Please tell me how you spider proof your house?!

[elm26]

I need serious help.

I've had two huge spiders crawl on me in the past month and one has just now run across my living room floor.

I've also got rid of 3 false widows this week. So that's 6 spiders in a month. I've never seen this many in a short period of time until I moved here.

I really need some advice on how to prevent them, I am absolutely petrified.

Let the spindylies live! I think most people call them cellar spiders, but in this house they're spindylies because they're so delicate and well, spindly. They really do sort out the big nasty ones. I've watched them take down a huge dark hairy spider, and another time a massive daddy longs legs within seconds. They're really quite aggressive and there's no escape once they've got one. So I let them stay and give them names, which helps.

Yep another vote here for spindlies! Although right now I have rather too many as no less than 4 of them gave birth!! But still, they hang out in corners of rooms and they do despatch the big spiders.

I also possess 2 spider catchers, one long, one short, kept upstairs and downstairs. Plus a cat (he's still young and getting the hang of spiders, my previous moggie was a legend with them). All my windows have mesh over them. I bought double sided velcro tape, taped around the windows and put mesh over it. Works a treat for any insects trying to get in that way.

I'm not usually like this, but I'm still awake because I've trapped a huge one in the bath under a glass and now I can't sleep because I know I'm going to have to deal with it in the morning! Its legs barely fit under the glass. 😨

DH is away with work and he normally takes responsibility for the repatriation of larger spiders. Unless DS and I wash in the sink tomorrow, which is looking like a very real possibility, I'm going to have to remove it.

Totally understand the fear. I bought some spray from amazon that has essential oils which is usually very effective. I hadn't started using it yet, because I always thought September was spider month! Clearly I'm wrong. . .

We welcome them. We love spiders!

I use the peppermint spray and conkers which help a little, but the game changer for me is a plug in electronic spider scarer. I was very sceptical but to my amazement they actually work! My husband bought me two, one upstairs one downstairs, and I rarely see a spider in my house now, which is a massive relief as I'm petrified of the buggars!

Get a cat!

This. I once rescued a spider from the bath and put it outside the bathroom while I had a shower.

Got out of the shower to find it mashed into the carpet by one of the bastard cats.

Plus if you don't like spiders you probably don't want to be dealing with everything else cats bring in, alive, dead and everywhere in between.

Unusual to get False Widow’s inside, they normally live outside, in a shed or in the garden somewhere. We live in quite an old house and trying to keep spiders out is pointless. But that’s why I have a man, he’s chief spider catcher. And I’ve told my daughters they can’t just squash them. In the same way Bumble bees 🐝 get ushered back outside again.

Now if you’re looking for spiders 🕷️, go down to the stables. There are loads of really big ones there. And my friend has a thatched roof , they live in the eaves , hundreds of them.

You can't really spider proof. They get in via such small cracks.
But what helped was putting few drops of lemon and few drops of peppermint oil into corners behind furniture and behind sofas. You know, where they hide. And near suspected entry routes. They are not fans so they will move next door😁
Plus it smells nice.

Employ a small army of cellar spiders. Leave them be in strategic corners/ crannies and they'll just hang out eating all the bugs and really scary spiders. I rarely see a giant house spider etc, and if I do it's usually dead in a cellar spider web.

A plastic draught excluder strip at the bottom of my front door helped a lot. Also there is a spray from Lakeland

I don’t. I deliberately leave them alone and don’t disturb cobwebs.

I have random conkers absolutely everywhere 😁

Look for ways to sort your own problems out so that they can live their lives in peace. Get therapy and leave the poor things alone.

I swear by keeping windows/doors shut if there’s a light on during spring/summer.

2nd line defence is the cellar “spiders”.

I think my dogs are scared of spiders also. I gave two large chihuahuas and if they see spiders they both dance round them crying.

No use.

False widows flock in when it gets cold, there are several different types.
I'm taking about the one with black skull body and ruddy legs

Learn to love (or at least tolerate) cellar spiders - they eat the house spiders. Since I've learnt to leave them alone I hardly see a house spiders at all (I don't love any spiders really but house spiders really freak me out).

That could be partly or largely genetic. A tendency to develop a particular phobia, or any phobia, would be largely determined by genes. If they were adopted out to a spider-loving family at birth they'd quite likely have turned out the same. I'm not saying environment has no impact, simply much less than people generally think. So arachnophobes don't need to beat ourselves up too much about passing it on to our children, which of course we don't want to do.

Conkers at every door and windows. They work.

It's an intrinsic fear for many people, whether it's rational or not.

I feel for you, I am visually impaired and a friend who came over the other day told me there was a spider on my slow cooker… I wouldn’t have noticed. I know there are large flying cockroaches, one landed on me the other day, and I got so scared I fell backwards onto my bum in my living room… They’re usually hanging around my bedroom these days, so I am sleeping on the sofa in the living room. I live in Greece, but apparently spiders are a thing here to along with the other… Members of the animal planet as I called them. And I don’t know what products I can find here. I found a spray for the cockroaches, but it doesn’t seem to do anything…

They live in the house all the time but you usually just don't see them. They come out at this time of year cause it's their breeding season.

With sympathy and respect, you cannot spider proof a house. Far better that you find a way to lessen your fear. I used to be very frightened of spiders but now I'm not. It's much nicer to not be afraid of them! Do you know why you are? Would you LIKE to not be frightened of them? I am not belittling your fear at all, I just think that considering and working on your fear might ultimately be better for you.

Indorex flea spray. It's for fleas but will kill every spider in your house if you follow the instructions on the can. It can't be used around fish so you have to cover the tank with a duvet if you have any. It works for months after you spray it.