Arachnophobia

[Chickentikka567]

I know most people are not keen on spiders. It sounds dramatic but they just make my life a misery, it's a constant anxiety. I have occasional nightmares about them, I've had several bad experiences like finding one on my pillow, finding 2 large ones in the bath at the same time, and so on.
I dread this time of year and they seem to have started early due to the poor weather.
Have been lucky to not have many in our flat, but I can't escape them completely. It puts me off going to hot countries, I feel miserable about living in a world with them. I know that sounds dramatic and there are much worse things out there that would harm or kill me.
it's just frustrating but it's part of life I suppose. There was a therapy course but it was too expensive, something like £100 per session!
has anybody managed to successfully get rid of this phobia.

I'm in an older house next to fields and have only seen 1 big one in years, and never had one on my bed! I wonder what determines the population

Agree with it NOT working. As well as the spider infestetation my newly purchased house had conkers everywhere. Under the beds, behind the radiators, in every drawer, in wardrobes... But the 200 or more spider colony webbing the place up happily!

Wish I could suggest something for you, OP. My fear of spiders (I live in Australia) diminished on its own in the last decade or so, which won't be any comfort, I realise, not least since I'm 60, and it was fear, not a legit phobia such as you described. Good luck, I hope you find some help.

I know you you all mean well (well some of you), but the phobia is irrational therefore rational advice is just stupid and very often repeated over and over - like placing a glass - why would you do that for something you know isn't going to hurt you? If you had no crippling fear , then you would just ignore it - correct? So the advice is from people who might not be too keen on them but don't have a phobia because that couldn't possibly be me - because I have fallen apart at the mere sight of it 😳.

Can't RTFT for fear of thinking about spiders when I'm already having insomnia. But best thing ever is a spider catcher. I still won't use one if I can avoid it but other family members who also don't like spiders can. Its basically a long stick with fibre optic strands that open and close so you scoop the spider up from a distance then open a door and release. Despite my dislike I also hate killing them.

Yes I have, as someone who couldn’t be in a room with a tiny spider high up on the ceiling for 40 years I can now actually get close enough to a huntsman (big fuckers) to put something over it and get it out of my house. Do I like them, no, but when we moved to Australia I did diy aversion therapy as otherwise life would be pretty miserable (and even though huntsmen look like cartoon spiders they are harmless and kill the baddies). I still get my house sprayed annually so never get anything indoors but I would kill anything I can’t positively identify as we live in funnelweb territory and I don’t want to get close enough to make sure it’s not just a black house spider. I didn’t have the luxury of gradual exposure, sometimes I was just faced with them, but if you can bear it I would give it a go.

I've just put the bin out ready for the bin men and when I was heading back to my back door, there was a bloody massive one on the wall besides it.
Then the hairy bastard walked over my thankfully closed door like it owned it!
I've just thrown clothes pegs at it to get it to move so I could open the door to get back in.
One of them was a direct hit which made the fucker dance away.
Gives pegging a whole new meaning.

@Idrankyourbananamilk I've come back to this old thread to say THANK YOU for telling us about Indorex.
I guess we're well and truly at the end of spider season now, and I wanted to let you know that I have had one wolf spider (only) and 3 or 4 spindly spiders all season. I did my normal spider killer spray from a 5 litre bottle all round the outside of the house and around the doors etc back in late Aug, but I'm not sure that that made the difference as I didn't go back round every time it rained. And I know that when I've sprayed it internally I've soon had fresh spindly spiders walking over the area that was sprayed. But after reading your advice, I googled Indorex, which is a flea spray. I ordered 4 cans so the postman must think we've got a real problem with fleas. 😂I sprayed it all around the rooms, one at a time, over the course of a couple of days. I didn't know if it would work without actual fleas in the house (maybe spiders eat infected fleas, I was thinking?) but no, I saw one wolf spider that same week, then no further ones at all, neither dead nor alive. It has been an incredibly different autumn in this house and I am truly, truly grateful. The Indorex instructions say that a spray around should protect from fleas for a full year, so I think have enough flea spray to perhaps keep us spider-free for a decade now!!
I love Mumsnet.

@notafraidofthebigbadwolf you are very welcome, I’m personally happy to live and let live with them (and relocate them to our brick shed) but my partner is so phobic indorex makes a huge difference to his quality of life.

Hi. I know this is an old thread and don’t ask me how I got here 🤦🏼‍♀️ but I sound similar to your husband and have ordered Indorex. Can I ask where you sprayed it please to get such good results? Thanks

Hi! I spray round all the skirting boards, and across all the carpets and floorboards. I think if you sprayed round the doorframes and window frames you’d probably stop them coming in too, but we don’t see spiders for several weeks after our annual indorex treatment.

Thank you! So do they come back after a few weeks or is it generally substantially less? Thanks so much - really helpful x

I couldn’t tell you exactly how long it lasts, but apart from tiny ones in the corners of ceilings (where I don’t spray) we generally only see half a dozen or so a year. I spray annually as soon as the weather warms up to avoid flea hatching issues, and our old Victorian house has substantially less than the new build we lived in previously that didn’t have a flea problem. We had big spiders weekly there, which was not nice for DP.

The brick shed is a different matter. It’s spider heaven out there 😂 and I often have to sweep cobwebs away to get in. I have to go in there to get anything out as DP can’t, but it’s a compromise for the spiders.

Thanks again - isn’t it funny about new builds, I was pinning my hopes on one for my next move thinking it would be spider free! X

Indorex is good but I highly recommend Ardap. We had an absolute nightmare in our old flat, huge ones ran across me sat on the sofa, one ran up my neck and I freaked out so bad I ripped my necklace in half trying to get it off (a sentimental present from DH 😔).

My aunt told me about Ardap, I sprayed every window, skirting boards and outside door with it. Didn't see another spider. Until we moved out and must have been at least 6, huge, dead ones under furniture.

I spray every 10 weeks in our new place.

Thanks for replying! Ardap, I’ve never heard of it but just googled it and looks like it’s for fleas. Thanks so much, I’ll give it a go. I dread to think how much I’ve spent in spray 😬 x

My mum uses indorex for fleas & it definitely works for spiders too. She does all crevices, corners & edges of rooms, door & window frames - then she goes out for the day to let the air clear (it stinks & isn't great for you) I wish I could do it too but I'm only marginally less terrified of dead spiders than I am of live ones.