Gransnet forums

Ask a gran

Spiders!!

(25 Posts)
Sara65 Sat 26-Oct-19 14:40:41

NanaMacGeek

I’m ashamed to say I’ve put the terror of spiders into all my children and grandchildren, I’m not proud of it, but I’m like your daughter in law, I can’t behave rationally if I see one.

My mother would just scoop them up, so I don’t know where it comes from.

I doubt your little chat with your granddaughter did much harm or much good, sadly it’s not that simple, but at least she can see that not all grownups are terrified.

rockgran Sat 26-Oct-19 14:35:25

I keep a plastic cup and a card ready but I wouldn't hurt one. When I take it outside there is a race to see who gets back in first! I confess I was a bit worried when I recently had to sleep on a floor mattress!

NanaMacGeek Sat 26-Oct-19 14:19:49

My daughter-in-law is terrified of spiders. If she sees one in the house she smashes it with anything to hand. She won’t go into the garden shed any more - if she wants anything from the shed, my son has to get it when he comes home.

My granddaughter is an anxious child and now freezes in fear when she sees a spider. This happened when she was with us in the garden recently. I held her hand and spoke calmly. I told her that it couldn't hurt her, how clever it was to weave a complicated web and pointed out the pretty patterns on its body. My granddaughter didn't say anything but stood looking for a moment at the spider before walking away.

I don't know if I did the right thing or not.

boodymum67 Sat 26-Oct-19 13:49:19

We seem to have had far more spiders and webs than ever this year!

I dont like spiders, and will let my hubby zap them with his spider bat!

They belong outside not in!

harrigran Wed 02-Oct-19 09:23:21

Watching TV the other night I heard rather than saw a huge spider. DH jumped up to get sucky-up thing, spider looked over it's shoulder and shot under the TV stand. When DH returned I pointed to where it had gone, took about 10 minutes to find the blessed thing as it was hiding on a black cable.
DH sat down and I screamed, a smaller spider was sitting on my cushion staring at me, I bet he was looking for his dad.

NfkDumpling Tue 01-Oct-19 14:09:24

We have an enormous house spider living under the sideboard in the sitting room. She trots across the floor in the evenings and I’ll swear I can hear her feet on the carpet. Since she’s been there for years so I suspect its not the same one, but the advantage is that she eats all the other spiders.

GrandmaJan Tue 01-Oct-19 14:04:52

There’s definitely a higher number of spiders than other years. We had CCTV cameras fitted outside a few months ago and one of them is completely obliterated by a spiders web. It’s high up so difficult to reach so DH uses the hose to try and remove it but when he does the spiders just start a build another one. I could make a wildlife video watching it catch it’s prey.

Squiffy Tue 01-Oct-19 13:57:34

Just pulled a tissue out of the box - complete with teeny spider attached. As I said upthread, they’re everywhere in our house! ?

Alexa Tue 01-Oct-19 11:38:23

I keep a glass jar and card marked "SPIDERS"on the principle if it can happen it will happen.

Alexa Tue 01-Oct-19 11:36:03

I look inside my pillowcases before I get into bed.

LondonGranny Tue 01-Oct-19 11:24:04

I don't mind spiders at all. It's blowflies that I hate. That malevolent buzzing. When I was a cleaner for elderly people in my youth a new job (husband, wife and adult son with Downs syndrome) had a houseful of blowflies and I couldn't work out why. Turned out there was a rotting chicken carcass in the oven. That oven still pops up occasionally in my nightmares.

Oopsminty Tue 01-Oct-19 11:21:17

Ugh. Slugs. I've trodden on them before now.

EllanVannin Tue 01-Oct-19 11:16:08

I don't have many spiders at all but if I see one I have my trusty spider-catcher, a triangular plastic container with a sliding bottom that you open up aim it over the spider and close across so you have him trapped inside ready to go outside. I think it was a fiver years ago from Kleen-ezee.

It's slugs outside the patio door at night that I can't stand. They gather together in a clump like Medusa and her hair, just makes me squirm.
It was the cockroaches in Oz that used to send me into a frenzy----appearing from nowhere. I did used to get paranoid then, looking over my shoulder all the time.

Give me a spider anytime.

henetha Tue 01-Oct-19 11:11:52

Sitting up in bed reading last night when suddenly a huge one appeared on the wall to the side of me. Terror! And the realisation that there is no-one to deal with it but me.
Luckily I managed to catch it in a plastic container and then
released it at the end of the driveway. Will it return tonight?!!

tanith Tue 01-Oct-19 10:51:11

??? predictive text. Conkers!

tanith Tue 01-Oct-19 10:50:14

I usually put confers down and they do seem to work in my house. I took a walk yesterday but there aren’t any on the ground yet.

Sara65 Tue 01-Oct-19 10:42:57

I’ve got those electronic gadgets, and I actually thought they worked, but not this year, I can’t relax in the evenings or get to sleep at night, roll on November

Squiffy Tue 01-Oct-19 10:37:35

We are inundated with spiders - their reproductive systems must be turbo-driven! ? I remove umpteen (often about 20 or more) spiders over the course of a week, but I swear they form an orderly queue and sneak back in!

I’m getting really fed up as their webs are everywhere, despite using my candy floss on a stick duster thing to remove them daily . I hate the idea of killing them, but I’m reaching breaking point.

Any deterrent ideas would be very gratefully received! I’ll try conkers once they’re available again.

Oopsminty Tue 01-Oct-19 10:29:09

Friend of mine is petrified
She has a 'wall' of conkers round her bed.
Not sure if it works!

tanith Tue 01-Oct-19 10:27:55

Wish they wouldn’t

tanith Tue 01-Oct-19 10:26:57

I have a friend in America who has her house and exterior of the house fumigated specifically so she doesn’t encounter spiders. So OTT a step definitely too far.
I just the wouldn’t appear unexpectedly like on the footstool an inch from my barefoot ?

Auntieflo Tue 01-Oct-19 10:26:23

My neighbour and I were talking about this the other afternoon. She hates them and so does her DH, although he can cope with putting them outside. But he does freak out a bit, if she lets out a sudden shout.
She told me that the ones we see indoors, are males, looking for a mate. Don't know if I believe her!

lemongrove Tue 01-Oct-19 10:23:11

It’s the way they gallop about ( the big house spiders) isn’t it?
Such confidence! They think they own the place.?
If we ever move from this house I would like a new build ( according to friends, they hardly ever see them.)

Sara65 Tue 01-Oct-19 09:59:12

I am very twitchy, I’m terrified of them, and we seem to have loads this year, last night we had one as big as a dinner plate, I’m still a nervous wreck!

tanith Tue 01-Oct-19 09:43:11

I’m not scared of spiders and will happily remove them to the garden when I can but it’s when they just appear from nowhere I get a fright and my heart pounds. Now I’m getting paranoid and I’ve spent the morning moving cupboards and looking under things to find them so I can move them out before they catch me unawares like yesterday I was caught out by two and it’s making me twitchy ?

It’s ridiculous but it’s really getting on my nerves now. Any advice people?