Spiders are one of the most scary, filthiest and ugliest pests you will ever find, isn’t it? These eight legged freaks can make you nervous even at the slightest move with their legs crawling or hanging from the cobwebs. As far as I am concerned, I am a great fan of the marvel superhero called Spiderman, but I am equally afraid of big fat stomach brown and black spiders which roam in bathrooms and kitchens and scare the s*it out of me.
I suffer from arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. Even with a slightest hint of the presence of these ugly creatures in the nearby vicinity is enough to keep me away from those places. I wanted to get rid of spiders at home and I did lots of research and learned a lot about eliminating these spiders from my kitchen, bathroom and rest of areas in my house. I make sure that I leave no stone unturned to keep these pests away from my home.
I am sure there are many like me who don’t like spiders and hence I am sharing some self assessed remedies to keep these spiders away from the vicinity of your house.
Seal the entries to get rid of spiders
These pests generally lives outside your home but often end up inside your home in search of food and shelter. Although my grandmother uses to say that these pests do not do any harm to us. Well I do not have a say at this I just want to keep them out of my sight.
Find holes, cracks and crevices in your house that acts as potential entrance to these pests into your home and make sure to seal them all. Use caulk to fill in large gaps of space in closed doors and windows. Replace or fix torn window screens broad leaked pipe from where they can easily sneak past into your vicinity. Cover your vents and chimney with fine mesh insect screens.
Keep your house clean and tidy
Like every other pest, spiders also have the same knack of living in dirty and untidy places because these are naturally the best places to sneak past you and hide. Clean homes give spiders less options to hide themselves and they prefer not to get detected and stay out of your sight.
Clean any leftover food lying around. Food crumbs will attract other pests like ants and flies which, in turn, will attract spiders.
Dust, sweep and vacuum your floors on a regular basis. Wipe down your counters and tables, and avoid letting your dirty dishes sit out for more than a few hours.
Clean as much clutter as possible. You will not want to meet a fat spider while searching for an old magazine or newspaper. Clean those up along with the piles of dirty clothes that make the ideal hiding place for the spiders.
Switch-off outdoor lights at night
Well spiders are not attracted to light but other smaller insects do. Eventually these smaller insects draw the attention of the spiders and become easy source of food for them. It is also recommended to use opaque blind or shades to prevent your light to shine out of the window where the insects generally roam and become prey to spiders.
Clean the cobwebs and vacuum the spiders often
The spiders which look weak and young in the beginning can soon become fat and strong. Hence do not show mercy while removing them by vacuuming up thin spiders, egg sacs, and webs as you run across them.
But beware that it might not be a wise idea if you have a large spider population living in your home, this might trigger an alert in their colony and they can retaliate and scatter around you.
You can also use a long stick broom to sweep away cobwebs and squash the adult spiders, but adult ones are usually the smartest ones, as they can run fast and hide in the dark places and again come back when you are not around.
Although you can squash adult spiders and eggs with shoes or other flat & hard objects, remove the dead spider body as soon as possible otherwise ants will come for a feast and again a spider will chase them to feed on those ants, then the whole process have to be repeated. Avoid that.
Natural deterrents for spider control
There are a lot of natural deterrents that can be used to get rid of spiders like Chestnuts, walnuts, and the fruit of the Osage orange tree. Just poke holes in the chestnut or split it in half to release the odor that drives the spiders out.
Use peppermint oil
Spiders cannot tolerate the smell of peppermint oil and will keep away from the places where they can smell it. Hence try spraying peppermint oil at the entrance of your home and trust me it will help you get rid of spider quite effectively.
If you are more evil than you look, than you can dab undiluted peppermint oil onto a cotton ball and stuff the cotton ball into cracks or other possible hiding places. Now you can have your evil laugh when you see the spiders running for cover.
Eucalyptus oil or tea tree oil can act as alternative of peppermint oil.
Glue traps
Place glue boards in dark corners, beneath furniture, in closets, and next to windows and doors. These traps are capable of catching rodents also (I use them often). But for spiders it works pretty well.
The web master spiders which generally hang around in the ceilings above are immune to these traps, but these are effective against ground-dwelling spiders (they are the ones with scary bodies) which hop and jump with joy and treat your home as their play ground.
Keep the trap flat to prevent it from curling up into itself. Also avoid stepping on these traps accidently as they contain very strong adhesives (I have recently done this).
Discard the trap as soon as you collect a few spiders on it otherwise if too many spiders get trapped themselves in that small trap then they might set each other free. Just kidding! Actually it would look dirty and disgusting.
Although this technique is ineffective against spider eggs and webs, so you will likely need to use this method in addition with other techniques.
Apply Insecticide
When all your efforts does not seems to be working, you got to switch into lethal mode, spray on corners or cracks with commercial pesticides which are relevant for killing spiders.
Read the instructions carefully to avoid getting poisoned yourself or your pets and other family members. And make sure that the pesticides contain a chemical called “pyrethroid” that kills the spiders quite effortlessly.
Thought he pesticides have limited range. These poisons only work if spiders drag themselves through the chemical after it is sprayed. If it manages to avoid the spray, then the insecticide will have no effect on them.
Phenyl can also come in handy to kill them, just spray phenyl on their bodies and then will die.
Natural insecticides
Unlike phenyl, Vinegar contains acetic acid, which is thought to burn and kill spiders upon contact. You can also place small dishes of vinegar in dark corners to ward away spiders. The odor alone may be enough to repel them.
Call a professional pest control expert
Last but not the least if you are tired of chasing spiders with phenyl bottles, shoes or badminton rackets in your hand, if it seems like a science fiction movie every time they came out from a crevices and while you attempt to kill them, if the ever increasing population of spiders are giving you nightmares, then don’t try to fight them, just call a professional pest control expert. Although you should remain cautious while the pest control team treats the spider problem as pesticides used by them may not be good for you either, you might even have to vacate your premises while the treatment is going on.
Conclusion
Believe me I was shivering with disgustedness while writing this whole post as even thinking about these species tingle my senses (like Spiderman’s spider sense). But it is equally important to get rid of these nuisances once and for all.
Arachnophobic people can relate to this post easily for rest of the lucky people just stick to the basics and follow this post to get rid of these ugly creatures with ease. If you are still unsure then consider consulting a professional pest control company for your woes.
Before you go and try these tips, let me tell you that I have tried some of these tips and there are a few that I have not tried myself so take them as it is because I am not a professionally trained pest control expert anyways. But I hope these tips can help you get rid of these spiders from your house.
