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Original poster

Help...spiders!!!

21 replies

MoreLikeMiranda · 18/04/2009 21:31

I am a total arachnaphobic. Have recently split up with DP and I have moved into what new home that appears to be a spider magnet.

I have 8mnth DS who will be crawling soon so I can't dot conkers in the corners (I have never tried this but have heard it is very effective) and I don't like to spray chemicals.

I'm considering a plug-in repellerbut I don't know if they are effective or a gimic.

Can anyone help me please?

OP posts:

Mspontipine · 18/04/2009 22:57

Now then MoreLikeMiranda you are going to be absolutely fine.

Have you always lived with other people - parents, partners etc so there was always someone around to remove the terrifying bastards wonderful creatures for you? Even if that meant ringing them up and begging them to come home to sort it while sobbing sweatily in a sodden heap in a corner??

Well it's your turn to stand up to them and you can do it. You can.

Now then, you mention a dc. Do you want them to go through life suffering like you did, entering each new room with a certain trepidation checking that horrid join between ceiling and wall where they just love to lurk? Your child will soon pick it up from you. Do you want that?? Now I am never ever going to be one of those fools daring individuals that can pick one up in their hand or even do the paper and glass trick but even you can quickly and efficiently dispose of one with a quick flick of a rolled up newspaper and a warrier yell. Fast and hard as you can you want to get it first time. Act fearless in front of your child. You will become fearless. Believe me. I was one of the worst. I once stood sobbing outside my flat chased out by one of 'em. I ended up asking a total stranger off the street to come get it, such was my fear.

The more times you do it believe me the easier it gets. You can do it. Better to get that bugger while it's sitting quietly on the wall than it pop out at you when you move that cushion!!

You can scream but keep most of it inside!! Like I say - don't show fear (to your child) and eventually you won't feel it.

Trust me

Now I must search out an ant thread - pesky blighters.

CarofromWton · 18/04/2009 23:04

I'm with you Miranda - horrible isn't it? I've heard of the conkers thing and I have the repellant spray (also has conker fragrance in) but I'm not sure it's that effective.

I'll be watching this thread in hope - if the gadget works, book me in for one!

CarofromWton · 18/04/2009 23:29

bumping for both of us!

girlandboy · 18/04/2009 23:31

get one of these!

CurlyhairedAssassin · 18/04/2009 23:35

And really, you have to expect to see spiders this time of year - they come out to have a bit of a wander and to breed.

We seem to get HUGE things running across the room this time of year, and in the autumn too.

CarofromWton · 18/04/2009 23:35

girlandboy - I know I should but I'm just too chicken even for that! The tube would have to be 10 feet long and black (so I couldn't see the bugger wriggling inside it) and I would need to be drunk too (I admit I'm a wuss but I'm fearless with everything else!)

applepudding · 18/04/2009 23:35

The conkers trick doesn't work (unless you need a whole bag of conkers - I've just tried a strategically placed few).

I always take off my glasses so that they appear smaller, then put on some boots with a flat sole (so they can't jump up my leg) and stamp on them hard, turning my foot so I hear them squish. Sounds vile, but I just hate them - and you have to make sure their properly dead because sometimes they just roll up their legs and play dead in a corner then run out when you move away.

MsP - re standing outside your flat sobbing - I once went to the pub over the road from my flat dressed only in my shorty nightie and knickers looking for one of my neighbours to kill a spider in my flat!!

I also once had a contraption on a pole which was supposed to catch them so you could put them outside. I think it came from one of those houseware catalogues that get brought round to your house. Betterware or something.

girlandboy · 18/04/2009 23:38

An alteration is needed then.

Add on another 10 feet of drainpipe and lots of duct tape.

Sorry, can't really help then. I don't mind spiders that much; I've held a tarantula before. I don't like the big long legged ones that suddenly run across the carpet in the autumn though. But I can manage to get them in a jam jar.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 18/04/2009 23:40

It's when they are such big fuckers that their legs don't really fit inside the rim of a pint glass. I really hate those big mahoosive ones.

CarofromWton · 18/04/2009 23:42

When I was 8 months pg with DD1 I desperately needed the loo but DH was at work and the house we lived in at the time only had 1 toilet (upstairs). On my way up the stairs I noticed the biggest spider ever (I swear he made a dent in the carpet) so I just held myself and rocked at the bottom of the stairs until DH came home. Had to wait about 2 hours.

Oh the shame! I know this all sounds pathetic to non-phobics and I can't really explain it. I can pick up daddylonglegs, beetles, rats etc but there's just something about spiders.

applepudding - I can't kill anything. DH has to put them outside humanely!

CarofromWton · 18/04/2009 23:44

(feeling a little less cowardly) - in the last couple of years I have managed to hoover up the odd spider (I know this kills them but when there's nobody else around it's the spider or me!)

Original poster

MoreLikeMiranda · 19/04/2009 14:13

thank you for your messages, no-one tried the plug-in repeller?

Mspontipine; thanks for the advice. Don't worry, I want my children to be fearless. They have no idea of my phobia.

girlandboy;I am with CarofrmWtn. I have seen those but they are no good to me as I would have to close to the spiders. I just about cope with a long hose vacuum but even that is difficult for me... I am such a wuss!

CurlyhairedAssasin; that's exactly my problem! There's clearly been some eggs laid in here.... ewwwwwwwww, tarting to itch.... when I first moved in there were lots of baby house-spiders running around that I disposed of,but as the weeks have gone by the spiders have grown... a lot!

Applepudding; no shoes in the house rule here.. which meant that I stepped on a big ugly one with my bare foot. I have never wanted to amputate something so badly in my life. Quite a pathetic sight to see a grown woman washing her feet under that tap in bath and weeping that she'll never feel clean again.

Yes, ex-dp would always remove spiders before I even saw them. He did a good job.

OP posts:

littlerach · 19/04/2009 14:22

Sympathies as I am wussy around them too.

I have got more sued to them now, as we had a lot here when we moved in.

I use a jug to cover them, then sometimes elave them for dh

inscotland · 19/04/2009 14:39

Just be thankful you don't live in Australia and have a huntsman in the house.

Mspontipine · 19/04/2009 19:55

Is it worth getting back with ex-dp maybe.....

Rollmops · 20/04/2009 22:37

girlandboy, that thinggy does not work and I know 'coz I own one. The little ones that are squishable might, just might get sucked in for a millisecond but the ones size of a small horse that we get around here, only get irritated by it. You don't want to see an annoyed spider I tell you....
Evil, evil horrid disgusting things they are .

BEAUTlFUL · 21/04/2009 11:22

This is vv good and safe for crawling babies to be around... Get a can of Dethlac from a hardware shop (or sometimes chemists sell it). It's a spray that you spray everywhere the evil little feckers crawl over - windowsills, door-jams, floorboard cracks etc. Kills them as they crawl over it, so all you have to deal with are the corpses.

Really, it's fab. Saved my sanity!

Original poster

MoreLikeMiranda · 22/04/2009 10:00

ooooh, thank you very much.

OP posts:

jazzandh · 22/04/2009 11:22

I second beautiful's answer. Spray around outside - inside fireplace if you have one. Stops all creepy crawlies......

Also I hoover - unless desperate - then stamp and scream!

If you can hold it in though - won't be long before DC can do it for you (always tell them how nice spider is and and how interesting - never let them see you splat one or this won't work!)

discoball · 10/05/2009 00:21

Hi,

I totally sympathise - I'm afraid my phobia has got so bad that both me and my sister are going to go to London Zoo in the summer and do their Arachnophobics course - they reckon they can cure you in a day!! I would love to see this happen - even now I am checking the floor! If it's only me in the house and I KNOW that I have to deal with it, then I get the Argos catalogue and fling it on top of the "thing", then jump up and down on it, then (from a distance whilst hyperventilating - God, I really am bad, aren't I)?, flick the catalogue over to see if I have obliterated the ugly thing. Also, I know this sounds hypocritical, but believe it or not, I don't like the fact that I am killing them, so would like to do something about my (probably inherited from dear mother) phobia. My sister has the repel-plug and swears blind that she has seen less spiders, so it's worth a go! Good Luck - I'm off to check the ceiling before getting into bed!!!!

PM73 · 10/05/2009 09:27

I too hate spiders but i was very proud of myself this morning,there was a medium sized one hanging off the bathroom door so i opened the window & with a tissue picked it up & flung it out the window.

We have a huge spider living in the corner of our bathroom & he comes out from the skirting board everyday & i have left him to it as since he has been living with us we have had hardly any other spiders,i think he is eating the others!

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