Spider webs, cob webs, spiders

I go around the house almost weekly removing cob webs, spider webs, and spiders inside and outside the house. I could do it almost daily and find some somewhere. I know it's time to do it again when I walk into a web somewhere that I didn't see and have to wash my head and hands just to feel clean again. I want to take a global approach to defeating these pests and webs for good. What could be attracting them that I could change? What can I spray or place on or around the outside of the house to get rid of them? What can I use inside the house without driving myself out as well?

 

Although I have an unnatural fear of spiders, I do know they do more good than harm. They are coming into you home because that is where the food source is. You need to remove the reason for their coming in. You can use something like Ortho Defender to spray around the home perimeter. At this time of year most spider will be outdoors. I also know some people have a problem with spiders clinging to the house siding and need a regular house cleaning every few weeks. Perhaps Bugman will see this and have a better answer for you.

 

Bugman is unavailable for the rest of the week, but I'm sure will see this when he gets back.
Altho I'm not superstitious, my mom was about spiders. She said it was bad luck to kill one, and it stuck with me, lol! They don't bother me at all, but as Norm said, they can be beneficial as far as eating other bugs you don't want around. Don't like walking into their webs, tho.

 

A little story with an implied suggestion that I am sure you will reject.

When I was a kid (maybe seven or eight years old) I happened to notice that the basement and the garage were both completely painted, walls and ceiling, with aluminum paint. [I called it silver paint back then.] I asked my daddy why and he told me that where he worked (a boat shop making gillnetters for the Alaskan Bristol Bay fishing) that ALL of the boats were spray-painted inside with aluminum paint. When he had asked why he was told that it repelled spiders and other such creepy-crawlies. Since our garage and basement was infested with spiders and their webs he decided to try the paint trick.

Well, it seemed to work because for years and years there were very few cobwebs or spiders to be seen in either area. It was many years later, as the paint became covered in dirt that the spiders returned. We eventually painted the basement with more friendly colors and sure enough the spiders returned there as well, although not in the huge numbers that originally existed.

Is there any science to this method? I have no idea but I have been tempted to try it in my garage. I have the "daddy long legs" variety of spiders (for the most part) in my garage and they make a huge mess with their webs. I periodically brush and vacuum them out but always return. I just wonder if the aluminum paint would help.

 

Leave them alone outside...unlikely any are poisonous. You might check with your local extension office to find out if black widows or brown recluse are a problem in your area. To keep them out of the house, the Ortho stuff mentioned earlier works well, but you need to seal any openings.

This is how I feel about spiders. I called him Fred until I released him. Didn't he have a cute little face?

 

I don't want any spiders crawling on me but otherwise I don't really mind them at all. I had one hanging on the ceiling above my bed for several days but he eventually moved on. I see them almost daily in various parts of the house and with the exception of the bathtub (where they get flushed down the drain) I leave them alone. One thing I tell people is that spiders LOVE to eat fleas.

I knew a young woman that had several tarantulas and was even trying to breed some. She also had many other animals that are often thought of as being scary to women but she loved them all. My next-to-last girlfriend was scared sh**less of spiders but I got her to finally accept them as another of god's children as long as they were outside.

Doc, my Siamese cat from my teens and twenties, used to play with them for a while and more often then not eat them when he tired of play.

And yes, we DO have the Brown Recluse as well some other nasty spider in my neck of the woods.

 

Vic,

That is just sick!

Furd, I wonder if that old "silver" paint had any lead in it? And would that have any affect. Would today's chrome paint have any affect? Interesting.

 

Considering that it was in the early to mid 1950s I am absolutely certain the paint had a significant amount of lead. Whether or not it was the lead or perhaps the aluminum that kept the spiders away I have no idea.

 

Norm, that was just from last week. Been here 8 yrs and the first one I saw. I don't go out in the desert and live in town. Oddly my neighbors and I had been talking about them earlier and about midnight he just came walking in the garage under the door. They have migrations out here, down South you could possibly see hundreds crossing your property.

Tarantulas are really very calm, that's why so many people keep them as pets. I also like wolf spiders from back East. No got's out here.

 

Sorry if I took things off track David. But I still think sealing the house and using Home Defense (not Defender) inside and leaving the critters outside alone is best. If you do have an actual infestation of harmful spiders (black widows, brown recluse) you'd be best off calling a company so they can use the right stuff. Typical bug spray doesn't affect many spiders they way it does roaches, ants, crickets, etc.

 

Vic you are crazy

As far as I know the only dangerous spiders we have here are the brown recluse and the black widow. I occasionally run across the latter on my property. Haven't seen any lately but that probably has more to do with my poor eyesight than anything else While I'm not fond of spiders I dislike the spider webs more than anything else. Last time I was in the crawlspace I came out covered in web

Aluminum paint is a fairly soft coating and as such it might attach minute particles of itself to bugs as they crawl across. I don't know - that is just a guess

 

I agree, it is the webs that bother me to no end. Sometimes I will catch an indoor spider and then toss him/her outside but most of the time I just ignore them.

 

David, one good side of having spiders is the place they exist is DRY, so if they are in your basement, you probably don't have water problems. In the main part of the house? Ouch. I had some monster spiders come up from the drain into one of the bathroom sinks at my rental cabin. They couldn't negotiate the slope of the sink, so they just moved around a lot. I don't like spiders.

 

C'mon, think about this a minute. How could a spider come from the drain unless it was able to swim through the trap? People often think the spider came up the sink, tub or shower drain but the truth is the spider came from outside the vessel and once inside they couldn't negotiate the steep and slippery sides to get out.

 

Spiders don't swim. They encapsulate themselves in bubbles of air and once they move up the septic system into the ptrap they are free to prey. They definitely emerged from the drain. Once I found the first one, I dropped the plunger. Next day, I went in to finish cleaning and popped the plunger up and one emerged. Short life span, though.

 

Chandler I’m still skeptical about spiders or anything coming up the drain though I’ll stay open minded about it as I’ve learned that when I think that something “can’t happen” I better get ready for just that...
Could it have entered the drain the previous day or entered through the overflow sink drain if there is one? Not challenging, just askin’.

Furd: interesting story and I won’t dispute it. That paint could have changed the lighting/temperature/reflection environment that could have had an effect as well as the color. Fruit flies are attracted to yellow, etc.

David: The type of insecticides that work best on spiders are the suspensions and micro-encapsulations. A good one for spiders is a concentrate that has the active ingredient: Lambda Cy-halothrin or any Cy-halothrin. Mix with water and spray soffits, eaves, perimeter of house about a foot out and up. Can also spray inside but confine to crack and crevices, under appliances, etc. Unfinished basements and attics can be sprayed liberally high and low.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted.