Spiders!!!

[Bluesheep8]

Hi all,I'm guessing this is probably done to death at this time of year, but can anyone recommend something I can use to stop/discourage spiders coming into the house? Had the windows open yesterday as it was fine and bright and I've already encountered two hulking great spiders this morning. I now Don't know where either if them are and OH and I both have an irrational fear any suggestions? Oh and I Can't bear to kill them, can get them on a magazine and tip out of the window/door but would just rather they weren't in the house in the first place....

I too have a huge fear of spiders. I've found 4 of those giant house spiders in the past few days. I can't tell you what does work, but I can tell you that those plug in things that are meant to deter spiders do NOT work. I have them plugged into every room and I'm still finding spiders.

Hi Hooraysunshine, I hadn't heard of the plug ins but from what you've said I Don't think I'll investigate...someone at work this morning has recommended putting conkers in the house as apparently they repel spiders...hoping for more suggestions as I hate them being in the house and just cannot relax if I know there's one there!

Sorry, nothing. No, conkers don't work either, no scientific basis. You can't stop them because, if you're talking about the very large black spiders, they're Giant House Spiders, indoors is unfortunately one of their preferred habitats. They like piles of stuff to hide in though, like wood piles, basket of ironing, newspapers, that kind of thing so, the less of those types of things, the less hiding places they have. Also keep dark corners dusted and hoovered so there's less likelihood of other small insects being there as a food source. Luckily for me DD1 is a bug fanatic and will help by gently removing any offending insect or arachnid for me, but to be honest, over the years I've just made my peace with them. Where we live, rurally, there's no way I'll ever be able to spider proof the house so we live in mutual distrust and an attempt at harmony. You probably won't want to do the same but I did find DD having a 'pet' GHS, 'Boris' in a corner of the sitting room helped enormously in realising there's no harm. He hid in his little hole for a few months and if he ever ventured too far towards the rug, a bang on the floor sent him running back in again. He only recently made a bid for freedom, presumably in search of a mate, and DD managed to guide him out of the conservatory doors where we waved him off. I'd grown quite fond of him and every one of the hairy little buggers I've seen since has held less fear for me. I realise this might be a step too far for you to contemplate though. If you don't like to kill them, in the past I have found that using a hand held Dyson (with the clear dust cylinder) Hoovers them up fairly gently without killing them and you can then, at arms length, drop open the bottom of the dust collector in the garden so they can escape with their lives.

My brother has a special dance for the ghs, involves a newspaper, a lot of stomping and waving arms.

On a side note I have a huge Basil plant in my window and other herbs in the other and do not have a lot of spider despite being in a home that should be spider heaven, there are a couple daddy long legs but ok with them.

All very interesting, thank you all. Hmmm I've got a basil plant in the kitchen...sounds like I need to have a tidy up then as I'm guilty of little piles of "stuff/laundry" waiting to be put away. My fear of spiders is so bad that I looked everywhere for the huge one I saw this morning and I'm convinced that it's now in our bedroom as it was heading up the stairs to our room when I saw it. Probably doesn"t help that I had a bad reaction to a bite a few yrs ago and GP said it was a spider bite....

Spider killer spray. I don't like killing them but some r just too big!

My Mum has a pet one called David Judas. Enjoyed your post - if possible the best way to be although appreciate not everyone can make peace with them!

I'm convinced that it's now in our bedroom as it was heading up the stairs to our room when I saw it. Fumigate! It's the only way forward! Seriously though, I was locking up the house to go to bed last night and saw a rather large one coming towards me as I turned around from locking back door. I screamed (of course) danced around it (as you do) and managed to grab a random bottle of hairspray that had (thankfully) been left unpacked on the kitchen counter from a shopping run earlier in the day. The hairspray made it immobile enough to get the courage to get close enough to squash it. (Unfortunately, we have a kill on sight policy for spiders in this house.) Even though I killed it, I still couldn't sleep the rest of the night thinking one would crawl over me whilst I was asleep. (Ewe, I get shivers up the spine just thinking about it!) All the while I'm looking at these (rather expensive) spider deterrent plug in things DH bought me to put around the house that clearly do not work. I will look into the spider killer spray though, it's probably more humane than hairspray .

If you put a house spider outside it will die as they're not accustomed to the cold. So dont bother too hard putting it outside gently! I'm getting better but still cannot bear the really big buggers!

I enjoyed Judas' post too, just wish I wasn't so fearful because that's an approach I'd love to be able to take! I am going to turn our bedroom upside down when I get home, handheld Dyson at the ready to suck on sight ! Then out of the window it will go. I will be on a mission and the room will be tidied in the process at least....

Ok, spider located ! In our bedroom..I KNEW it was. I tried my best to get it to run onto a magazine, we'll run it did but not in the direction I wanted it to, so followed the advice of a pp and brandished the Dyson, safely deposited outside now.

No advice but following! Drying my hands yesterday and a giant one crawled out of the towel towards me, i think the neighbour heard my scream and the crash i made as i fell into the door!
shudders

Ineedwine, I totally sympathise as you know from reading my posts! I am going round obsessively checking when I go into a room now! Hush hush, many thanks for tip on spider spray-does it just repel them? I just couldn't bring myself to kill one..

MNHQ-please could I ask why that post was deleted?

I've heard that peppermint oil in a spray bottle (possibly?) watered down a bit and sprayed around windows and doorways helps deter them but I haven't tested that theory.

I have, however, recently invested in one of those spider grabber things that pick them up and then you can deposit them outdoors all at arms' length. I've not tested it on little spiders because they don't bother me but I've managed to use it with great success on one medium sized spider and one daddy long legs!

Hi cakedoesntjudge, that grabber sounds like a good idea, whilst they terrify me and I don't want them in the house, I want to get rid of them without harming..where did you get yours from please?

We get a lot less spiders since getting cats.

Hubby unfortunately got four on himself after going to get the bins in. He doesn’t mind spiders but that many in his face and crawling on him made him jump round the garden f-ing and blinding!

There's one somewhere in our bedroom, and it's huge. Unbeknown to me it was in a load of laundry that I carried upstairs the other morning, was just about to put something in the drawer and the bloody great big thing fell out and ran to the other side of the room. I've searched for it, but can't find it, so, suffice to say I haven't been getting the best nights sleep ever since, and keep thinking I feel it crawling over me...uuugh. How long do they live for? I'm hoping only 3 days :)

Blue sheep I feel your pain! I can't kill them because I cannot stand the popping noise and I feel bad but the idea of just picking them up or getting them in a glass and holding paper over it and risking it escaping gives me the heebie jeebies!!

Thankfully this catcher thingymajig is long enough that I can keep it a safe distance away from me lol! I'm not sure how to link but I got it from Amazon - if you search for spider catcher it comes up as a bestseller. It's saying it's £12 something but I got it for £8.99 so might be worth having a browse!

Those spider wall plug in repellers. they drive the spiders out of your cavity wall as they don't like the noise they make, so instead of driving spiders out of your house (house spiders don't like to be outside) they drive them out of the cavity wall, into your home, im absolutely terrified of them. even the spindly see through type ones. it's also spider mating season (vomit)

I haven't got any suggestions except for make sure there's no piles of crap, laundry needs putting away straight away. no clothes or towels lying round. toys put away, make sure rooms are bright in the day as they dislike natural light. they aren't too keen on electrical lights either.
seal up any holes round the bath, sink, walls, floors and doors. peppermint is supposed to deter them. dust and Hoover frequently.
I'm not a tidy person, but since they started appearing it's turned me insane trying to make sure there's nowhere for them to hide. my house is lovely now though so that's something to thank them for!
if DH isn't at home I tend to spray them with spider killer.
my mum has a cat who keeps her spider 0roblem down to a minimum? borrow a cat off somebody for a day or two

I wish there was a way to completely ban them from the home but unfortunately there isn't!

Hi thank you for the grabber info, cakedoesntjudge, agree with pastry, I too am making sure there's no "random stuff" lying around in which to hide.Also, good advice re the plug in things - sounds as though they'll just make it worse! I'm embarrassed (on his behalf) to say that I do have a cat! He chases and catches smaller ones but with these hoofing great gallumpers he just sits with his ears pricked with s stupid look on his face, tentatively waves a paw as if to point it out, and then scampers away- useless!

Judas we've done the same and ours is called Boris too!

Coincidence??!

I think not. DH brought the conkers home yesterday......