to kill all the spiders?

[bessarabiantiger]

We live in the country, we're very lucky with our house and we've been here two years. There's a lake on the property and with lakes come mosquito hoardes (fine, live and let live, we knew about this when ee took the place, and with mosquito hoardes come spiders.

I am alright with most types of spider, I allow Huntsman (? Spindly legged) in every room as they're no bother and keep the mossies down when we have the windows open. Brown recluse get ejected with a glass & cardboard or eaten by the cat.

This year we have a problem with false widows and a kind we've never seen before. They are awful. Striped and with extra long front legs, they shamble across the ceiling as if they're drunk & often fall in your drink/dinner/hair.

We now have around 80 of the fuckers in the kitchen. They are making nests. For many people this wouldn't even be an issue. But me being me I've said to myself, well the windows are open, they aren't scaring me on purpose (even after the night I walked into the kitchen without turning the lights on and had one who was making a web land on my face. ARGH!) Etc. Etc.

We've used every natural repellant going. From plug-in spider scarers (knew they were bullshit but was at wits end last sept) to conkers, peppermint oil, spider hoover, removing them all outside (shudder. That was a horrible day) only to find a new gang there in the morning.

After me and DH being bitten this week (him on the neck, me on the hand WHILST ASLEEP IN BED! Hand swelled up for the next 24 hours, yes, it was a spider, found it crawling down my leg) I have finally and very reluctantly bought spider poison.

I am hoping someone can offer a better solution before I have to use it. DS has mild asthma and am worried about the effect on him (we will evacuate for the day after use) and it's an aersol as well as a poison. It sounds silly, but I've only ever used aerosol twice- the ozone layer was so drummed into me at school it feels akin to pooping straight down a whales blow hole!

AIBU to kill the spiders so they stop biting us? Has anyone got any other solution?

We break webs and remove visible offenders bi-daily BTW.

Dear god, OP how the hell do you live with that?

I had a dragonfly come into the house the other evening, he lurked outside and every time I let the dog out into the garden he flew in. Three times I had to take him out. I thought that was really bad but at least he just sat on the light fitting until I moved him. Picked him up in a large bowl. But all those spiders, I couldn't stand it.

I think in your shoes I'd definitely be looking at using the spider poison, no question.

I would burn the house to the ground and never look back

This is the reason I could never live in Australia. I am assuming that this is not in Britain, OP!!!

I had a fucking massive one run across the floor this week. It's just that time of year. Sprayed it with fly/wasp killer then friend put glass over it to contain it whilst it died (it was quite a quick death but i left it overnight to be sure it was defo dead).

I vote for burn the house down. Or - OP - no offence but is your house really cluttered and dirty? Apparently they don't like clean minimalist houses like mine hence I don't get that many. i'm also on the 3rd floor which helps, I think!

We now have around 80 of the fuckers in the kitchen. They are making nests. For many people this wouldn't even be an issue

Er - who are THESE people?!!!!

Ugh, I hate spider season. Those stripy ones are very nifty at spinning huge webs, I'll say that for them. I had one wrap itself round my face on the way home from work - it had spun a web between a wall and a lamppost, right across the pavement.

I would be bringing in the army, OP.

80 false widow spiders making nests in any part of my house would be a huge issue for me. I would have to move out!!

Kill the fuckers if you can.

I am not a fan of spiders. Tiny ones I can cope with, but the huge house spiders terrify me. There just must be a better way of controlling the insect population than that.

Yes, Devora, exactly which is why our garden becomes a no-go are every late summer/autumn.

There are disgusting, pulsing, heaving nests of tiny spiders everywhere in the spring and every year I vow I am going genocidal on their asses but I forget and the fuckers have all hatched and dispatched across my garden by the time I get around to it.
Stripey, bastarding, master web-making fuckers.

So where does one get this spider poison? I couldn't find anything of the sort in the garden centre...

The nests are in the garden, btw, obviously if it was in the house they'd be goners.

We have a huge one in the garage (it doesn't have the car in there) it's like seeing a mouse out of the corner of my eye. DD and I are taking staples out of newspapers and the bugger landed on me I think because we had the cheek to tidy our own garage.

There was a very large hairy spider in the bath, I got a glass'n'card and did the "Oh, who left you here" thing. DD told me to stop being weird.

I couldn't kill them but I only have to face them one at a time

Conkers, op! When they're ready, gather conkers and put them in a corner of every room. They deter spiders.

But - 80? Eurgh. Could you get in a pest control man, see what he advises??

Usually I'm a trap and release person but you sound overun.

We're in Sussex, the house is pretty tidy but quite old. Every spring, we get a couple of days where we have to stay indoors as tiny baby spiders use tiny web parachutes to disperse themselves.

The entire house gets covered in spider silk. It. Is. Horrible.

Sussex!!! She's in Sussex!! England!! I think we all assumed you were in Australia!
Kill them with fire, now. I don't want invasion to spread along south coast to Dorset!!

Do you have a thatch roof?.

You're in England? Like, in the UK England?? We need to deploy all available forces to Hadrian's Wall immediately to stop them crossing the border and joining up with the ones we have up here already!

The UK?? England?? Oh sweet baby Jesus!! Run for the hills... I'm in Yorkshire we have plenty of hills. Please please please keep the eight legged buggers down your way, nuke them by all means just don't send them here

We do not have a thatched roof. I am tackling them today with hoovers and brushes and possibly fire. I did toy with the idea of chickens, apparently they turn spiders into eggs, I'm not sure I want a house full of chickens either though.

The final straw was coming down bleary eyed at 7am to find a massive one on the light switch. Tried shouting at it ("shouting at spiders - the autobiography"), it continued to sit there. Menacing at me. I will not be menaced by my own lightswitch dammit!

Pray for me.

Yes. Sussex UK.

DH refused to believe that any UK spiders could bite. Until one fell on his neck in the car and bit him. We have vampire spiders.

PMSL at putting hadrian's wall back up and calling in the army.

Good luck today, OP!
by the way:

WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS?!!

I will not be menaced by my own lightswitch........pmsl

Yuk. Move to Australia?

Leave the hoover on for a few moments once you've sucked them up. The vacuum suffocates them.
I'm intrigued by the reference to fire. I thought I was very thorough in spider eradication but the idea of a flamethrower is quite appealing.

I'm going to wear a crash helmet. We have some of those huge ones who run out and attack you when you touch their webs. Our landlord very considerately designed the cupboard around the fridge so they would have a perfect spider-sized hidey-hole from whence to leap, possibly shouting the spider equivalent of "GET OFF MY LAND!"

Am also going to take pictures of spider poo for you all. Because who doesn't want to see what comes out of a spiderbum? Squares. That's who.

Watch this space.

This thread is terrifying me, yet I can't leave until I see spider poo pics.

I concur with other posters. Kill them with fire.

I keep thinking of that scene in arachnophobia at the end where the house is overrun with spiders.

Honestly, I could not live in a house that had that many spiders. Pest control might be an option? Otherwise, you have to move. Immediately.

Spiderpoo spiderpoo...

Exhibit a: spiderpoo on an old board outside that I use to protect the thing underneath from getting pooped on. It looks like peppercorns. For scale an English Penny and a bird poo. Because let's just make this a scatalogical fiesta shall we?

Exhibit B: spiderpoo on a much-loved cushion cover. Funfact! Spiderpoo is made of pure hatred and never washes out.