To worry about the spider that was on my bed earlier

[BunnytheFriendlyDragon]

I washed and dried the bedding and then brought it in a d started putting it on the bed. Sheet and pillow cases were on. I then was putting the duvet cover on and saw a spider (the thin wispy kind) crawl across the bed to the opposite side. Not sure where it went. I went around the area with the hoover but don't think I got it.

I've since checked up there twice, sprayed some spider deterrent around the area and put on the duvet and made the bed...

I've always been arachnophobic. I have improved over the years and can tolerate the wispy kind even in the bedroom (eg on the ceiling) if they don't come near me but this one was ON THE BED so I'm not sure I can comfortably be in the bed?!

What else can I do?

Get therapy for arachnophobia.

Give the bedroom a good hoover under and all the nooks. Check the bedding all over.

Take bedding off into another room
Shake it
Vaccum bed
Vaccum under bed
Spray repellent under bed? Is it lavender? If so spray on the bed it will smell lush and help you sleep.

@Cadent

Get therapy for arachnophobia.

What right now? How?!

I know it doesn’t help if you have severe arachnophobia OP, but those thin wispy ones eat the horrible big house spiders. I can understand you don’t want it in your bed but I would be inclined not to remove them from your room and house!

@roopy770

I know it doesn’t help if you have severe arachnophobia OP, but those thin wispy ones eat the horrible big house spiders. I can understand you don’t want it in your bed but I would be inclined not to remove them from your room and house!

Do they really?! That's helped me! I hate the massive ones.

I can sympathise as one of my DC is arachnophobic. I have hunted down many spiders for them.

Check under your bed, behind the headboard and under/behind any night stand you might have.

If you don’t find it, it probably was scared off the by the hoovering and has gone behind your curtains or left your bedroom entirely.

I know it won’t help much, but the wispy ones cannot bite you. Their teeth are too short/our skins too thick.

I'd worry about it as well - it might have got hurt.

Yes I've heard they eat the big fat ones which is why I can tolerate them in the house... but not in my bed 😫

I sprayed a peppermint smelling deterrent spray.

Does lavender deter them too??

Does lavender deter them too?? I heard it does but it was from someone trying to flog me lavender spray. I also try and put some conkers in the corners of the room as that aparantly helps but it's hard to know!

Something similar happened a few days ago - spider was on some clothes on the bed NOT a wispy one. Called DH to remove it and he did but I still felt itchy the rest of the evening...

This one could be anywhere and it doesn't help they're not easy to see.

Comforted they can't bite only because baby sleeps in a crib next to the bed on the side where spider was last seen

I can put your mind at rest! The thin, spindly spiders are called Pholcidae and it absolutely won't hang around on your bed. It will have got itself away and gone high up, preferably on the ceiling. That type always want to make a web and once done, will stay there for ages. It will only have been on your bed accidentally, on its travels, probably having come up with the washing, having been disturbed.

And on an even better note, they catch and eat spiders much much bigger than themselves, including giant house spiders. Brilliant house guests actually.

Sleep well!

@Somethingsnappy

I can put your mind at rest! The thin, spindly spiders are called Pholcidae and it absolutely won't hang around on your bed. It will have got itself away and gone high up, preferably on the ceiling. That type always want to make a web and once done, will stay there for ages. It will only have been on your bed accidentally, on its travels, probably having come up with the washing, having been disturbed.

And on an even better note, they catch and eat spiders much much bigger than themselves, including giant house spiders. Brilliant house guests actually.

Sleep well!

Thank you! This is what I'm hoping! We've had a few in the house and they tend to be in the ceilings / corners and stay there, as you say. It must have come in the washing...

I really hope you're right and it has gone.

I'm scared to go to bed!!

The thin wispy ones are ok for me. They tend to move slowly and just want to hang about on the ceiling. It's the huge scuttly floor bastards that make me heave!

I clicked on this thread thinking you were concerned about its wellbeing

@Twillow

The thin wispy ones are ok for me. They tend to move slowly and just want to hang about on the ceiling. It's the huge scuttly floor bastards that make me heave!

I agree for the most part but you wouldn't want one on your bed would you with you in it?

I promise you it won't have stayed on your bed! It will have made itself scarce. Up to a quiet corner where it won't be disturbed. They get very scared and if you disturb one on its web, will go mental, spinning around, trying to make it more difficult to be seen. Pholcidae spiders are fabulous! They manage to keep you safe from other, scarier spiders, and they like to keep to themselves, up out the way.

You have two choices.
Get in rentakill and have the entire house fumigated or get a cat, the cat will eat them.
Seriously though I do get my house fumigated every few years while I am on holiday and the cat is in the cattery and it keeps the number right down.
Alternatively get a "bomb" and set it off in the bedroom with the door closed. It will kill anything. You may have to sleep somewhere else until it arrives.

www.amazon.co.uk/Mini-smoke-bomb-insect-killer/dp/B00YYV8EZ4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=fumigating%2Bbomb&th=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExSTBGWFBCRDFFN05aJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDEzMTQ3M0RKNDVaWFpPOFdPJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA5NzU4MTkzUVE1UURJWFo4SFEzJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1632168653&sr=8-1-spons

@Somethingsnappy

I can put your mind at rest! The thin, spindly spiders are called Pholcidae and it absolutely won't hang around on your bed. It will have got itself away and gone high up, preferably on the ceiling. That type always want to make a web and once done, will stay there for ages. It will only have been on your bed accidentally, on its travels, probably having come up with the washing, having been disturbed.

And on an even better note, they catch and eat spiders much much bigger than themselves, including giant house spiders. Brilliant house guests actually.

Sleep well!

Erm, well while I tried to reassure OP earlier on in the thread and don’t mean to scare her with this, I question how true this is as I was once woken up early in my bed by one of those spindly ones crawling across my FACE!!

The last time I had a spider on my bed, I pinged it in the general direction of my cat who basically gently patted it towards my bedroom door.
Last night we watched a spider do a bungee jump then climb back up and disappear in a corner.
I also had a false widow in my kitchen window.
I have no problem with spiders, as long as they aren't in my bedroom.
My cat is an awesome spider deterrent.
Spiders eat flies, that's why I left the false widow alone, made me cringe when I was in my kitchen, but I did notice less bugs.

@roopy770

know it doesn’t help if you have severe arachnophobia OP, but those thin wispy ones eat the horrible big house spiders. I can understand you don’t want it in your bed but I would be inclined not to remove them from your room and house!

— is this true?!?! HOW

@roopy770 OMG! What! Noooo

I hate jack booted spiders, yuck, but I do have a spindly Pholcidae in the corner of my bedroom above my bed, it hasn't moved for ages and is very small, it's neat web has 30 odd flies and gnats in it and yesterday it caught a proper spider which is now dead, they are pretty inoffensive even for spider haters like me.

@Whitedressparis
— is this true?!?! HOW

I learned that fact from a thread on here ages ago 😂 Then I looked it up and it was true! It’s because of the techniques of the type of webs they spin. The layout is apparently so strong that the house spiders instantly get entangled in them and then they quickly cover them in silk and - a ready meal served!

@roopy770. Oh dear, that can't have been pleasant. Yes, I can't promise they won't cross the bed (or anywhere else) whilst on their travels. Only that they won't hang around there. It'll have been on its way somewhere else. The OP will have definitely scared hers off her bed. They only really settle in one place on a web, in corners or on ceilings.