To ask how you deal with spiders in the home?

[CaptainDamaged]

Last night I was hanging laundry in our bedroom and after lifting DPs trousers to hang a huge fat swollen spider fell out of his trouser leg. It was dead, obviously had burrowed itself into dps trouser leg —no matter how many times I tell him not to leave his clothes on the bathroom floor—. I can’t get it’s huge swollen body out of my mind, it was such a strange colour

SO please tell me how you usually deal with spiders in the home? I usually trap them into a glass and wait for DP to get home. I feel absolutely awful about said spider, do you think it suffered?

Fully prepared to be told iabu and that I need to get a life.

I ignore them, unless I think I've seen the same one several times, in which case it gets a name and we say hello to it.

I'm very thankful that I'm not scared of insects. I'm bird phobic, which is bad enough, but I reckon being phobic about any insect must be worse as you're so much more likely to be in close proximity to them than you are to birds.

We tend to let them do their own thing. Sure, a giant house spider may cause a jump when it scuttles across the room or when you're moving things in the shed, but they are ultimately harmless and I have a general interest in insects/arachnids etc.

The one exception to that are false widows which I will kill, as even though they aren't deadly, their bite is very unpleasant and leaving them alive just allows them to reproduce.

I can't claim any moral high ground though over people that freak out about spiders and don't want them in the house, as I'm the same way with Wasps and Hornets. If they come in the house they get swatted out of the air with extreme prejudice and the fly traps get a meal.

I scream and shudder when I encounter them unexpectedly, then ignore them.

I used to threaten to sell my house. I've now started using diatomaceous earth (food grade, very important). It's basically very fine grey dust (silica). Brush it round the window frames, back door, skirting etc. It's so fine you can't really see it and you can hoover it up whenever you want. It doesn't prevent anything getting in but will stop them from thriving, breeding etc. I originally used it to get rid of ants but it'll get rid of insects/spiders/clothes moths without hurting anything else. You can buy it in health food shops or Amazon.

If I can't ignore it and it's not heading to underneath a bookcase or something then I just pop a glass over it and put it outside. There was one time when I found one had made a web right underneath dd's cot slats, I'm not proud of myself on that one but in my defence I was very hormonal.

Bugger all usually. I sometimes throw them outside but not often.

My DC2 is terrified of flies so we're learning that we like spiders because they eat flies. And we now call flies 'spider food' because spiders are our friends, and we like flies because they feed the spiders to make them big and strong

Nothing, they take down flies and moths.

Please don't put the house spiders outside, you'll kill them.

And please don't just wash them down a plug hole, the spider king will come and get you one night.

I read that washing them down the sink was pointless as they air gets trapped in little air bubbles under the hairs on their legs and they bob back up to the surface when you've stopped running the tap and just come back up again (when you're not looking and with revenge on their minds)

I quickly pack my house up and move (whilst keeping an eye on said spider) I'm absolutely petrified of them, wish I wasn't as i have passed it on to my dc

I pour boiling water from the kettle on them.

I Talk to them and inform them that going near the rat cage is a stupid idea. I move any that are in danger of being accidentally squashed and take the big ones outside for my phobic family.

The only things that are killed in my house are flies. Everything else is welcome they were all here before me after all and will be here after me.

I pour boiling water from the kettle on them.

How spiteful.

Mostly just leave them be, ones in the bath or running across the floor I catch with glass and card and put outside.

I name them and talk to them. Very difficult to be afraid of a Bernard or a Gerald or a Boris.

I get badly bitten by mosquitos so I always say thank you to Bernard when I find the little corpses in their webs.

Used to be deathly afraid but I didn't want to pass that fear onto my DC, so I had to make them seem friendly. DC would come running to tell me about a spider in the house and we would all sit around it and name it and talk about how useful they were (whilst I screamed inside).

They are older now and roll their eyes at me talking to Bernard but neither of them have a fear of spiders.

Leave them

1. See spider
2. Step calmly away
3. Open front door
4. Burn house down

I catch them, pop them in a glass and put them outside. I don't particularly like them but I don't kill them

The majority of breeds will die if you put them outside anyway (hence the term “house spiders”), so if you’re going to go that it’s actually kinder just to put them out of their misery, quickly.

I scream until DH sorts it out, I chose to marry an Australian for this very reason

I find spiders fascinating. I catch them and study them under a microscope then let them free outside.

They get clobbered here. Or sucked up the Dyson. I really can't get too worked up about spider welfare, and if that makes me a vile human being then so be it.

DH will catch them in a glass and put them out. He is spider catcher supreme in this house. He does clobber them when necessary though.

I leave them, unless they are above my head, then they get evicted (I usually get my older 2 to do it, but will do it myself if I absolutely have to)

@goldierocks wow - really?! How amazing. My nephew has tarantulas, so I'll have to ask whether Dsis has noticed a difference. They're actually very interesting, and too fluffy and slow to be terrifying.

I don't like house spiders, but could never kill one. Glass and piece of card every time.

My cat eats them 🤢

😂😂😂 love the replies here.

We live in a basement flat so unfortunately we have A LOT of them. I used to suck them up with the hoover until I had my dd, now I feel guilty hurting anything 😂 I am absolutely petrified of them though and wish they would stay away!!

I leave them be. They eat the flies and other beasties. If one is going to get drowned in the bath or shower, I pick them up and put them safely out of the way.

I really don't get the fear of mostly harmless insects. Weird.