Spider infestation (real ones, not the Line6 ones)

[Alex]

So.... my girlfriend and me moved and we like the place a lot. The only problem is that the small garden is crawling with spiders, quite some large ones as well (at least large enough that I can see the from the first floor window still).

Truly an off-topic topic, I guess.

Any advice how we can get rid of them? I torched some of the smaller ones with a lighter or vacuumed the ones in the house, but the bigger ones... well I'd need a bigger lighter for a start. Is there some "natural" remedy like some plant they don't like or something I can do against them? They crawl on the laundry if we hang them outside and freak my girlfriend out big time.

[MDV]

Spiders kill flies. Which do you like least?

Anyway, no, nothing I know of except

[WezV]

wait a month.... its spider season

[nfe]

Stop killing the poor wee guys!

[MDV]

Stop killing the poor wee guys!

Yeah!

Perfectly harmless. Spiders in the UK arent venomous save in extremely exceptional circumstances (the proverbial escaped pets and ones that came here on a bunch of banana), dont carry diseases and even if they did dont have any interest in human food, so arent a vector for them.

I'm always happy to see a spider in the house. I think to myself 'you go kill the really annoying and filthy stuff for me mate, best of luck to ya!'.

[ToneMonkey]

We've got thousands of the little buggers in the garden and a few MASSIVE ones in the house.... one's that you struggle to get a pint glass over.

[Afghan Dave]

I'm always happy to see a spider in the house. I think to myself 'you go kill the really annoying and filthy stuff for me mate, best of luck to ya!'.

Never a truer word spoken!

I appreciate the hard working little critters..

[AndyR]

:lol: I feel your pain... although basically I agree with the other guys.

I'm not too keen on the bigger ones prowling around inside - if I can catch them and put them outside I will. And I do have some of that instinctive fear of them...

And when I was younger, I have been known to hoover them to placate a screaming other half if catching them was beyond my abilities at the time... luckily now the missus has more control over her fears of this sort of thing than I do :lol: (except moths for some strange inexplicable reason).

Like Wez sez though - it's spider season at the moment, they'll thin out again.

[Philly Q]

Leave 'em alone!


Torched with a lighter indeed....!  :o

[Dmoney]

Yeah!

Perfectly harmless. Spiders in the UK arent venomous save in extremely exceptional circumstances (the proverbial escaped pets and ones that came here on a bunch of banana), dont carry diseases and even if they did dont have any interest in human food, so arent a vector for them.

you say that but...!
when my band was on tour we played in Italy and our singer thought he'd twisted his ankle but a day later in belgium, some kids pointed out that it was a spider bite. his ankle was swollen up like it was broken, and he could barely walk on it. (although he did play the set). afterwards he went to hospital. They told him it must have been a wolf spider, as its the only spider in Italy that will give you trouble, and its also found in the UK.

how accurate that all is, i dunno, but its what he was told and im no david bellamy.

a friend of mine also got bitten on the shoulder once somewhere in europe and the spider bite melted a hole in his flesh the size of a 1p. thats how all the guys at the belgian show recognised our singers problem as a spider bite.

[38thBeatle]

Learn to live with them. I think they are wonderful animals and never ever kill them. My brother is petrified of them and will run out of the house and yet they have never harmed him. I have been bitten by one abroad once and it was painful but I accepted it as one of those things that happens in life. 

[MrBump]

I'm in the pro-spider camp. 

My wife is pathologically adversed to spiders...  A true phobia.  So my job is generally to remove them from the house, given that I marginally prefer sharing my house with my wife than spiders.

Mark.

[FernandoDuarte]

You can't believe how much fear I've of spiders... is just in the phobia line :? :(

[MDV]

Yeah!

Perfectly harmless. Spiders in the UK arent venomous save in extremely exceptional circumstances (the proverbial escaped pets and ones that came here on a bunch of banana), dont carry diseases and even if they did dont have any interest in human food, so arent a vector for them.

you say that but...!
when my band was on tour we played in Italy and our singer thought he'd twisted his ankle but a day later in belgium, some kids pointed out that it was a spider bite. his ankle was swollen up like it was broken, and he could barely walk on it. (although he did play the set). afterwards he went to hospital. They told him it must have been a wolf spider, as its the only spider in Italy that will give you trouble, and its also found in the UK.

how accurate that all is, i dunno, but its what he was told and im no david bellamy.

a friend of mine also got bitten on the shoulder once somewhere in europe and the spider bite melted a hole in his flesh the size of a 1p. thats how all the guys at the belgian show recognised our singers problem as a spider bite.

I didnt say spider bites cant hurt!

Fact is though its incredibly rare here.

If alex were in sydney and had a plague of funnel webs then he'd have a problem, but unless hes spectacularly unlucky the spiders are harmless, indeed helpfull.

[Dmoney]

granted.

I guess other things are worse.
ive been bitten by an array of creatures. used to get horse-flys back home. much worse than spiders. which probably eat horse-flys

my mum had a huge phobia of spiders. and growing up i saw her freak out every time one was close by. I guess if you're around that behaviour as a tot then it must effect you growing up. I dislike them a fair but but i have a better tolerance. Though that tolerance has strangely decreased as ive got older.