like nothing else I tried. They take it back to the nest and it kills the queen ant, end of nest. www.amazon.co.uk/Nippon-Pack-of-3/dp/B008RD21UY/ref=sr_1_4?s=gateway&keywords=nippon+ant+killer&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1556743920&sr=8-4

Figure out where the ants are coming in and block the hole.

You’d defoz know if you had a spiders nest... sounds to me like it’s the same spider and you keep knocking him off his fave spot 😂 As someone with a paralysing fear of spiders I can’t fathom why you haven’t gotten rid of the bugger 😂

We get a lot of spiders in the house we are in at the moment... so long as they stay in the corner of a room, I can live with them until OH comes home on a weekend or my dad can get round 😏 Wouldn’t advise hoovering them though... apparently it doesn’t always kill them, found this out the hard way 😂😂😂

With ants you really need to remove any food source. Also, clean up with WUL, apparently it disrupts their trail so others can’t follow.

Out if interest have you moved anywhere more rural? We get all types of stuff now we back onto fields. It’s like the bleedin animals of farthing wood sometimes!

Yes our house backs on to a park now

Maybe that’s the problem 🤦‍♀️

They take it back to the nest and it kills the queen ant, end of nest.

Thank you. Will read up on that one

We got some cheap stuff from B&M and it worked where I used it but there are still ants all over. I don’t see loads but I see a few a day and never did in the old house

As someone with a paralysing fear of spiders I can’t fathom why you haven’t gotten rid of the bugger

I am very afraid of them but the really small ones like this I could live with (if there’s one, I’d struggle if there were loads)

I have heard they come out of the hoover too 😬🙈

But you do well to tolerate them in the corner of the room if you’re scared. I’ve had times when there are medium / large ones and I’m home alone and I really struggled as I can’t even kill them or catch them. All I can do is sit there, feet off the floor, and watch to make sure it doesn’t go where I can’t see it!! 🤷🏻‍♀️

What is WUL?

Oh washing up liquid?! (I’m guessing)

I do try to wash up soon after dinner and keep things clean. There are fewer in the kitchen now than there were

If you back onto a park, how humid is the house?

Maybe try a good dehumidifier? Bugs need a certain % air moisture to live. Dry house = dead bugs.

Yes - Nippon. Lay a trail where you see them coming in and they will take it back to the nest and you will see them no more.

If you back onto a park, how humid is the house?

No idea 🤷🏻‍♀️

But that’s interesting. I didn’t realise humidity was an issue 🤔

The Nippon sounds good

Here's a fun anecdote for you including both ants and spiders!

Mr Noodle and I came home late the other week and were greeted by an 8 legged intruder, a big beefy spider. Usually we'd put them outside but this fella looked like he might run off with the silverware so we squished him with a box, ate dinner, had a nice time. We left the box there as we were both tired and simply forgot by the end of the night.

The next morning we woke up to ants in the kitchen, that were hanging around the box. Lifted the box up, and there was fucking hundreds of ants feeding on that spider. It took a lot of bleach spray, frantic stamping and some tears to kill them all.

I'm not sure what the moral of this story is but dont squish spiders (and if you do, clean them up immediately), use bleach to clear away ant scent trails, dont give them a reason to pay a visit.

As a fellow spider scaredy cat, as in I’ll have panic attacks depending on the size 😳 indorex (flea spray) kills them . .

In fact it pretty much kills all creepy crawlies, I’ve always got some tins under the sink.

Here's a fun anecdote for you including both ants and spiders!

I’m glad I read this in the morning and not just before I tried to go to sleep!!

indorex (flea spray) kills them

That’s good to know. It’d be good to have something in the house in case I have a visitor when I’m home alone

DH usually gets them for me but he rolls his eyes etc as he thinks I’m silly for being afraid of them 🤷🏻‍♀️

Bicarb of soda, chemical free so safe on worktop, around kids etc, was like an ant farm in my kitchen and I tried all kinds of things. Apparently they ingest it and explode, I use salt for the weeds, dries them up, brush and gone, well till regrow