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 kill house spiders. They might be useful or good for the eco system but judging the amounts of spiders and spider nests in my garden we're doing allright here.

pour boiling water on them

Jeez. I’m not a spider fan but that’s just cruel.

My Grandma used to say 'If you want to live and thrive, let a spider stay alive!' So although I don't like them I use a humans catcher - and take them outside, although I have trained DC aged 4 to do it

I nod in acknowledgement and say "Hi spider" and leave them be. Nothing bad has happened arising from this technique

Put them out. If too chunky for me then DH or ds does it. Never kill them on purpose. Below a certain size I just ignore them.

I very rarely get a spider indoors. I spray something around windows and doors that deters them from coming in.

Call DH to get rid of it. If he isn’t here, put a glass over it til he can deal with it. He chucks them over the fence.

Nothing, I leave them be - unless they are in a place that they may come to harm in view of the cat

I put them outside though my dog sometimes obliges and carries them out (he doesn't deliberately kill them but I'm not guaranteeing that they live!

Cats and this:

I have a spider and fly killing cat. Haven't seen a spider in the house for ages.

I have mild spider phobia but don't like to hurt them. I hate flies and other spider prey more than the spiders themselves. I trap them under a glass and slide cardboard underneath then throw them into the garden, or if they are on the ceiling I get them onto a soft broom and then to the floor and do the cup trap thing or directly outside.

I do have a few that keep themselves to themselves and never come down the walls so I leave them be

Seriously though, I had to have CBT for spider phobia. I was working in mental health and realised it wasn't good that I had to use the neighbour's toilet, because a spider was above my bathroom door.

It worked brilliantly - learned the 'glass and card' technique of removal. I've kept at it over the years (you have to), and can now sleep with a small spider in my bedroom. I may never be like my son, who calls the spiders in his room his 'pets' and won't allow me to remove them (we have an old house that spiders love), and he can pick them up with his hands. But I can remove even the largest ones, using self-talk as I do it. The funniest thing is I am now known as someone who isn't afraid of spiders, as I'll always help out a friend if they have a spider moment.

This doesn't mean I'm infallible though. When things have gone wrong with the 'glass and card' I've thrown the whole caboodle out of my bedroom window :-D And only the other day I threw a glass across the living room and the spider ran into a training shoe.

But CBT is well worth it

We all have an intense spider phobia but we dont kill them, and ChristmasFluff - having to lob the glass and card out of the window in a creaming panic is why we have a special plastic spider jug and not a glass. Its got Spider Jug written on it so it can never, ever, be used for food.

I have a BugBuster. It sucks them into a long tube, so I can then release them outside.

Just as effective as vacuuming them, only it doesn’t kill them.

glass, piece of card, take them outside.

Wave at them and see if they wave back (successful tactic to encourage DS not to be afraid. Shame DD still screams her head off)
Occasionally sweep up the cobwebs.

Spider x spray.

We spray skirting boards, loft hatch and window frames at the start of the season, and then later on, or if we spot any. Used it for the first time last year and it did seem to work.

I admit I do spray any I see now too and it kills them.

If he's around dh will trap then with a glass and throw them outside. I can't get that close.

Which reminds me - we haven't actually sprayed yet this year. So may be a job for tomorrow or next weekend.

I have a terrible (and genuine) phobia of them - really awful tried all sorts to get rid of it but nothing makes me feel any better.

So, DH deals with spiders in our house - glass and a piece of card and puts them outside.

If he isn't in, I have very understanding neighbours who do it instead

I move house

I've got less mean as I've got older. Whereas 5 years ago DH would have killed them now I insist they are left alone.

I have a little chat with them when they run across the living room floor or bathroom ceiling just to say if they stay out of my way then I will leave them in peace. All I ask is for a bit of fly eating and not to run up my leg 😂

I used to just leave spiders to do their own thing (reasoning that they get rid of flies) but now the cats eat them!

Genuinely makes me sad to see how many people would kill them. I either leave them be or scoop up with a glass and something flat over the top and put them outside

@TheInebriati, hahaha, OMG, laughing at the Spider Jug that is Never Ever used for food - because my spider glasses are Never Ever used as glasses either :-D Plastic though - genius! I am on it.

@DitheringBlidiot, yes, that's why I jump in to help others - so many people kill them.

They are so useful with killing flies. I leave them be in my kitchen and utility room especially. I love when they catch flies.

But I can't cope with big ones (or fast-moving ones) in my bedroom, and big ones in the living room will be cat-killed. They are the ones I remove.

I think people kill them out of fear or not understanding how useful they are - another reason CBT is so good IMO.