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Just moved into new house, returned from holiday to false widow filled house of horrors

30 replies

ObviouslyNotAMandy · 04/08/2026 08:52

Just returned from long weekend in UK, 4.5 hour drive. Tired. Front door has 2 fat false widows dangling from it- very welcoming! Went inside and they are EVERYWHERE! I’m a massive arachnophobe and cannot cope with this, they are literally everywhere, dc room included. What on earth?!
For some weird reason, loft hatch wide open, could be where they’ve come from, but why the hell is it open? I definitely didn’t leave it open.
Icing on the cake… I’ve had some sort of algae bloom in my beautifully maintained, filtered pond and all my fish are dead. What the hell?!
Feels like a house of horrors, no idea what to do about the spiders so stayed at mums last night as worried about dc. We were only away 4 days!
Dream home now feels like Addams family home! Anybody got any suggestions on how to deal with invasion?

OP posts:
DecisionTime123 · 09/08/2026 23:22

Usually spiders don't worry me too much, 1 false widow I'd chuck it outside, 2 yeah I can do that, but if you are talking half a dozen here there and everywhere then if you can afford pest control, I'd go for that esp with DC - I know they are normally harmless but they can bite. When can rentokil come do you know? Will you have to just call in the morning (Monday?)

MabelAnderson · 09/08/2026 23:28

Are you certain these are false widows and not Garden Spiders ? Garden Spiders also have large, fat bodies and they are typically found in porches and other places at this time of year.
False Widows would have been in your house already, it would be strange to suddenly have loads of them, whereas Garden Spiders could have come in through the open hatch.
Can you take a photo ?

ObviouslyNotAMandy · 12/08/2026 14:12

MabelAnderson · 09/08/2026 23:28

Are you certain these are false widows and not Garden Spiders ? Garden Spiders also have large, fat bodies and they are typically found in porches and other places at this time of year.
False Widows would have been in your house already, it would be strange to suddenly have loads of them, whereas Garden Spiders could have come in through the open hatch.
Can you take a photo ?

Here you go, one of many (sorry fellow arachnophobes!) Have a Rentokil consultant coming Friday. Apparently they can leave traps which I will be going ABSOLUTELY nowhere near as I'm imagining a bucket of spiders!

Just moved into new house, returned from holiday to false widow filled house of horrors
OP posts:
Itsgettinghotinere · 12/08/2026 14:41

We had an old house fumigated as we had so many of these spiders. It helped and I did a regular bug bomb in the garage - gives me the creeps thinking about it.

MabelAnderson · 12/08/2026 17:14

ObviouslyNotAMandy · 12/08/2026 14:12

Here you go, one of many (sorry fellow arachnophobes!) Have a Rentokil consultant coming Friday. Apparently they can leave traps which I will be going ABSOLUTELY nowhere near as I'm imagining a bucket of spiders!

Well that certainly does look like a false widow. I have lots of them in my house, but the other type , Steotoda Grossa, the cupboard spider, they do tend to stay mostly in dark cupboards. I am quite scared of them ! Yours look like Steotoda Nobilis, they typically go to the corners of ceilings etc.
I wonder why so many ? Possibly they love this hot weather, they came from Madeira.

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