I tend to not kill spiders. If they make a web where you don't want it, by all means get rid of the web. The guys will most likely move to some place inconspicuous where they will be free to prey upon bugs that actually do damage to your house. Just my opinion...

I don't feel nearly as friendly toward spiders as MikeZ does! I also have house spiders about the same size as yours but mine are dark brown. They also come out at night to "hunt." My children and I have been bitten numerous times by these little critters. I do not react badly to these bites but my daughter is quite allergic and swells up enormously when she is bitten.

When we first moved in the house was quite infested. As the years have gone by and we have used a pest service, their numbers have diminished greatly. The pest service only sprays outside. I began the service to deal with the outdoor Oriental roaches that invaded our neighborhood several years ago. The side benefit has been the reduction of the spiders. We also had black widows all around the house that are now gone.

Go to www.bugspray.com to learn more about spiders and their control. Eliminating the food source for spiders (other insects) tend to send the spiders elsewhere to find food or they tend to die of starvation. While there are popular insecticide sprays available for spraying baseboards, thresholds, and window sills to eliminate insects, you may want to consider calling an exterminator.
Spiders can enter the home through in crack or crevice around doors and windows, in foundations, up through the subfloor. If you are a homeowner, a termite inspection might be worthwhile to protect your investment.

I used to have wolf spiders as pets and had no problem. Now I have plain old house spiders (we call them Cobs ... I wish I had wolf spiders) and they are getting a bit thick. You can put something down for a couple of days and find the beginnings of a web when you go to move it again. I have only had occasional bites from them, but I would prefer that they stay out of the bedroom. OTOH I have almost no bugs on my houseplants.

If they are a real problem you might try one of those Osage Orange fruits and see if they really repel spiders. Many cats and small dogs catch spiders for fun. Bug bombs are nasty and you really do not want to breathe that stuff.

Fireraven9
What potent blood hath modest May. - Ralph W. Emerson

well, i had a similar problem, with little yellowish beige sort of otherwise non-descript spiders, dime size and sometimes slightly bigger....i tried looking up spiders on the internet, and then looked at all kinds of books at the library, but though i was fairly sure after all that that i had an infestation of cheiricanthium mildei in my bathroom (1 to 4 per day on the bathroom ceiling or upper walls when i got home from work, for an entire two weeks! ick!), learned to tell the males from females, got good at catching them live (they tend to jump at you, but i got around that!)i was still stuck with them...

i called our museum's bug dept, and they said if i brought one in, that they'd tell me what brand of spider, and it was the ones i thought, and they don't have a common name even (although i certainly had some suggestions, i can tell you!), but i learned on my own that they can chew through a plastic bag, and bright lights get them very agitated, and in extensive conversation with the expert i learned that spiders are soft bodied, so they can get through incredibly small holes, these ones were probably looking for water (dry spring that year) since they were only in the bathroom, that they make little webby coccoony things along the edges of the ceiling (sure enough, on closer inspection, they were), and if you vacuum those every day, the spiders will give up and go live elsewhere, she said they are indoors spiders, but i saw one in my garden once, so go figure....and normally i would relocate upstairs spiders to the basement (don't mind them there, but jumping at me off the bathroom walls is just not acceptable!), but i was relocating these outside, having previously seen one out in the yard, before all this happened....anyway in a few days, i didn't see any more of them, EVER, this was a couple of years ago, and i've had no trouble since, and the vacuuming their webs every day is what really got rid of them very quickly and effectively....

I have smallish black spiders in my house in dry places. They don't seem to make webs and move very quickly when they spot you. Any ideas what they may be? Do they bite? I have some small bites that take forever to heal!

I just heard on the news the other night that this hot humid weather is the reason for the high numbers in spiders this year. Apparently it is everywhere

I have more spiders and the greatest variety than all of you, I can guarantee that.

The little itty bitty tiny black ones. The daddy-long-legs. The quarter-sized fuzzy grey ones. The 4 inch long brown chenille-looking monster I found last night (murderous scream followed shortly after). The little spindly brown ones.

I keep telling my daughter that spiders are good because they spin webs and trap the flying bugs, which I also get way too many of (flies... bees... skeeters... I LOVE THE WOODS AND TREES NEAR MY HOUSE BUT MY GOD)... but after seeing the chenille 4-inch spider I am about ready to move.

- darkeyedgirl

We have those little dark brown spiders that don't seem to spin webs. They do bite! I was bitten by one that had made a little cocoon in a shirt I left on a hanger to dry in my shower. It bit me several times until I realized what the heck it was. Being very phobic about spiders I did a MAJOR FREAK OUT and ripped off my shirt and stomped on it! My poor son freaked along with me and ran outside and refused to come back in!

My kids and I have been bitten at night because these critters move around at night. They leave bigger welts than mosquito bites that take longer to stop itching and heal over. I didn't have a problem with the bite because I took a huge dose of Benedryl right after I was bitten (and took a long nap).

If something hasn't been worn for a while I am careful to turn it inside out and check the seams and sleeves before I put it on now.

Darkeyedgirl, you are a better woman than I! I'd be at the nearest hotel until the house was fumigated. Then I'd hire movers immediately. Gad!

When I was child I went to rural Mexico with my grandparents. We stayed in some small towns which were quite remote and only had electricity during part of the day. One thing I remember about several of the homes we visited was that they had wire baskets hanging over the dining table. These wire baskets were full of small spiders and their webs. I assumed they were there as a natural fly catcher. My meals were fraught with anxiety!

Spiders come up into the house, every evening here, of late. I usually see 1 to 4 new ones every night (July, Aug, Sept., October?). Whenever I see one I grab the vacuum cleaner & suck them up! Works great & as far as I can tell they can't/ don't escape from the vacuum cleaner. (though I leave a cloth between the pipe connection just to be sure)
When I see spiders outdoors I whack them with the flyswatter, right in their web. They go sailing like a batted ball.
As far as I know none of the home intruders bite me, they don't even get on me. Actually they run from me when I start to approach, but they're no match for the extension pipe of the vacuum cleaner.
Those of you who say you were bitten; did you actually see the spider on you & feel them bite ? If so you must have a different kind than live around here in southern Kansas. None of them in my house seem interested in getting close to me. (but that's ok, I don't want to take any chances)

We had the same problem this year. I was killing several a day, not all the same species. I found them in the shower, tub, sink, under the bed, in all the corners, under the cabinets along the floor, etc. They had babies that floated around on silk "parachutes" and strung their webs from everything. I was cleaning up webs only to find they were back the next day. since I am kind of sensitive to chemicals and we have pet birds which are also affected by things like that, we did not want to spray. The thing that seems to help the most is to vacuum a lot and vacuum up the spiders and webs. One night we whacked a big fat spider and zillions of tiny babies ran from her and escaped before we could even get the vacuum out. But I do notice that after going around with the vacuum hose attachment and getting the actual spiders, I don't see hardly any for a few days. Apparently the dust in the vacuum bag suffocates them or they never find their way back out.

I recall a thing you could buy on TV called a bug zapper or something like that. It was a vacuum with a long wand (so the phobics could keep their distance!) The critters ended up in bag with something in it that kept them from crawling out. I want one!

I am arachnophobic too. I really do not like spiders. I can handle daddy long legs if they're not on me, and the little tiny red ones don't scare me, but I once saw a black chenille spider about the size of an orange while clearing out leaves and brush from around the front of our house. I too, let out a blood curdling scream, since I practically touched it, and my son came over and smashed it with a rock. He was about 8 at the time and much braver than I was! Luckily we rarely have problem with spiders in the house, except for the basement where we get little to medium sized black ones.

After purchasing my 1st house I went to the back and turned on the outside faucet, it dribbled on this web and this huge blackwidow (the abdomen was the size of a grape)came out to visit I bugsprayed it untill it was dripping it only slowed it down enough to be able to collect it and its eggs with a stick and put it in a can with a lid. I was shaking and got the willies whenever I thought about it that was just the beginning. I started going around the foundation with a flashlight in the eve in the fall and spraying them because they sit in their web at night where you can see them. That really helped especially if you get them before they lay eggs.

Later I started having all kinds of other ugly spiders in the hallway in the middle of the night. I did notice that when I used the sticky glue traps for mice I caught a few spiders with them too. I was paranoid about all spiders to the point of it being disabling, even doing the laundry was frightening. I did most things with rubber gloves on if I was putting my hand where I couldnt see. I finally got books on spiders from the library that helped alot to determine the really bad ones and found my fear getting better. I was given 2 kittens for my birthday a godsend because for some reason to them spiders were yummy and they spent most the night eating them.

I did bomb the crawlspace once with the pirethreyns the stuff they use in food production facilities, because the workers that needed to get in there refused to until I did. I also bombed the basement of my new house because I had a batch of baby black widows hatch they were everywhere. I used a spray bomb you get at the store I can tell you you still live after you set it off in your face ;-)

The things I learned is that they die easier when theyre babies from chemicals try to time it around theyre hatching season. I called and exterminator and they said they can spray but the spiders have to crawl through it and the blackwidows dont have hairs to pick up the poison to irritate them so they clean it off and die.
Not all spiders are bad I now live in Cleveland and have lots of cob web weavers the worst thing is we have wood floors and they collect the cat hair in them no matter how oftern you clean.
No one is allowed to kill jumping spiders they get the carpenter ants and the other things that bite us.

After moving from a climate thats too dry for fleas and being flea ignorant. I found out that any pet you get could have fleas and be prepared to do battle once you get them, they make having spiders seem desireable. At least spiders dont hunt you down to drink your blood ;->

One thing to keep in mind the actual threat from spiders making you sick or killing you is pretty slim in most areas of the U.S. but bug spray chemicals can be more dangerous than the ugly spider that isnt going to hurt you. Get educated so you can identify them so you can feel better about them.

Spiders might be Uggh!, but they keep the other kreepyKrawlies out.

Unless they're really invading your living space, leave them alone and just LOOK at them.. see what they're preventing from keeping into your home. They're keeping flies, crickets, and who knows what else out of my basement and upstairs living quarters.

gina

I agree with everyone here; they're not the prettiest looking pets but as long as they stay outside, I can deal with them. I try to look at everything with a bit of humor. I started a thread in a chat room about how good spideys are in stir-fry. One woman got the biggest kick out of it; she no longer looks and screams - she laughs thinking about the many ways to "cook" them.

Here are some of my cyber friends......chuckle away!

^o^ ^O^ ^o^ ^O^ ^o^

I've got the willies after reading all of this stuff about spiders. I will definitley be doing alot of vaccuming tommorow. I probably won't sleep tonite either. I hate spiders as it is and did not realize that they go around biting. I'll make sure to check the sheets before I go to bed.

hi - i can respect not wanting to kill these creepy criters, but i must confess - i keep my hose attachment ready along with my spray. when i see them - any size - any kind, i freak out! my heart starts beating fast, i break out in a sweat and i can't move. i am terrified!! what i do is vaccum my celings and baseboards at least once a week, and when i see one of those creepy things - i suck it up in my vaccum and spray the hose then vaccum regularly so the dust completely covers it. had a bad experience as a child - now 51. i don't sleep in their webs - i don't want them in my home!

Each fall and spring my home would get invaded by spiders.

Several years ago my cats had fleas, so I got the type of flea spray which prevents the eggs from hatching. One of the happy outcomes of using this spray is that it prevented other insects, including spiders, from hatching as well. The effect of this spray can last up to a year or more.

I use an electronic plug in. They are smaller than a carbon monoxide detector. Plug one in on each level of the house. The device is made to repel insects and mice by making a sound inside the walls. You won't hear the sound. It works. No chemicals. You can buy them at hardware stores, Lowe's, Menards, WalMart etc. Look in the same section as the repelent and bug killer. You might see an occasional spider or insect, but not often.

Spiders are welcome outside the house. I love watching the big Charlotte types make their webs-what wonderful creatures. But inside, the best of them make a mess-they poo and litter under their webs.
I will relocate all spiders but one type. Whenever I see this one type, it gets vacuumed immediately, and I run the vac for a while to smother it in the dust. These spiders infest my basement. Every spring they come up into my pantry, and beyond if they can get past my vac. Their bodies are blond, the size of a grain of rice, larger when pregnant, and they have long legs like a daddy long legs. When you touch their webs they oscillate in the web, so fast they blur, making them look bigger. It still makes me jump when I see one do it. I don't know what they eat in the basement but I suspect each other, and that's who they mate with too, which makes them unbearable incestuous cannibals, and no good for catching insects if their bellies are full of their own brothers.
I have been a wimp, but I know what I have to do in the spring. I have to go down into that nasty basement and vac every one of them. I'll try that plug-in too.

I hate spiders inside the house. I keep a can of Raid on a shelf handy at all times. One blast is all it takes,sometimes they jump down after I spray,so I just wait for it to fall to the floor,where I can step on it. Once I couldn't find my can of Raid, so I squirted it with hair spray. I think it stuck its legs all together. I don't know how,but it did kill it. So now I also keep my hairspray handy in the upstairs bathroom.

I am an animal lover and nature freak. The type of person who will go up to a spider and watch/ study it then leave it be (providing it's not on or in danger of getting into my bed). They are really interesting to me. They still are but... I just moved into a new apartment and things have changed. The spiders started appearing in late June. They would be in the bathroom and tub in the morning trying to climb out. Then the exterminator came to spray the complex and informed me that BROWN RECLUSE SPIDERS are prevalent in this part of Kansas. And, that even though I don't see them probably still there.

Well, since the extermination my spiders have increased more than 10 fold. Instead of one spider in the bathroom sink every couple of days there are now 3-8 spiders every day (THAT I SEE) and they are in every room (I have a small apartment). There are at least five seperate species, the biggest of which I am 95% sure is the brown recluse, and I see 1 to 2 of these every day.

It's starting to give me "issues." Where as they didn't bother me before, I now jump when I see them. I avoid my closets, I shake out everything, and I just freakout at tiny things. I used to live in a state and area that was extremely high in black and brown widows. They didn't bother me at all. At least they are distinctive from a distance and for the most part they just stay in their webs. They don't come out at night to hunt.

One of the main issues is that I have never lived in an area that is proned to brown recluse before. So I am not adept at identifying them. The fact that they look like any ordinary little brown spider until you get up close enough to examin for the fiddle shape just sucks. And all my other spiders... look just like little brown spiders to!!!!

The even scarrier thing is that to have so many spiders... I have to have an amazingly huge bug population. I have only seen two bugs, period, in the apartment. So, the fact that I have only seen two bugs in what has to be a huge population... gotta mean that the spider population has to be much larger than what I see. Unless they're eating each other.. in which case, the population whould still have to be super huge cause there still enough to sustain the population and mate. While haveing me kill 3-8 everyday.

Amber_spiderkyper,
I suspect that the exterminator's work just unbalances the insect population. Now you've got spiders whose natural prey has been killed off by the posions and they are just hunting for something to eat.

Brown recluse bites can be nasty but they are just like most other creatures - they won't bother you if you don't bother them. The worst problem with brown recluses is that they like to live in human places that are not disturbed often - like closets, attics, etc. Just watch where you are putting your hands and you should be safe.

I live in Florida where we have all kinds of poisonous things - brown & black widows, brown recluse spiders, scorpions, rattlesnakes, coral snakes, and water moccasins. I've been around all of them, since I run a farm. Never been bitten by any of the above, though fire ants, wasps and bees have gotten me. At least the spiders don't mob you like the bees will!

All that said - my DH is my spider killer. I don't mind them outside, but I too have a horror of them inside and they are usually in the bathroom!

Anne

I am a 30 year-old male and nothing will turn me into a 12 year-old girl faster than a spider. I hate them, I fear them. They absolutely terrify me, and I am not sure why.

I was in my office working away one day when one of my employees came in for something. My cell phone was sitting on my desk beside me. The guy left, and a moment later my cell rang. Without looking I grabbed it, and immediately I knew that something was wrong. I looked at my hand, and there was this massive black and brown spider. It was sitting on top of my cell phone. I threw the phone, let out this demasculating scream, and then proceeded to kick the trash can about a dozen times. I needed to release on something.

Of course, the spider was fake. My guys got a good laugh. They were amused that they made me "scream like a little b*tch".

Spiders simply terrify me.

I do not like spiders either. I leave them alone outside but I do not want them inside. In addition to an exterminating service, I bug bomb the attic spaces about twice a year and that controls them pretty well.

I recently watched a program on tv about spiders. The only two to worry about poison are Black Widow, and brown recluse. I had spiders here when I first moved in. also had a lot of ants. Ants are gone, due to a nice non-toxic ant killer recipe I have, and spiders left soon after. Goody goody. According to the program, ants are one of the spiders main food sources. I may be helpful to rid your home of the spiders food source, rather than try to kill all the spiders. Try the ant killer and see what happens.
Mix equal parts of sugar, molasses, and yeast. They eat it and explode, when the yeast gets moist. Will also carry it to the nest. Small amounts, half teaspoon or so, in any area where they cross. It's non-toxic to animals and kids, most serious complication to them eating it may be a belly ache. Good luck. But keep in mind, the food source of spiders are other insects.

I have a small ornamental greenhouse in PA. The other day, while sweeping it, a HUGE Carolina Wolf Spider darted toward my foot! I am extremely arachnaphobic. The body alone was the size of a grape. It was about 3 inches long and fuzzy. I screamed so loud that my husband thought I got electricuted. He squashed it right away. I had to change my clothes and jump in the shower. I shook for about an hour.
Now I am terrified to go in my own greenhouse. Everyone tells me that spiders are good for pest control. But I think spiders are the biggest pest of all. I have heard of electronic repelling systems. But I don't know if they really work. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

I've found that lemon Pledge works very well at killing spiders. We have these weird spiders at our house that like to live in cracks in our cement stoop, and under plants in pots, and we have a web in the basement that has a round hole in the center and a few generations of this type of spider have lived here there. Also, the light colored one with the small body mentioned above, it sounds familiar to the spiders we find drowned in the pool at our house. long legs, light color, but with a body about the size of a pony bead.

I don't like spiders in my house either. Outside no problem . We live in Michigan, so no real poisonus spiders here just ugly ones once in a while. We have pest control so it isn't often I ever see one. YUCK! if my husband isn't home I suck them into the vacuum.