On spiders in the house - I keep a paper cup and a large recipe card ready. Whenever I find a spider where I don't want it to be, I catch it in the cup, cover the cup with the card and then throw the spider into a shrub or somewhere else I think the spider will enjoy living.

I leave most spiders alone to do their great job of controlling other insects. However, if I spot an unusually large spider, I capture it by putting a jar against the wall with the spider inside, then slipping a stiff piece of paper over the opening and holding the paper on the jar, give them a ride to the outside of my house and let them go.

My mother-in-law uses mothballs, but that's way too toxic for me! I've been using cedar chips placed in the tracks of the window sills and that seems to deter most of them.

Also, if you can encourage some lizards to live around the house (outside), they tend to eat a lot of insects as well as some spiders. I'm told the alligator lizards will even eat black widows.

I leave most spiders alone, but we have crab spiders here outside that are quite a nuisance. Cobwebs everywhere and the spider bites as well as pokes with it's side thorns and is somewhat toxic. I either smush with something or my preferred way is to spray with a water and soap mixture.
Good luck,
Sadie

My son and I have spider phobias, and freak out if we see spiders in our living space. Placing hedgeapples (Osage Orange) in the rooms seems to repel most of them. Hedgeapples should not be put in the basement or crawl space, because this will chase the spiders into rooms in the house, where we don't want them. We also have found spider traps to be very effective for spiders that are not repelled by the hedgeapples. We do not use pesticides, and outdoor spiders are left alone.

My husband has never been bothered by spiders. I spent my childhood in a zone where spiders were definitely a threat to safety and health, perhaps this is where my fears came from. I've since overcome my fears, but still get very upset when I find them inside the house. My husband usually takes them out side, alive, and places them far from the home. I value them out there!

Spiders and other critters like mosquitoes and black flies have always loved my skin. When I lived in the cabin on the mountain for 3 years, I spent almost a full year very ill with flu like conditions due to so many bites. Later, we invested in a screened hooded shirt made for this purpose. I spent the next 2 years in relative comfort. Spiders will seek me out - especially at night. I'll wake up and can't open my eye or have a huge ear lobe or a lump the size of 1/2 an egg on the neck... (sigh)

Try to eliminate any gaps around your home - both inside AND out. Caulk along the baseboards where ever you are able to do so. Fill areas that have wide gaps with foam or pieces of insulation befor caulking. You may want to do this around your windows, doors, and even outlets/light switches. There are different kinds of caulking available from mould resistant to paintable... Incedentally, this will create a cozier and more energy efficient home as well. Other pests such as ants will also find your home more difficult to enter.

Keep tree branches, tall grasses and flower stalks, etc, from the walls of your home. This keeps their habitat just a little further from yours. Reduce clutter and piles of lumber or leaves near your home.


Lillian Brummet ~ co-author of Trash Talk and author of Towards Understanding

There are in-door spiders and out-door spiders. In-door spiders live in your home, and there's nothing can (or should) do about it. These little guys won't usually venture outside, but out-door spiders might venture inside to look for food and (mostly) water.

They won't bother you, it's very likely that they won't bite you unless you threaten it-- and that means you're either unaware of its presence and you're forcing it to defend itself, or you're actively messing with it and it's defending itself. They won't intentionally crawl on you just to bite you. You're far bigger than any spider, so it's natural that they'll be afraid of you more than you are of it.

Even if you are bitten there's a slim chance that it's toxic enough to harm you.

I used to hate spiders, but then I came to realize that they're harmless, and they actually eat other bugs. They're smart, efficient predators that keep the house clean of dirtier insects-- but it's all just part of life.