It's that time of the year when the spiders come indoors ....
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Not wishing to admit that I am a wimp or anything but I don't mind the smallish ones and can even pick then up, it's them big hairy jobbies that lurk in wait, usually by the bedroom door or under the loo pan. And they vanish at a great speed of knots! I always trap them in an upturned glass and cover with cardboard and then gently scoot them outside, after all they do have a life to enjoy. There was a discussion on the radio this morning and it was suggested placing horse chestnuts around the house keeps them away.
So how do you folks react? How do you deal with them? Any old wives tales to try out here? Anyone tried those sprays or electronic gizmos?
Okay, an 'off topic' discussion but great for a lazy Sunday morning and we are on the web!
I think there's a couple of them big jobbies under my stairs, obviously 'mates' and probably going to get married. Wonder if I'll get an invite to the webbing?
Responses (11)
Great lighthearted topic for a Sunday, Snoops, although I'm glad my sister isn't on the web reading this as she gets palpitations at the very mention of the S word.
The small ones, and the thin spindly ones don't bother me a bit, but I must admit to not liking the big hairy buggers. If they're kipping quietly, I'm quite happy to pick them up gently with a tissue and eject them through the window. However, if they run towards me I'm afraid they get trodden on!
On holiday in the south of France one year, I spotted one on the bedroom floor. It was big but not moving, so I approached it with a tissue and it jumped a foot in the air! I didn't know jumping spiders existed, but I wasn't going to wait to research it - I grabbed a flip-flop and the rest was history!
I read somewhere that we all, unknowingly, eat spiders in our sleep when they descen from the ceiling into our open mouths. Eugggh, need a G&T now!
Hi Snoopy. I've never heard spiders called jobbies before.
I love spiders, money ones, small ones, large ones and extra
large ones. We don't have many spiders in the house but when
we do I put them on a piece of paper (if I'm in the bathroom) and
open the window and let them sail away on the paper. Otherwise
I take them outside and put them on a plant. The wonderful webs
they make which are sometimes glistening in the sun are so lovely and
when you think how long it's taken them to make their webs and
then the rain comes and destroys them it must the trying for them.
Horse chestnuts are free so no expenditure but my daughter used these and No they dont work.
Scientifically the Spring/Summer weather conditions have been ideal for spiders to flourish and grow and so as the weather turns chillier we will see a greater influx of spiders into our homes and bigger than normal.
We had one boldly crawl into our living room the other night it must have been the size of my hand and seemed perfectly happy to be sharing the room with us. I knew it was time to remove it humanely from indoors when it became too attached to the Fly+ remote control and prevented us from watching what we wanted!!
I have to admit I'm with John Goodman's "Bugs B Gone" character from Arachnophobia, where spiders are concerned: terminate with extreme prejudice and display the pieces so other 8 legged freaks are forewarned of the fate should they scuttle into my abode.
Conkers have been scientifically proven not to work. You stick them in a closed box with spiders, and spiders crawl all over them. They're no deterrant. Then again I have friends who swear by them.
I'd love to know how they get in to be honest. Airbricks have built in meshes to prevent it and it's not like modern windows and doors have any gaps to squeeze through.
I think it's sweet chestnut(Castanea)not the horse chestnut or conker tree (Aesculus hippocastanum)that deters spiders and it's not the fruit of the tree but the wood itself that is a deterent which is why builders have used it for centuries for making rafters and roof trusses in areas where this tree grows such as central France.
I feel quite ill even reading this thread.
I am terrified of spiders. I cannot put into words the sheer terror, cold sweat, panic, complete brain and body freeze, heart stopping fear that totally takes over me if I so much as glimpse a spider.
Tiny, small, medium, huge .... doesn't matter, if they are being still I freeze on the spot and attempt to make my paralysed vocal chords work enough that OH will rush and help, but if the spider moves ... oh god, that's it...... I plummet into all out panic attack.
It is indeed THAT time of year and for a couple of weeks I have been unable to enter a room without peering all around it from the doorway - just in case! I can't get into bed without throwing the duvet back and checking there's nothing in there. God knows if there ever was one I would probably never sleep again.
If it's any consolation Wendi I hate maggots. I feel faint when I look at them (my husband used to buy them for the birds until I pleaded with him not to) and I go hot and cold, I just can't bear them. He bought some dried ones a short time ago and I swear they were moving in the bag!!!! He put them in the pond for the fish and I didn't know he had done it and as I walked passed they moved in the water gosh was there a holy row. So now you can all laugh at me!!
Isn't it funny how we all are affected by things differently! I can't say I like maggots particularly (who would) but I could deal with them if necessary (I would borrow those long rubber gloves off fruitcake). Earwigs give me the chills but I can whack them with a long whacker and then get rid...... so why not spiders I wonder?? Possibly the worst of the worst is May Bugs (cock chafers to be precise), picture a flying cockroach that makes a loud helicopter noise and that'll be about right. Oh they are just horrendous and indestructible - and have to be whacked with a tennis racket!
I can't bear maggots, earwigs, woodlice or cockroaches! Am not crazy on big beetles either!
I used to look after a friend's pet toad when he was away anywhere...he ate maggots and woodlice. I had to collect the woodlice for him freshly every day as he would only eat live food (rubber glove job again!) and the maggots I kept in the fridge for him...and they escaped!! Aaargh!
By the way, the 'he' I'm referring to was the toad, not my friend! ;-)
It's to do with them being inside out! It must be - well, except for maggots I suppose. All those creatures that have their skeleton on the outside are what give us the weeby-jeebys.
I was sent a photo of a baby porcupine the other day, oh the most lovely cute little thing, (like a hedgehog with big ears) but no one is going to say that about a beetle or other insect type thing.
http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/baby-porcupine/ in case you feel like having an 'Ahhhhhhhhhh' moment (better than looking at those nasty jobbies that Snoopy suggested!!!).
Oh, Wendie, now he is soooooo cute! :-)
He is so cuddly and sweet the little porcupine I could
look after him. I also love frogs and toads. We listen
out for them in the garden.
I love the saying :
"Learn to love the pricks in your life"
I adore frogs and toads, Sabre...in fact I'm fond of most small reptiles, especially lizards, gekkos and chameleons. I've even learned to like snakes, so long as they're small...the big ones terrify me! :-O
Oh wow .... I didn't know that baby porcupines had big ears. Obviously Noddy wouldn't pay the ransom!
And Wendie, pray do tell ... what exactly is a 'long whacker'? And as for cock chafers, I find a bottle of talc very soothing ...
Snoopy :) A 'long whacker' can be whatever is available to hand at the time of dire necessity. It must (of course) be of sufficient length so that great distance can be kept from the offending trespasser and of sufficient weight to ensure that it achieves its purpose with just the one whack. A 'long whacker' can take the form of a large skillet, a heavy boot (though often held by the laces to ensure sufficient length is achieved), or a fly swatter - though this purpose-made whacker tends to be very difficult to locate in an emergency.
As for the cock chafer I just knew that would prompt comment ..... shall we refer to them as May Bugs instead - to avoid any discomfort and squirming :)
I'm quite sure Snoops would have a long enough whacker!
Good grief! It's impossible to look at that baby porcupine without saying 'aaah'! Those ears are huge!
Is it just me...or does anyone else see a resemblance between the cute porcupine and G-Man?! ;-)
'A long enough whacker?' feline? Pray, do tell, what do you base that ejaculation on? Anyway, I haven't whacked anything for ages so it's a moot argument really .... any, when I did whack with some regularity, I only ever needed a short whacker as I preferred to meet my prey 'up close and personal'.
Whatever do you mean, Snoops?
I merely thought that, as you had expressed some aversion to spiders, you would have almost certainly have equipped yourself with a long whacker.
Surely it's not the length of the whacker that's important but the skill and accuracy with which it's used.
I do exactly what you do, Snoops, upturned glass and card, and pop them outside in the garden to go on their merry way, except that I put my long rubber gloves on first as well if it's a very large spider!
I really don't mind the tiny ones, and can pick them up in my bare hands, but the big ones...no way!...it has to be the rubber gloves for the big ones!
I once had a not too big one that lived in my bathroom for a month or two. My favourite shower song is Madonna's 'Hanky Panky' and this spider danced around whenever I sang it, so I named her Madge and grew quite fond of her! Sadly, one day she just disappeared...guess she got tired of my singing! :-)
Oh Fruitcake, you did make me laugh! And there's me thinking you would be the type to face the little beasties head on!
Long rubber gloves!!!!!!! A completely hermetically sealed spacesuit wouldn't be enough for me.
Not me, Snoops, but I guess you and I are both a little braver than poor Wendie! ;-)
Oh Wendi, I wonder if they make those suits in our sizes and where to go to buy them, NASA ?
It's great to hear that my aversion is not unique! I don't think that I have met a woman to date who hasn't recoiled in horror when one scuttles towards her. And that's the problem, isn't it, they always come toward you! There is this theory that spiders will continue to get bigger and bigger in the UK until they reach the proportions of what exists in Africa and the Middle East. Just Google 'Sand Spiders' or 'Camel Spiders' and have a decko ... not for the faint hearted though.
Ugh ghastly things... I tend to break out into a cold sweat and work out if I can get close enough to it with the vacuum cleaner to suck it up and dispose of it that way.
I know I'm a million times larger than them plus older and dafter but oh they do give me the heebie jeebies...
No problem with UK spiders - I am quite happy to see them running about the house and wouldn't dream of deliberately killing one. You sort of get to know them after a while and can predict when they will appear. However, I have seen dangerous and deadly spiders indoors or in the garden in Australia and that is really scarey.
Snoopy - I think that you are right about chestnuts keeping spders away. In the Cevennes mountains of France where local chestnut wood is traditionally used for building and making furniture it is claimed by the locals that few spiders will enter the house in autumn (the spider season).
Okay Peeps ... here's the answer ... not a Wendie endorsed whacker but a commercial 'suck job' .... just gotta be worth every household having one!
Well ..... It looks pretty good but it's see-through! I honestly don't think I could hold one end of that, with a crawly inside it running about, AND put the end-cap on, then go outside, take end-cap off and release the prisoner...... probably great for you braver people who can keep terror in check and think clearly for long enough but for the likes of me I sadly think there's no hope :(
But think how much worse it would be, wendie, if it wasn't see-through so you wouldn't know the whereabouts of the little bugger!
A good idea in theory Snoopy but I would still be in trepidation of getting close enough to use it.
That little 'jobbie' would only have to move a fraction of an inch and I would be scuttling off in the other direction at the speed of light...ugh.
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According to the media, eating spiders while sleeping is a complete myth.
"Spider, spider, on the wall
Why are you there at all?
Don't you know the wall's been plastered?
Now your stuck, you sill b*****d!
Brilliant Snoopy
Eeeeeek, a large one please Feline, for medicinal purposes only, you understand!!!