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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Spider repellent?

18 replies

Kangaroobrain · 13/10/2023 16:29

Does anything work? I know about conkers (old wives tale, IMO) but is there something natural I could spray round?

I live in the country next to several outbuildings, but they seem to prefer my house, for some reason - especially the really BIG ones! 😨

OP posts:
Parakeetamol · 13/10/2023 16:34

I found keeping grass low outside. Besides that your best bet is probably a gecko

Normalsizedsalad · 13/10/2023 16:38

Peppermint and lemon oils in cornersand by their entrances

WiddlinDiddlin · 13/10/2023 16:51

No, not really.

Some of the essential oils are toxic to a variety of invertebrates, but they may then also be toxic to you/your pets (for example, lavender, peppermint, tea tree can all cause inhalant irritation and skin burns)...

Most of the spiders you see in your home have always been in your home, they were born there, as were their parents and so on.

This particularly applies to common house species: House spiders, noble false widows (the other two are more outdoor), cellar spiders, sac spiders, missing sector orb weavers and a fair few more.

You see more in autumn as thats typically breeding season and it means males lose their minds completely and risk coming out into the open to find a lady friend, fight with other males that cross their paths etc.

Occasionally an outdoor species will wander in, its accidental, the outdoor species do not want to be in a too warm, too dry house with insufficient prey.

Potentially, trying to remove spiders will mean you see more (as spiders move to fill empty territories), so its probably better to learn to live with them. They do provide a useful service in eating a lot of much less pleasant house-dwelling/house visiting species.

I currently employ a crew of pholcus (cellar spiders) around my frog vivs, to tidy up the escaped fruit flies, and my resident zygiellas (missing sector orb weavers) on the windows catch any annoying houseflies, moths or wasps that bash around the window frames.

CinnamonBear · 13/10/2023 17:11

The older the house there more spiders you'll find. It's all the nooks and crannies for them to hide in

ScarlettSunset · 13/10/2023 17:16

If you let the cellar spiders stay, they'll happily help clear the others for you. The cellar spiders are the ones with tiny bodies and long spindly legs that look like they couldn't hurt anything. They are very deceptive and will eat pretty much any insects or spiders they find, even those far bigger than them.
I tend to remove them as otherwise I get no spider variety and I quite like spiders.

Flufferblub · 13/10/2023 17:20

I got some spider repellent essential oil on Amazon, and mixed it with water in a spray bottle. Don't know if it really works, but I haven't seen any spiders since I've been using it and it helps me to feel better. It smells like peppermint

billy1966 · 13/10/2023 17:23

I believe white blackboard chalk is a winner.

They don't like the feel of it and back away from it.

ScarlettSunset · 13/10/2023 17:26

Flufferblub · 13/10/2023 17:20

I got some spider repellent essential oil on Amazon, and mixed it with water in a spray bottle. Don't know if it really works, but I haven't seen any spiders since I've been using it and it helps me to feel better. It smells like peppermint

I think peppermint is supposed to keep mice away too.

Snozwanger · 13/10/2023 19:08

You could try Spider Ex from Lakeland. The security firm I worked for use it on their CCTV cameras and sensors to keep them away so it must be effective.

drinkuptheezider · 13/10/2023 19:12

I bought a spider repellent on Amazon, it is peppermint smelling. I have sprayed it around doors and windows, certainly fewer this year so far. thank god I live next to oak woodland.

RandomNutter · 13/10/2023 19:17

I've just bought a spider catcher and it's wonderful. It's earned its keep already, with the huge ugly spider that was in my bath yesterday. It doesn't solve the problem of them coming in, but definitely helps take the fear away. I let them free outside, and watch them run away.

ThomasHardyPerennial · 13/10/2023 19:21

Cellar spiders do a fantastic job of managing the bigger ones!

Rosiem2808 · 13/10/2023 19:26

I have had about three large spiders in the bath and I caught them and set them free. Then I saw one running across the bedroom floor and caught her too.

After that I cut a lemon in half and ran the two halves across all the window frames and on the ouside sills.. in fact anywhere they can step across to get in I lemoned it. Front door and back door both got the treatment.

That was about three weeks ago. Since then there has been nothing.

I deduce - lemon juice........ it works !

Feelingfree2023 · 13/10/2023 19:29

Raid cockroach and crawling insect powder has worked here.

amiboverd · 13/10/2023 19:34

i had a peppermint scented oil from Amazon and now have peppermint oil I sometimes splash by the bed but it does smell strong

OctoblocksAssemble · 13/10/2023 19:39

ThomasHardyPerennial · 13/10/2023 19:21

Cellar spiders do a fantastic job of managing the bigger ones!

Seconded. Embrace the cellar spiders, you'll get way less house spiders.

Lovelyjubbbly · 13/10/2023 19:43

Here is only a couple of the LARGE ones i get in my house!! I am petrified from them and currently in the process of moving house because of it these things are enormous!

Spider repellent?
Spider repellent?
Spider repellent?
junbean · 13/10/2023 19:45

peppermint oil or any citrus along perimeter- I do inside but some do outside. Making sure you're free of clutter/dust/old leaves etc. as well, they love a mess.

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