What’s the best way to keep the spiders from entering a home and/or getting rid of them once they have?
My apartment is kind of old and there are many ways a creepy crawly might enter, especially if I leave my sliding glass door open (the screen door doesn’t keep anything larger than a golf ball out), which I’m apt to do considering the temperature has been getting into triple digits of late. I’m not afraid of spiders, but I’m not fond of the thought of being bitten in my sleep as has happened in the past. In particular the end of July signals the beginning of Hobo spider entering the home season and those buggers actually do frighten me a little.
Last night I had the mispleasure of squishing what had to be a Guinness Book of World Records holding Hobo spider for its size and I’m a bit freaked out now.
I’ve layed out a few of the scented Hobo spider glue traps but a friend has warned me that the scent doesn’t just attract them from within the home but from outside as well, so I may in fact be making my problem worse.
I know “Daddy-Long-Legs” eat other spiders and I try not to kill them if I see one, but do they eat Hobo’s?
Any advice?
I hate hate hate spiders - meaning that I really, truly hate them far more than is rational. Having to kill at least one or two a day at my new house disturbs me.
That said, what I’ve found to work at least moderately well is spraying with some strong Spider Killer stuff. Just … get a bottle and have at it indiscriminately, around windows, baseboards, your screen door. If you corner one of the little bastards you can laugh at him while he shrivels, then toss him in the toilet. Then go spray some more.
Sure, you might be breathing in some toxic stuff. But the layers and layers of poison will keep the bulk of 'em away.
My cat is worthless when it comes to killing spiders. I’ll put him right in front of one and direct him toward it, to no avail. Other than that he’s quite good at bringing in mice and dragonflies. He must be scared of spiders too. hee hee.
Spiders can’t hurt cats? I ask because I have a spider problem in my basement. I have a mortal fear of spiders. I don’t use poisons because of the cat, but now that I think about it, there isn’t as many as there was before we had the cat. Could Sid (my kitty) be keeping them at bay? I don’t know what kind of spiders they are, but they’re big and black evil looking spiders<shudder>
Jon
Well, if you reject traps, then your only other hope is to prevent them from entering. Caulk, screen repair, and weather stripping. Possibly try a barrier spray around the foundation (I suspect long-lasting ant spray will not do spiders any good.)
There’s really not much you can do to keep them from coming in. That said, one thing you can do to reduce the number of spidery invaders you get is to make your house inhospitable to bugs in general. Don’t leave food out, don’t leave standing water for them to drink, don’t leave unscreened windows wide open, that sort of thing. Spiders gotta eat, and if there aren’t other bugs in your house to eat, they’ll go somewhere else.
If your spider problem is really out of control, you can put out spider traps. They’re pretty much like the glue traps you see for mice and roaches. Set 'em places spiders are likely to walk, and wait. Then, throw the whole trap away.