Spiders.. how do I get them out of my house?

W

Winter

Cathlete
I am really getting more pissed off at spiders in my house than I am scared of them. I moved to to the outskirts of town with more trees and by the river - so now I have to deal with the one thing that petrifies me - frickin' spiders in my house.

I had Ecolab over a month ago to spray for spiders/bugs. How long does that last??

I have killed 3-5 spiders in the last 4 days. yes they bite me too!

Please does anyone have any home remedies or something to get them to stay outside?

Unhappy camper,
Winter
 
Ha ha! Well, I'll be anxious for some replies as well. Those suckers are big too! Thanks goodness for my little boys. There are not afraid. The take great delight in wacking them with a shoe! I just tell them not my shoe - use your dad's. LOL!

Is it because of the trees? We've only been here three years and I swear someone is sprinkling Miracle Grow on them.

The creepiest thing is waking up with red, itchy bumps. Ewww they must be in the bed, too!:eek: :(

Dallas

ETA: Thanks Heather. We posted at the same time.
 
When I lived in PA, some people would collect these osage oranges that fell from the trees. It is believed that if you put some in the room where you see spiders, it will get rid of them. I use to have alot of the woodspiders come in our basement...look like miniature tarantula's. Would freak me out so bad. I would rather see rats running thru my house instead.

Charlotte~~
 
I let my six year old son take care of it. He is in the nature club at school, so he goes around our house to find bugs, spiders included, picks them up bare-handed and takes them back outside where they belong. I cannot tell you how many times I have almost had a heart attack watching them crawl around in his hands!!! :eek:

Missy
 
USE YOUR VACUUM CLEANER:p Mine is a bagless and somehow they get creamated or something in the process(cause they are never in the little container when i empty it. :+ ) This will not rid you of spiders, but it will make you feel better;-) I live out in the country. We don't have many trees at all, but i am constantly finding spiders and their webs EVERYWHERE!x( It annoys the hell out of me, but at least they are better than roaches.


jes
 
I take an ant and roach spray about every 2 or 3 months (or when I start to see those buggers again) and spray every venilation vent, every doorway to the outside and every window frame. It doesn't get rid of them completely, but it makes a huge difference. Of course, the house smells horrible for a few hours.

I have a massive fear of anything with more than four legs and the ability to grow hair. *shudders*
 
I will be trying all of your suggestions except blowing up the house - although it is under construction and half gone anyway!

I guess I will have to be more dilligent in spraying. They are just so damn ugly I can't handle it.

Thanks............
 
With all the Scorpians, tarantula's, Black Widows, Gila Monsters, and snakes out here in AZ, I'll take a little ole house spider any day. My Dh has killed 3 tarantulas and a black widow in our back yard! Thank god I didn't see them. If I see a scorpian, I'm outta here!
 
I would probably have house sprayed by professionals. Since you mentioned waking up with tiny red itchy bumps, it sounds like you have something else besides the spiders. Most spider bites that we have had are not itchy, usually a little sore and swollen with a pimple like center. Professional treatment usually last 3 months or longer depending on time of year.
Jeany
 
I found a great book that has all natural pest remedies. For spiders it says:

1. Sprinkle the herb pennyroyal in areas that spiders frequent & they will never come back.

2. Place cedar chips in the toes of old pantyhose & hang where you have a problem.

3. Place a hedgeapple or two in rooms where the problem exists.

Can't say I've tried any of the suggestions. Goodluck
 
Can you move? I think that would seem the only appropriate action.

This thread has given me goose bumps all day long.
 
I have no new suggestions. But this thread is giving me the creeps. I am majorly arachnophobic. I don't think I could live in a climate that could support large spiders like tarantulas. The small ones are bad enough.

Maggie:p
 
Our first year in this house brought a bunch of spiders. They're not as bad now. I think what does it is our cats. They can spot a bug on the floor or the wall from a mile away...and oh, those bugs make such fascinating toys!!! Our cats have cleaned up a lot of our spiders by playing to death with them - literally.

Still, I've captured 4 gray house spiders in the past month and transferred them outdoors. I don't kill spiders and even let some of them stay inside because they kill any ants or critters that dare to venture inside. I capture the spiders in a tall glass and cover it with an index card or heavy paper until I get outside, then I flip the glass over on the ground or over a bush and drop the spider out.

To prevent spiders: Keep clothes, towels, and blankets off the floor and packed in air tight containers or bags (the kind you seal and suck the air out of - they've been advertised on TV a lot). This will prevent some spiders from "nesting" in those items. Keep your house CLEAN!!!!! The vacuum is your friend! Spiders like the dirty, dusty, and dark. As long as my light is on at night, that spider on the ceiling won't move. As soon as the light goes off, that spider starts trekking all over the room. Vacuum corners and the floorboards regularly in each room. Don't pile newspapers or paper bags up anywhere. Again, these make nice nesting areas for some spiders.

One particularly nasty nesting spider to watch out for since you said you've been bitten by spiders: The Brown Recluse. It is so named because it likes the dark corners or those piles of clothes or papers that don't get moved for a long time. It likes to stay hidden and tucked away. But if you stumble across one and get bitten, it could be VERY VERY bad. I've seen Brown Recluse bites and they are extremely nasty and hard to heal. You literally have to keep the bitten area elevated for several weeks to "starve" the poison so the bite can heal. Sometimes, the bite won't heal and requires surgery to remove the poisoned tissue before it spreads. Needless to say, you are out of commission and unable to work the entire time you're healing the bite. But, as long as you keep things picked up in your house and regularly wash your sheets and keep your bed made, you shouldn't have to worry. Brown recluses try to stay away from people...and they aren't prevalent in all areas of the country. So, look up on the web where they can be found. Maybe they aren't even in your area. I was just concerned about this when you said you've been bitten.

By the way, don't confuse the Wolf Spider with a Brown Recluse. Wolf spiders are much more "elegant" and graceful than a Recluse. Wolfs are relatively harmless...give you a knotty, itchy bite, but that's about all. And, they'll usually "dart" away when you get too close to them. They're also usually found out in the open or in their den-like "tunnel" webs...not at all like a Recluse.

Good luck!

P.S. I've seen something advertised before that you plug in and it creates a sound wave or something that keeps bugs away. I don't know what it's called or where you can find it, but I'm sure a quick search on the web or in your local store's pesticide aisle will turn something up.
 
>P.S. I've seen something advertised before that you plug in
>and it creates a sound wave or something that keeps bugs away.
> I don't know what it's called or where you can find it, but
>I'm sure a quick search on the web or in your local store's
>pesticide aisle will turn something up.
>

I had one of those in my basement. It doesn't seem to work on spiders because there are webs all over!

There are special "bug vaccums" that you can use to trap and release them (spiders actually do have a good job to do in the ecosystem...it's just better that they do it elsewhere!).

I usually catch and release most insects (mosquitos, flies, tics, fleas, roaches and japanese beatles would be the exceptions). Last year, when I was cleaning my office, there was a spider web in a corner (the "Building Service Workers," AKA "janitors" obviously don't think it's part of their job to clean there), I caught the spider and put it in a box to take outside. I kind of forgot about it, but later, he must have bit me, because I suddenly felt a burning on my hand and when I looked, there was a pink spot. Well, over the course of the next couple of days, that spot grew into a very nasty-looking mess, and I had to get meds to deal with it (though the Dr. said it didn't look like brown recluse bite). Some gratitude there, huh?


There are some huge, furry spiders (I thought they were Wolf spiders) that hang around my compost--and they are most welcome to do so (I even transported one in a paper bag when I moved, and moved the compost with me!!). One time, one must have gotten in the house (in the basement) because I came home, and right in the middle of my living room was a dead one, all curled up like the remains of an "Alien" face hugger. One of my cats obviously found it somewhere and "played" it to death.
 
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