What do you do about spiders?

I went to go sit outside under the tree and play with the kids, but before long I felt something on my shoulder, glanced over and saw the biggest, creepiest spider, strolling around on my shoulder like it was a great vacation spot!!! Ok, so I screamed, gave the kids a good laugh and moved up to the porch. Within minutes, the kids were laughing and giggling, so I jumped and ran, i'm no idiot!! Just above my head getting ready for a landing was Shoulder Vacation Spider's brother, except this one was even bigger!!! How can I enjoy outside when all these spiders are just waiting for me to come outside and "play"?! What do you do, or do you just not even worry about them? I know they are not dangerous at all, just the regular garden spiders that are kinda yellow and black, but they are HUGE!!!!

Raven

Raven, my reaction is similar to yours - scream - then run and get DH to save me ... lol. There sure are a lot of them around right now too! Seems I saw almost none all summer and now that the cool weather's coming back so are the spidies. I brought a wooden planter into the kitchen a few days ago to add icicle pansies to the one plant left alive in it; DH saw bugs coming out he bottom and quickly carried it back out for me; I planted the icicle pansies in another pot with fresh dirt. An hour later I went into the kitchen and found 3 spiders had made themselves at home. I'm not impressed....

I am so glad I am not alone!!! I have this huge fear that if I go out there to brush them away with a broom that they will run down the handle at me! I'm really scared to do any weeding too....

Raven

Just cover up as much as possible, and wear good heavy duty gardening gloves - mine have a "rubber glove" palm and fingers, which helps my bug phobia greatly. And wear a hat, tucking your hair up under it.... I just shuddered again at the thought of that spider on your shoulder. I'd have lost it, big time.

I have a bunch of them nesting around the front porch and rear deck. They are huge! I have been good and left them alone because they do such a great job of getting rid of other bugs. That is the only reason I let them live. Not so many years ago, I would smash them before I thought twice. Now I have a daughter that catches them and anything else moving and sets them free. Sigh...I make sure they are not brown recluse and make sure they are OUTSIDE and try to avoid them. LOL There is one living in the weep hole of brick. I spray the web every day and watch him run out for the kill then run back in. It's kind of fun. One out front is rolling up wasps for winter dinner. Kind of like that. Hey, it's the little things. ;)

I'm a big baby about spiders, too, and there are places around my home I never go - the tool shed and cellar. DH's workshop is in the cellar and he is such a packrat that cleaning is impossible. So, that is his kingdom. LOL

Soooo, I have a spider story y'all might like. A spider has been fattening up nicely beside the back door by the outdoor light all summer.

Around the corner by the kitchen window, is a moonflower vine with white heliotrope and scented geraniums growing up to it. So is a ground nest of bumble bees. They are the gentlest souls all summer, but at summer's end something comes over them. While making cuttings of the geraniums for a trade, I pulled one weed.

If bumbles could roar, the one that came boiling up out of his ground nest at me would put a lion to shame. That little bee chased me around the corner and around and around the patio two or three times, banging himself against the back door, and then "gulp".

That was it. Mr. Spider grabbed him in one lightning pounce and that was the end of the chase.

i leave them do their thing and hope they dont ever get on me! Then id freak out a tad! I do chace ALL the guys with daddy long legs though! ;)

When I was a little girl I remember catching flies and tearing their wings off and putting them into a spider web. I used to like the webs that lead into a little tunnel in which the spider waited for the bug. Then I would watch as the spider ran circles around the fly and made it into a cocoon. If I blew on the web the spider would sometimes yank the cocoon inside his little tunnel.
Now of course I get a little freaky when one crawls on me. Otherwise I do not mind them.
By the way, I grew up with six brothers and one very prissy sister. I found it a lot more fun to hang with the boys.

If the spiders are outside, they are left alone unless they are a black widow or brown recluse. Those get killed. (I've not actually seen a brown recluse here though, but I've heard that they are around. Black widows we have an abundance of.)

However, any spider that gets into the house gets squished. I've been bitten in my sleep too many times, and I don't care how harmless the spider may be, when they bite me the site gets red, inflamed and more often than not, infected.

i hate spiders too but this story is about a big tree roach:
i was in the shower the other night and felt many legs crawling up my leg. i looked down and screamed shaking my leg. the scream was so loud and bone chilling my dh ran in and caught the monster for me. my hero lol. he did make fun after.
the monster was this big I-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I

When I find a spider in the sink I drop a dishcloth over the edge so he can climb out. If there is one in the bathtup (usually a daddy long-leggs) I use my cane to gently lift him up and out.

I have a daddy long leg in the upper corner of the bathroom - it's funny, every morning for over a week, the shower water starts, and up he went. Had another (much larger) one on the other side of the bathroom - small guy was in the shower corner, but one evening the big guy moved over and the next morning, the water starts, up he little guy goes up to his home and "whoa" - what's the big guy doing here. They battled a little bit and the small guy moved across the bathroom to the other corner. High drama during my shower. :)

The small one has since relocated and left the bathroom - didn't leave a forwarding address and I keep checking around the house - because while a cute one in the bathroom is one thing, I'd rather not have them all over the house.

We keep the house very clean, but in this case, the liittle guy had become like an acquaintance - start the water and up he goes. Unfortunately the big guy is more boring and stays put.

I'll take one of these over flies or something similar any day. Were it another spider with a noticeable web, I don't think I'd be as welcoming, though.

The only bug that really terribly freaks me out and makes me ill...centipedes/milipedes...any of those dust mops with bug tops! LOL There is just something nasty about all those legs. LOL

I have a method for getting rid of big, creepy crawly bugs-be it centipeds/milipeds, beetles, if they make it into my house somehow they get treated. I'll gently place about 6 layers of paper towel over said bug, then top it with a phone book. Then I plug my ears and step on it-I swear I can still "feel" the crunching through all those layers. Then DH has to get rid of it, whenever he gets home, 'cause I ain't touching it!!!

You can move a spider or other bug outdoors by keeping a peanut butter jar or similar plastic jar handy. Place the jar over the bug and when it climbs into the jar slide a piece of paper under the jar still on the floor or wall and use this as a lid to transport it outdoors. For a large bug like a wasp you can used a stiff piece of cardboard to do this.

Hubby found a Tarantulas spider while mowing and he was gonna kill it.He came and got me and I got the pool net pole and moved him into the woods.Little guy was running that long pole at me like an athelete would.He was raising up at me and I would sit the pole on the ground and get the other end. Well I finally got him in his new home and when I looked at my hubby ,he just LOOKED at me in amazment! Ya see Im one that freaks out on the giant water roaches that fly!(size of sparrows I swear) but I had never told my hubby I played with those Tarantulas on my arm when I was a kid. They are beautiful spiders,however if I had one in my house I would have my 22 out and I would be standin on a table!

Well, I'm glad I'm not alone!!! I thought I was the only one trying to be a garden lover while totally heebie-jeebied by the creepy crawlies!!! Honestly, I feel like I'm in a Stephen King novel when I walk out the door in the morning!!! During the night, they fly off the roof, trailing the web behind them, there must be 50 or so who do the same thing, because when you open the door in the morning, you have to clear away the strands to just get on the porch!! AAAACCCCKKKK!!!
Raven

I forgot to say, I loved all the stories!!! I've been giggling and laughing just like the kids the other day!!! :O)

One thing though, I'm really too terrified to totally cover up, I wouldn;t be able to feel the nasty things, and then what if one crawled around and got on my FACE??!!! I think I need one of those astronaut suits and a entry door that has a sprayer and wind blowing thing like in all the movies, when they do top secret biological stuff!!!

AND, thanks for the tip Windy, but even the jar thing doesn't work too well for me, I tried that one time and the closer I got to the spider, the more my skin tried to jump off my body and run away by itself!!! Just thinking about it now, picturing getting close enough to put a jar over the spider....AAACCCCKKKK!!!!

Raven

This time of year the spiders are out. . .or should I say in like in the house. when I find one I can not reach easily I spray with hair spray. that way it is at least slowed down enuf till I get a ladder or chair. Are snakes their only natural enemy? I keep wondering what I could put in the basement to get them all.

As an army brat growing up, one of the places we lived was in the Philippines. There were little lizards called "geckles" (spelling?) running around on the ceiling. They never seemed to show any interest in scaling the height of a "Mt. St. Human". They are supposed to be great for dining on bugs.

I haven't heard of geckles being put on bug patrol in the states, but some people have made pets of them. 'Ya think ya could luv a lizard?

I once saw a wasp carrying a spider up the side of the house. So I suppose that she took it to the nest to have her babies feed on it when they hatched.
Of course who would want to put wasps in their house just to get rid of spiders! LOL
My cats sometimes are caught playing with a spider. I then have to get it away from them as it might hurt them. So I can't use cats as a natural enemy! LOL

My cjats eat spiders all of the time. I have never seen them get sick. They will spot a spider as it moves across the carpet and pounce on it. Then munch, munch and the spider is gone.

Bleuuuuuuuuuuch!
(Shudddddddddderrrrrrrr!!!)

All ya need's a little catsup...

Getting rid of spiders......
I'm thinking .44-magnum. LOL.

Those Phillipine "lizards" are called a gecko. Hawaii is full of them. Surely you have seen all the Geico commercials with the cartoon Gecko? I have a wonderful gecko pin sent by my sister when she was stationed in Hawaii... it's on my garden hat.

I don't like spiders either but try not to kill them unless poisonous. Hate them crawling near me, shudder. I leave the Daddy Long-Legs alone in the house, though, unless there get to be a few. Almost always had one living in the bathroom in the old house. They do cut down on the other bug populations!

This message was edited Sep 29, 2004 11:24 AM

Having no TV does leave DH and I clueless about stuff. We get more time to ponder and putter. Have you visited the "Catsup? What cat would eat catsup" thread lately?

(Darius, my email to you is germinating in my pondering and puttering machine. There's some daylight I need to use, so will be back later.)

PS - Thankx for reminding me of how to spell gecko. I'm sure, heehee, this won't be my last assault on the King's English. So glad this isn't 1692 - if my GGGGGGGGGM was anything like me, she would have had her feet perpetually in her mouth, which would explain her and her sisters' fates.

When we first moved here we had black widow spiders all over the place. They especially liked to crawl between the siding at foundation level. I once was pulling weeds and when I looked at the bottom of the handful in my hand already, there was a black widow spider! YIKES! I had to quit and go inside and lie down! LOL
Knowing my nephew and his family lived in Florida and had all sorts of creepy crawlies there, I asked him how he controls a poisonous spider. He replied " A two by four works pretty well to smash them!" ARGH!
They finally moved on. This was new construction and previously on the edge of a wooded area. So I guess I was imposing on their territory. I never found one indoors, but there was a couple of times they had made webs on the back step! Makes me shiver to think of it!