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Original poster

What's the best way to keep spiders out of the house

36 replies

Nowyouseemenowy0udont · 23/08/2022 14:49

I'm extremely phobic of spiders, soo much that I struggle to read about them, let alone look at pictures.

Is there any way to stop them coming into the house?

Yesterday I found two very large ones in my kitchen on the work surface, a few days before a large one on the wall in my bedroom, before that one in the living room. I expected them to start appearing in September, it seems early to me this year.

My mum swears by placing conkers on the window sills but still gets them. I've tried the spray you can get but it made my cat very ill. I don't know where they're coming in, I have had windows open, but only a crack and I've never seen them coming through there. I appreciate I wasn't watching all the time though! Anyway the windows are now shut!

Grateful for any suggestions, I live alone and am really struggling.

OP posts:
SickOfTheSpiders · 23/08/2022 17:44

What was the spray? Indorex will do the job. Pets should be out of the house for a few hours during and after though. Honestly that stuff kills every insect that comes within 10ft of the house...

stargirl1701 · 23/08/2022 17:48

Conkers.

Beautifulsunflowers · 23/08/2022 17:52

I feel your pain! I’m the same - so horrid to have a phobia but they are scary blighters!!
So I’m reading with interest - I think I read they don’t like mint but not sure where I got that from!

PuppyMonkey · 23/08/2022 17:56

Conkers make bugger all difference, have tried those after reading that on here and elsewhere.

Vacuum up more regularly, get a cat that likes to eat them. Those big daddy long leg slow spiders that don’t really move I find okay and they eat the scary fast house spiders that I’m phobic of.

mibbelucieachwell · 23/08/2022 17:58

Orange or peppermint oil sprayed or rubbed over window and door frames. Apparently they smell with their 'feet' !

Chasingclouds100 · 23/08/2022 18:02

I have just come back from looking after a friends house for two weeks - a lovely old farmhouse about 200 years old out in the countryside. Them little buggers were everywhere - literally about 10 in every room every night, I would wake up in the night terrified that they were crawling over me! I would capture them and put them outside but I really do hate them! No advice I’m afraid just watching with interest

Afterfire · 23/08/2022 18:06

I’m totally phobic of them too. Can’t stand them. I’d never hurt them and get dh to remove them humanely but I just have nightmares about them and scream if I see one!

Anyway… oddly enough they seem to hate our bedroom (watch me jinx this by saying that!) and the only thing I can put it down to is a lot of regular dusting and hoovering - our living room etc doesn’t get done as much, too much clutter to move about and Ds aged 10 hates the Hoover (he has autism) and I spray a lot of body spray around in the mornings when I get dressed! Maybe they don’t like impulse?!! Never had one in our bedroom though!

blablablagobshite · 23/08/2022 18:10

Plug ins electric things set of 4 that eliminate bugs from Amazon used to get loads now extremely rare. One on every floor of our 3 story house they have a night light in too so handy.

Ilovesriracha · 23/08/2022 18:16

A mix of peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils in water in a spray.
Use this at every door and window regularly.
It really works and I absolutely hate them.

flowerexpress · 23/08/2022 18:18

Also watching with interest as I have a MAJOR phobia. Really feel for you op. I have heard about the peppermint oil too on windowsills doors etc. I have plug ins from amazon (I'm honestly not sure if they work yet). I've heard it said you have to prick the conkers for them to work - please don't lose your fingers mind!

I've also started trying to very low key diy exposure therapy (don't know if you're meant to diy it so not necessarily recommending). So if there is a very very teeny one in my bedroom I will try and leave it there. I've also read avoidance teaches your brain (world's least scientific explanation here) to be more afraid or things/reinforces the fear, so if I can manage to and I see a spider I will try not to immediately look away in fright and maybe challenge myself to look for a few seconds etc. Or looking at pictures of toy spiders, cartoons etc on Pinterest for a short while (less scary for starters!) I know all that sounds crazy but if you know you know. I really want to be able to garden etc without fear so I'm working on it slowly x

2020nymph · 23/08/2022 18:19

stargirl1701 · 23/08/2022 17:48

Conkers.

I was just coming in to say conkers! My Nan asked me to get her a bag. When she passed away and my parents sorted out her home they kept finding conkers. I said Nan had placed them to keep away the spiders they laughed but when I asked about spiders and cobwebs they hadn't seen any and her house hadn't been lived in for over a year.

CallmeMrsPricklepants · 23/08/2022 19:51

Cellar spiders, they kill the fast big fuckers.

Winederlust · 23/08/2022 19:57

If you can stand it, leave a few of the spindly daddy long-legs type ones in the corners of a room. They generally stay in their webs and don't scuttle around bothering you, but they do eat the big horrible house spiders. We've noticed a lot less of the blighters in the last couple of years since I got less fussy with the feather duster!

Winederlust · 23/08/2022 19:58

Yes they're the ones I mean @CallmeMrsPricklepants!

courgettigreensadwater · 23/08/2022 20:21

I've tried ALL of the above and nothing works. We lived in our previous house for 13 years and had maybe 10 massive spiders the whole time. In four years we've had dozens and dozens, the size that you can't contain with a pint glass. Envy I've had five in the last week. I like windows open all year so I got some mesh, magnetic diy window things from Amazon so I can keep them
Open all year. But I've tried peppermint spray, conkers, plug ins, flea/insect killer stuff, everything Confused

TorviShieldMaiden · 23/08/2022 20:24

Spiders don’t come “in”. They are there all year round, they just come out to find a mate in the late summer/autumn.

please don’t use indorex, I understand how debilitating phobias are, but spiders are completely harmless and they are an important part of the food chain.

Afterfire · 23/08/2022 21:10

TorviShieldMaiden · 23/08/2022 20:24

Spiders don’t come “in”. They are there all year round, they just come out to find a mate in the late summer/autumn.

please don’t use indorex, I understand how debilitating phobias are, but spiders are completely harmless and they are an important part of the food chain.

I don’t want to hurt them - I won’t use indoorex or whatever it is.

I just don’t want the horny buggers running around trying to get a sexy time in my house!

ArtichokeAardvark · 23/08/2022 21:15

No advice on keeping them out, but this thing has been life changing in catching and removing the massive ones when I've spotted them! Works like a litter picker, no need to get too close or attempt to trap them under a glass! Spider catcher

CluelessHamster · 23/08/2022 21:20

"Zero in" spider repellent spray - got it in local hardware store but Amazon also sell it.

Be warned it has a really unpleasant picture of one of the creepy buggers on the bottle. I don't usually mind pictures of them but have had to stick duck tape over this particular one!

I had an invasion of the cellar spiders in my bathroom in April and sprayed this all around the window and extractor fan - not seen one since and it had been at least one a day before. It is non toxic but they don't like the smell.

I've since sprayed it liberally around my flat especially all around my bed and have yet to see a house spider this year although I won't relax till mid October!

ItsJustTheOneSwanActually · 23/08/2022 21:23

Get a cat - they eat them. Gross, but handy.

CluelessHamster · 23/08/2022 21:25

See I'd be worried the cat might bring me a half eaten one as a "gift" 😱

SweetPetrichor · 23/08/2022 21:28

My gran swore by conkers, but who knows if it works...she was blind as a bat by the end so they could have been sitting on her knee and she wouldn't have known. I've heard of people using peppermint, but I use peppermint candles and oil diffusers and I keep pet spiders and tarantulas and it doesn't do them any harm. It's not about keeping them 'out' anyway...they're in your house all year round, the only reason you're seeing them right now is the males are out looking for ladies. They've not come in from outside, they've just come out from their hidey spots!

Afterfire · 23/08/2022 21:40

SweetPetrichor · 23/08/2022 21:28

My gran swore by conkers, but who knows if it works...she was blind as a bat by the end so they could have been sitting on her knee and she wouldn't have known. I've heard of people using peppermint, but I use peppermint candles and oil diffusers and I keep pet spiders and tarantulas and it doesn't do them any harm. It's not about keeping them 'out' anyway...they're in your house all year round, the only reason you're seeing them right now is the males are out looking for ladies. They've not come in from outside, they've just come out from their hidey spots!

This reminded me of my mum in the last days of her terminal bowel cancer… she always had a terrible phobia of spiders but was so completely out of it she didn’t realise she had a huge one sitting in on her lap when I went in to see her! It’s sort of funny now. She would have been horrified!

Pyewhacket · 23/08/2022 21:48

Poor Spickies. I grew up on a farm and we had huge ones all over the place. Not to mention the ones in the stables where I keep my horse. My middle daughter has a screaming fit if she sees one in the bathroom and one of us has to put him outside without harming him but otherwise we just leave them alone, they're doing no harm.

Not too keen on rats though. I leave those to the foxes and the yard cats.