I have no problem with spiders as long as they stay outside where they belong. They can have all the gardens and parks, etc., that they like. But when they come into my residence, well, they have just expressed a death wish. I don’t have any trees snug up against the house, which is where they came from in my last home, so don’t have as many suicidal little darlings where I live now. But if I see one, he or she is toast. I"m another proponent of sucking them up in the vacuum. I usually spray a little bug spray in the intake hose, just in case they decide to make a run for it.
Most of the spiders I find inside are wolf spiders (eeeek! big, hairy and ugly) and they come in on my firewood when it bring it in from the woodpile. I always shake the wood pieces before I bring them in and usually one or two tumble out (eeek! again), but better outside than inside. But there always seems to be a few that hang on tight and wind up in the house.
My dogs will follow the spiders around in the house. I can tell when they’ve spotted one. I see them tracking the spider, with their noses to the ground. But they never catch or eat them, just follow them.
MOL, I hate them and fear them the way you do - it’s totally irrational, I can’t control it. I’m going to try the peppermint oil thing too and pray they stay away this fall. In New England, that’s when you can usually count on the big, disgusting, horrible ones moving in.
Do you wear glasses? I discovered this by accident - if I can’t see them clearly, I don’t get as freaked out. For instance, I got out of the shower this morning and was headed towards my room to get dressed, noticed that big dark spot on the wall and I *knew *it was a spider just based on location. Took off my slipper and WHAP, done. No adreneline blast, goosebumps, panic, nada. I know that if I’d have been able to see all the legs it would have been much worse.
I know it’s pretty stupid but there you go.
Sorry to say you heard wrong. As it happens, we lived about three miles from the Seattle city limits at the time and there wasn’t a spider our pooch couldn’t take on and defeat. Even the big garden spiders. I don’t think I’ve seen those inside of any other place I’ve lived since. I sorta miss them.
But, darn! You have me pining for the wide open spaces on your side of the state now. I love it over there, even in the blazing heat such as you folks have been having.
You have an abundance of spiders because you lack spider predators. You could try getting a gecko or cultivating insect eating birds, but you might find it more satisfying to smite your foes, yourself.
Get an ultra-powerful vacuum, preferably one with a long extension wand, and go town. You want one with cyclonic action, which spins up the contents of the cannister, and a hepa filter for the exhaust, so that little spiders don’t just get vented back out.
Do a thorough vacuuming. The vacuum itself might kill the spiders, but if it doesn’t, then getting bombarded with all the other crap in the cannister will help kill them. Spiders are rather fragile, actually, and can’t take a lot of abuse. If you do a good vacuuming after nabbing your prey, it should crush your foes to satisfaction. Feel free to cackle a bit, while you’re at it.
When you’re done, empty the canister immediately in the outside dumpster or garbage can. If you got the bagless kind of vacuum, you can then wash the receptacle. You can also wash and/or replace the filter, if it looks nasty. If you want, you can wear latex gloves to make sure the dirt doesn’t get on your hands.
Have you tried putting signs on the windows that say NO SPIDERS ALLOWED?
A couple of years ago, our dogs had fleas. In the course of exterminating them, we set off some flea bombs in every room. I noticed that I saw no spiders at all for the next several months. I don’t know if that would keep them off the windows, though.
I hate and fear spiders, too. I don’t think that there are any spiders in Antarctica. I’m thinking of moving there. You wanna go with? It could be fun.
I do have a vacuum cleaner, even though I have hardwood floors; I don’t know how super powerful it is. I’ve heard of the vacuuming way to get rid of spiders, but you folks may not quite understand the extent of my absolutely insane fear. I spent nearly a half hour trying to work up the courage to just open my bedroom window yesterday so that I could kill the ones between the window and the screen, and just could not do it.
Ugh, this typing this makes me feel like a jackass.
And if anyone wants some peppermint oil, I got some. Didn’t do shit about the spiders, but might be useful for something else.
I am afraid of people who have irrational phobias which lead them to bizarre activities like killing the harmless in a frantic fury, and soaking their environment with poisons. That mentality does a lot of damage in this world.
I leave one screen off a window in every room so I can more easily pick up spiders and toss them (ALIVE) outside. Otherwise they might starve to death in my house, which would be sad, and my fault.
Just because a lot of people are afraid of something harmless doesn’t make it sane. It just gives them a self-justifying support group.
I was a little skeevy of spiders at one time. But I didn’t want to be an idiot coward, so I made myself get over it. Wasn’t that hard.
It’s great on everything little with an exoskeleton. The diatoms are as sharp as tiny razors and get into the leg joints, then start cutting away with every motion. The bugs leave trails of parts behind them. It’s just the stuff for the sadist lurking in us all.
This reminds me of the time I first trolled the general public. I was ten and had just scored a black, rubber spider about three inches/76mm across. What to do, what to do? So off to the produce section at the A&P. Bananas were in season (remember when they were seasonal?), so there went my spider. Nobody died or even fainted, but there were squeals and a lady yelled at me. It was GREAT, at least by the standards of a fifth-grader.
Okay, maybe my inner sadist isn’t lurking or particularly inner. :o
Sigh, where to start? First of all “irrational phobia” is redundant. A phobia is, by definition, irrational. That’s why a true phobia is classified as an anxiety disorder. “Bizarre activities” like extreme avoidance or, in this case, killing spiders (if she can manage to get close enough) is a real manifestation of the anxiety. I am only a Dr by internet screen name, so I can’t diagnose MeanOldLady, but her description sounds like a genuine phobia.
Congratulations, you don’t have arachophobia. How about a little understanding for those who do? You may have an issue with projection, though. Do you really think you are to blame if a spider starves in your house? That’s a heavy (and irrational) burden to bear.
You know what? It has nothing to do with sanity. The funny thing is that people who suffer from phobia(s) know it’s illogical. They just can’t help it. Sometimes phobias can be cured, but the vast majority of the time it requires the assistance of a doctor of one stripe or another.
You haven’t the foggiest clue what a phobia really is, that’s called ignorance. Everyone is ignorant about something, there is no shame in that. Your ignorance is, however, leading you to insult people who do have a true phobia - that’s a shame. Take a few mnutes and read up on the subject, it may enlighten you.
Do you have a friend with a strong vacuum? Might some maid service help? That really seems like the most direct way to get rid of the things–even if it’s only temporary. (But I’m pretty sure the Chicago winters ensure the spiders aren’t permanent neighbors.)
Doctor J, don’t waste your words. Nobody cares about dude’s worthless opinion.
I don’t know if any of my friends have vacuum cleaners. You know, now that I think of it, everyone whose home I’ve been to has hardwood floors. But they may have one anyway. I’m actually going to have a friend this weekend come over and perform spider duty. This is so ridiculous, I know. :o
Exactly so! It’s pointless to call it “stupid.” It’s something in the way the brain is working (or not working!) I see a spider, and my thoughts are no longer under my control. It’s no more “cowardice” than the knee-jerk reflex is. My brain is “broken” in a very specific way.
I know it’s irrational when I react with fear/panic to a photograph of a spider. But the part of my brain that panics is beyond my ability to reason with.
(I’ve tried desensitization theory – holding little rubber toy spiders until they stop being hellishly hideous to me. It doesn’t seem to have had a lot of effect. When I see a tarantula on a hiking trail…I scream, jump, and run away. It’s exactly the same effect a normal person might feel seeing a rattlesnake on the trail, except being afraid of a rattlesnake isn’t intrinsically irrational.)
(Technically speaking, it is possible to have phobias of things that are rationally dangerous. A fear of high places isn’t absolutely irrational: high places can be risky. A lot has to do with the nature of the fear/panic reaction.)
Not to hijack the arachnophobia support group thread, but one of the terrors of acrophobia - and I’ve experienced this myself - is the fear that you will be unable to resist the urge to throw yourself off the cliff or tower or platform you’re on. I’ve heard a number of acrophobes talk about this urge and this fear.
Many times I’ve been spotlighting in the Australian bush and seen the ground looking like it’s covered in broken glass. All those little reflections are the light bouncing back from spiders eyes.
There is a good reason I sleep in a tent and not out ‘under the stars’ when I go camping.
Brace yourself: go out in your backyard (at night, of course) with an LED flashlight and start shining it around. You’ll swear you’re in the Australian Bush. And you know what else? The reason you can see the reflections of spider eyes is because THEY’RE LOOKING STRAIGHT AT YOU! :eek: :eek: With who knows what murderous intent in their tiny black hearts. Think Shelob.
