<font color=skyblue>I have been seeing way too many spiders these days. This season alone, I have seen more spiders of significant size than I ever have in any given year. Some are in my house and some build adult-size webs outside near my car, and I swear I think they are trying to catch me!

The ones I frequently see are large black-red spiders that build huge webs at night, but take them down during the daytime. They appear black but with reddish highlights.

Another type that I see in the house are twice the size of what I just mentioned, and brown. They probably are about two inches long, or maybe three inches. They are fast as hell and scare the shit outta me.

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Now, I know that there are only two spiders in North Carolina that are poisonous...Black Widow, which have the distinctive hour-glass marking...and the brown recluse...a 1/2 inch dude that is tan-brown in color or sometimes darker. But what I learned today is that some new species are being introduced in our area, such as the "Brown Widow", a cousin of the black, but not from the United States originally, and not as poisonous, but still dangerous. I also saw a picture of a spider that was labelled "unidentified" by a guy in Lakeland Florida, where Ziroc lives...and was asking for help in identifying it. The dude had a picture of the spider that had caught a frog in its web. I have never imagined a spider that big anywhere near my state, and here it is...just a few states south of me. It could easily migrate if somebody moved out of Florida into NC to get away from the hurricanes.

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Anyway, aside from all this chatter, I am wanting to ask...how do I get rid of these spiders in and around my home ? I had a bad experience as a toddler that has made me arachnaphobic. Snakes I can handle...but not big spiders.

Thanks for help.</font>

[ 09-13-2004, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

The answer is staring us in the face: get a pet snake that feeds on spiders :D

First thing Larry... can you take out some of those equal signs? They're distorting the page for me on this 1024x768 display... :D

Now... holy smokes! two to three inches long??? Are you measuring leg size, or just body size? If it's body size, I start talking to the landlord (or an exterminator) about removing my little *problem*. If it's leg size... I still talk, but I won't be leaving a panicked message after I read the rest of these posts ;)

You certainly can get them exterminated, but the more "holistic" approach is to focus on why they're there -- they must be getting food or shelter that's better than anywhere else. I'd focus on removing the food sources (if possible), and caulking up any possible entry points throughout the house. Not just windows; get the joints in the siding (or whatever's on the outside), monitor the soffits... and cleaning brush and stuff away from the house will probably help too.

Note that all this is gut reaction, and not the voice of an experience exterminator. So take it with a grain of salt, but feel free to get freaky on those arachnids [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Lets see firstly Talos and Unberlee are after Ziroc and Choc, now Lloth is after you.

We used to have that problem here in Sydney (where we have HEAPS of deadly spiders).

My advice is to call an exterminator. They will spray the outside of your house and the inside to get rid of the spiders and keep them away. We usualyl do this at our place every two years. works pretty well.

Exterminator dude... exterminator.

Who ya gonna call... "SPIDERBUSTERS!" *sings theme song*

that, or, get a cat. LOL my 3 cats eat anything that moves. That, or kill them and leave them in my house as a "gift" for their pet human (me).

Hell, once they brought in a 2 ft long lizard thing with sharp teeth and claws. SCARED THE SHITE OUTTA ME. Wow. Offtopic. Lol my bad.

Anyways, yeah, my advice is googling for a poisonous animals hotline in your area and asking for repellant ideas. Sorry I couldnt be more help.

you could try to spray the spiders or you could try to just live with the spiders.

ROFL! Brilliant :D I like your style Azeral, they scare the shit outa him but he COULD in theory live with them, yes :D And I'm sure they're great pets for his kids too :D

if you can stand the smell of it...you can put out moth balls around your home, and inside, it runs off almost any pest ;) but alot of people can not stand the smell of it :D

First, let me say that I can understand that you are arachnophobic.

However, I want to also stress for you that *most* spiders will not hurt people so long as you don't try to handle them.

Those red/black ones you described are garden spiders. I notice them mostly this time of year through the fall. Their webs *can* freak you out, LOL, but they are mostly nocturnal and "rest" during the day and are only interested in insects.

If you "train" yourself out of your fear, you'd even find their web building fascinating. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Now the big ones in the house...I'm not sure if you are describing a version of the 'grandaddy' or 'cave spider' types (long, thin legs with a longish rectangularish body) or the hairy spiders we know "affectionately" as Wolf Spiders. The American version of the tarantula. Now these are mildly venomous but shy spiders, so you'd have to go after one and pick it up to get it to bite you.

But I've RARELY had one pop up inside my home.

Can you take a pic and post it up? I could tell better what you've got there if I could see it.

Either way, the reason you are probably seeing more of them this season is all the rain and basically cooler temps we've had this last month or so. More food (insects) means bigger beasties and more rain can sometimes run them inside.

I didn't read all of the responses thus far, but I saw the idea of mothballs...good one for spider (and other bug) repellent. Also Borax is good. And lime (the mineral, NOT the fruit, LOL! [img]tongue.gif[/img] ).

Larry, you might want to look up those spiders (the brown recluse ones) online and see, because I'm told they are nothing to mess with if you do have them in your house!

Black widows, ditto! And if that IS what you've got, then I would suggest the exterminator, because you surely don't want to be bit or have one of the family bit by them!

I wouldn't recommend the mothballs with your kids in the house. Too dangerous if they should eat one or get it on their hands or in their eyes etc. Mothballs can cause nasty 'burns' on the skin.

Bungleau had the right idea for trying to keep them from coming in, I think. Eliminate the bugs they eat from around your home. Clear the brush away and trim up any shrubbery they make webs in near the house.

Dang, Larry, you're NOT making me want to move south! [img]smile.gif[/img]