Spiders In Strange Places

Use the vacuum cleaner attachments to get into all the little crevices around the house. Once you vacuum, empty the contents of the vacuum cleaner and take it outside. Spiders can live inside vacuum cleaner! If you vacuumed up any of the spider eggs, they can hatch inside the bag. How freaky awful it would be to find spiders climbing out the hose!! Makes me shudder just to think about it.

Do not store things in cardboard boxes. Why? You may ask... because cardboard is made out of wood. Wood is a spider's natural habitat, so they are drawn to the cardboard boxes. Oh now there is something I didn't know! I'm going to be getting my stuff out of the boxes and into those big plastic storage containers right away!

Until I can get to the stuff in cardboard boxes, I'm going to spray my boxes with the all natural spray of Lemon, Lavender, Vinegar mixture I made to repel the spiders.

From the information I have found, the best way to get rid of spiders in the house, is to keep things clean and tidy.

Spider Control Recipe Lavender lemon and Vinegar

Lavender and lemon are both natural spider repellents, so using lavender and lemon around your house is going to deter spiders from hanging out for long.

You will need a good spray bottle. In the spray bottle add equal parts of water and vinegar. Example 1 cup water, 1 cup of vinegar. Add in a few drops of lemon essential oil, and a few drops of lavender essential oil. Spray this mixture everywhere spiders can access your house, around the doors, windows, baseboards. Spray around the foundation of your house, in the corners, up by the rafters, etc...

Now I have heard spiders come in through fireplace chimneys. Make sure you spray the lemon, lavender, vinegar recipe mixture around the outside of the chimney really good, and do it every couple weeks or so.

This is only a deterrent to spiders, but it has been known to help cut down the number of spiders inside a house by a lot. Does this kill spiders? I'm not sure if anything other than a predator kills spiders, but using the spider spray to cut down the number of spiders will help.

I've also heard spiders don't like chestnuts when they are in the ugly green stage with the thick green prickly skin. I'd be piling those up around the base of my chimney and around the base of the house every few feet, to help deter spiders. I don't have a chimney, but if I did, I'd use this method for sure.

Be sure to view my previous post about Keeping Spiders Out Of The House for more ideas that really work.

Keep Spiders Out Of The House

I'll share a few recipes I use that work to get rid of spiders, but it helps a lot to deter the spiders from wanting to hang out in my space in the first place. Here are a few ideas to keep spiders from coming into my house and keep them out of my stuff.

First of all, get rid of the clutter. Don't give the spiders a place to hide. With this one, you get a bonus, because an organized home without extra clutter is very relaxing and easier to keep clean!

Get rid of the spider food. This means, get rid of the ants and termites, and other bugs. If you have bugs in your house, you will have spiders in your house.

Vacuum on a regular basis. Vacuum the back side of your furniture, around the tops of the baseboards, the tracks of your windows, door jams, under beds, and behind the big pieces of furniture.

Seal around the pipes coming into your house. When we moved into our new home, I was shocked at the size of the hole the plumber drilled for the pipes under our bathroom sink. Seal those things up.

Spiders don't like lemon or lavender. Wipe down everything with lemon oil. I use lemon fresh pledge wipes to wipe down the openings around the plumbing pipes, electrical outlets, baseboards, doorways, windows, etc... Spiders feel around with their legs and when they touch the lemon they may be deterred from walking across it. Be aware, the oil may leave an oily stain, so be careful where you use this. I use the lemon wipes everywhere and I haven't had any oily stains. However, it is an oil base, so it could be an issue.

I will share a few natural homemade recipes for spider sprays in another post, so stay tuned.

Natural Predators of Hobo Spiders

I live in the Pacific Northwest where the weather is mostly mild and wet. We don't have a lot of poisonous spiders to worry about. However, the hobo spider is very comfortable making it's home here in the PNW. They are generally found in dark places, such as under the house, or in wood piles. They don't do much climbing, so they aren't hanging up under the eaves of your house.

Hobo spiders are dangerous and can be deadly.

They don't like bright light, so if you are going to be crawling around under your house, turn on some big bright lights about 30 minutes before you have to crawl under there. It won't guarantee you won't find a hobo spider, but it will help get them out to the darker corners of the crawl space.

It is generally the fall months, during mating season, when the hobo spider comes into the house. They aren't seeking out humans to bite... they are seeking a mate.

Some of their natural predators include house cats, and other spiders, like the giant house spider. Oh doesn't that make ya happy! Keep the harmless giant spider around so you don't have to worry about the hobo spider? Yep. There is a dilemma.

Creepy Crawly 8 Legged Living Creatures - Spiders

So yesterday I was doing some minor homemaking when I came across a tiny little 8 legged creature... It was different from most spiders we have around here.

Was it poisonous? It had a definite fiddle shaped body. We weren't sure what kind of spider it is (was - yes. I got rid of it!). I have house guests from out of state, and their bags were right next to where we found the spider on the wall. Is it possible a spider can hide in a suitcase and survive traveling by airplane from their home to my home? Oh, I'm so thrilled there might have been a fiddle back spider in my home.

Not!!!

I don't like spiders at all, so I have done some research through the years, about keeping spiders out of my house. I know others are interested in controlling spiders naturally, so I thought I would share what I have learned, and what works with me here in a new blog.