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Keeping spiders out of the house?

ziggy_tx
19 years ago

My wife says there are more spiders coming in the house and insists I need to spray something around the foundation to keep them out. I keep telling her they are our friends and I don't want to spray poison to kill them and other benefitials, plus I don't think it would work anyway. She gets very emotional about it and I think I will have to do something to at least give the appearance the problem is being taken care of.

Is there anyway to keep spiders out of the house or trap them once they are in?

Comments (25)

  • WITreeLover
    19 years ago

    I've heard that if you place fruit from an osage orange tree around the house that it keeps away spiders. I'm not sure whether it's true or not or just an old wives tale. It might have a good placebo affect at least.

  • Eliz33
    19 years ago

    My mother seem to have good luck keeping bugs out of the house with the I think are Ridx maybe the little things you plug into the wall outlet. She got hers on the Home Shopping Net Work or QVC. Give it a try what do you have to loose.

  • chubbles
    19 years ago

    Most spiders do not survive well indoors. The climate inside is vastly different than what is outside. They will die on their own if they are inside, spraying the threshold will simply speed up the process. There are several species of house spiders however.
    I only use chemicals if absolutely necessary. You should check all of your doors and windows to make sure there are no gaps (under doors for example) that critters can just enter. Often, a lot of rain will drive insects and spiders indoors. Leaving doors open, bringing in plants to protect them from cold, etc...
    I live in FL so I have similar bug populations as you, and all of these things keeps my house almost 100% bug free.

  • caseyb
    19 years ago

    I am with your DW on the spider thing. Though I realize they keep much more nasty bugs at bay. I prefer not to see them - the worst is when you see them, and then you don't... ugh. I know quite a few are in residence behind our plaster, and I just want them to stay there. I hope to convice DH to seal up all the cracks to the INSIDE of our house as completely as possible! Hopefully the dance of life and death will then play out behind the walls only, where I can't see it. Is this wishful thinking?

  • Billstout
    19 years ago

    I have found a holliday foger or any type of cheap bug bomb set off in the attic keeps alot of the spiders out of the house without having to spray alot of chemicals around the outside where the kids play.

  • mullins4
    19 years ago

    I was told that placing mothballs around your house will keep them out. Anyone else ever heard this? If they didn't smell so bad they might be okay.

  • lifestarter
    19 years ago

    quote:
    "I have found a holliday foger or any type of cheap bug bomb set off in the attic keeps alot of the spiders out of the house without having to spray alot of chemicals around the outside where the kids play."
    just don't do this.
    There are spiders in the house because there is food in the house for them to eat. Only reason you should do this is if there are living the movie "Arachnaphobia". Many outdoor spiders like the Brown grass spiders in my area live inside in the summer and try to hibernate in between my basement ceiling and moldings! I always catch them and think of the movie "Fire In The Sky" where the Alien race has collected humans inside of cacoons.lol. WHAT?!? thats What they look like?!?! This problem is most likely from me tracking them in from the garden. the wall devices work great on spiders but not for bugs. i always see spiders in a "coma" where they came in contact with the frequency walking accross the floor in front of the device. When you touch them after unplugging the unit, they almost always come back to life as if some miracle had occured. Countless spiders have been transplanted to my veggie garden last spring from the tiles of my kitchen floor. They l ive below the plants most of the time and mind their own business. I see them doing there thing from time to time holdin down the fort!.....eatin all those pests! ps: the wall plug in thingees are avail. at all the "mart" stores on the cheap. GREAT FOR RATS AND MICE TOO! this is just my experience. your mileage may vary.

  • TexasCoon
    18 years ago

    I,ve got spiders in my house too! Lots of them and not those little jumping ones either. Those never bothered me & spiders in general never bother me much until I moved into a new house and it's just infested. I don't what kind they are but they get big! They come out at night only. There has been two times my husband & I were laying on the couch watching TV & one just comes along and crawls across me. Many times they run across the living room floor while we are watching TV in the dark. Once I was laying in bed and here one comes, right in front of my face, on my bed! Yuck!!! They are driving me crazy! I can't find anything that will totally eliminate them, except to whack em! Not even Orkin! It really sucks so if anyone knows a good way, I also would apprieciate it.

  • creatrix
    18 years ago

    And remember that many insecticides do not kill spiders, unless spiders are specifically listed on the label. Spiders are not in the Insect family.

  • sharbear50
    14 years ago

    The only thing that has worked for me, I live in South Florida, is to Bomb the Attic!

  • scholerc
    13 years ago

    Oh! You have no idea! I live in Iowa and my house was filled with spiders! My dog eats them, my cat eats them, my boyfriend and I kill them all the time. The only thing that works for us (we have a really old cat and a Boston Terrier who is highly alleric to everything)is soap and water. I'll mop the hard wood and vacuum all day but they keep getting in. So, I started using citris soap in a spray bottle on all inside corners of the house. Anywhere bugs can get in. We get fruit flies bad so this attracks them and the spiders but the soap kills them and I don't have to worry about my dog licking the soap. She can handle that more than any bug spray...Sometimes I'll get the flies by setting out a glass of sweet wine, they fall in and die. I think the best way to get rid of spiders is to keep them from getting in. That means washing and sweeping your house as often as possible and spraying anything with soap that will not harm children/ pets but kill them with an attractive smell. We all know that they breed fast so you have to get them to one place. Flowery smells work for me.

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    13 years ago

    You aren't addressing the "keep them from getting in" part. Recaulk or seal windows and doors. Seal all cracks and openings to the outside.

    Also, spiders won't breed prolifically if there isn't a food source for them. What's with all of the fruit flies, for instance?

  • pinkcat
    13 years ago

    I agree with the regular cleaning and dusting expecially keeping dark cluttery spaces to a min. I cant say enough for making sure the house is sealed up tight. I had some very large spiders that had actual girth in my apt in Texas...real screamers..neighbors thought i was routinly being murdered. After i brought a few of the monsters to the leasing office, it turned out I had a lot of spaces between doors and windows. Poison does little except make everyone else sick..my cat was decent except for the really big ones..then she ran faster then me .

  • yochels
    13 years ago

    We live in southern TN in new-er apartments. When we moved in last August we noticed quite a few spiders, but just though that since the apartment had been empty for 6months that it was normal. Now though, they're everywhere. At night spiders the size of nickels&quarters come crawling out from everywhere. We've got the Black&Decker wall plugs and I have sprayed the widows, doors, and baseboards. I have a 9 month old that is into everything so I can lay out moth balls. What else can I do?

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    13 years ago

    Mothball wouldn't have done a single thing to repel spiders, anyway. Besides that, they are highly toxic....fumes and all. Never use mothballs in any other manner but what is cited on the label.

  • sweetmaureen_hotmail_com
    12 years ago

    Spiders YUK I have them to not a lot however I noticed a bank I work for uses mothballs to kill bugs in the bathrooms and this does seem to work.

  • nicole_hinton0514_yahoo_com
    12 years ago

    I have tons of little red spiders in my home, especially in the bathroom. I have tried sprays, home remedies, and different things people have told me about. NOTHING WORKS. I recently seen a hole my little sister has in her leg from a spider bite. If one of my six kids get bit I dont know what Im going to do. Does anyone have any tried and true solutions?

  • Kimmsr
    12 years ago

    Using Moth Balls in any way not listed on the label is illegal. The vapors from Moth Balls are toxic poisons that will have harmful affects on humans. I do know when I am exposed I have an Asthma attack, but there are harms later in life that no one would connect to exposure to them.
    A company that is exposing its employees to hazardous substances, knowingly and deliberately is subject to much stiffer penalties then anyone else, and Moth Balls spread around a bathroom is one such occurance.
    Moth Balls are a hazardous substance that shold not be used in any way not listed on the label.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Moth Balls

  • Jcollison2121_gmail_com
    12 years ago

    Moth balls work great I put like 300 of them in my house and never seen a bug ever again

  • richardson129_charter_net
    12 years ago

    I live in an old 3 story building primarily with old wooden surfaces, and the access to my apartment is a hallway/indoor set of stairs. We have lots of spiders... for the most part they are small and all the same type, but occasionally we have some gross ones.

    I am very allergic to spiders.. i dont even have to get bitten by most spiders but if I come in contact with them i swell like a balloon and on more than one occasion have swelled up to the point of facial deformity. I can't touch them myself. And don't really have a way to clear them without risking touching them/being bitten.

    A former tenant said there was a Raccoon living under the front porch that he used moth balls to drive out...
    He said he came home to find the raccoon gone and hundreds and hundreds of different spiders dead on the walk way. MOTH BALLS KILL SPIDERS.
    I could throw some in halls but i can't clean them up once they are dead.

    Does anyone have any suggestions as to what i can do to keep the arachnids away? In the last week i have been bitten 13+ times. I have not had this happen in the last year i've lived here... until now.

    Sprays do not seem logical because this is a closed narrow hallway with little ventilation.
    There are not outlets on in the hall way on any of the levels to plug in the devices that keep them away.

    i'm stuck here but getting desperate.

  • Kimmsr
    12 years ago

    Moth balls work by gassing off and the fumes they gas off are known carcinogens. Using moth balls as pesticides by tossing them around so you breath the fumes produced exposes you, and your family, to a carcinogen just as exposing your family to most of the organophosphate pesticides does. There is a very good reason why the Food and Drug Administration and the EPA restricts moth balls to use in closed containers.
    There are many web sites that do say that moth balls can be used as a pesticide and those web sites are full of really bad information.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Moth Balls

  • mangoray
    11 years ago

    I have a semi-finished basement, and this is where my spider problem lives. Ive gotten lots of great tips by reading eveyone's stories, which i will start using asap. I'm not afraid of spiders, most of the time i just watch them eating their prey, but the spiders are so many now not a day goes by when one does not fly down in front of me, i just can't live like this anymore - first thing i will shine a light on every corner to clean all the hidden webs..but most important is i have caulk any holes where they are coming in--i will be investing in a caulk gun, i really hope it works to keep the spiders outside and out of myhair :/

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    11 years ago

    Mangoray, I would also buy some of the sticky traps for spiders. You can find them in the pest control section of the same place you go looking for your caulk gun.

    If you can catch some of these spiders, take a couple of pictures so that we can see what kind they are. It's probably a good idea to identify them, especially when you seem to have so many.

    You might also look for RoachPruf, which is simply boric acid powder. It comes in a squeeze applicator so that you can 'Poof' it where you want it. Boric acid is an excellent remedy for all arthropods...spiders included. The spider (or whatever) will walk through the stuff and it will eventually end up all over them.

    No moth balls or 'bombs', right?

  • topsiebeezelbub
    11 years ago

    I washed the outside of my house with Murphy's oil soap, and they don't like the smell. It kept them at bay for about a year; time to redo it. Inside I use an air freshener made from REAL citrus...I love the smell but spiders hate it. When I can catch them I put them outside. I don't kill "Charlotte."

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