SPIDERS INDOORS

Spiders don't bother me. Good job as whilst gardening I felt something inside my sleeve and out dropped a very large spider.
Peppermint seems to deter mice. I had mice in my shed and they chewed a hole in a garden chair. I gave the shed a good clean and then put peppermint oil on cotton wool pads and tucked it into the chairs before folding them up. No sign if mice since and the shed smells pleasantly of peppermint.

Hi, I really admire those arachnophobes who deal with the problem by coping with their fear. Having to deal with this is hard I know. I have been in several workshops where the whole thing has been disrupted by one small beastie. Why let one thing rule your life and others.

You need to work to get over this irrational fear. Spiders must live in far more daily fear of being squashed by the giants who inhabit the same space as them!

Spray mint regularly round all doors and windows. They really do not like it.

We got 2 Burmese kittens. Not seen a spider since.

Aepgirl ,, did you wash the towel then?

Have therapy - 1 or 2 sessions from a competent therapist should work. You have nothing to fear, but fear itself, to mangle a phrase!

Best thing is to cure the phobia. In this country, spiders are not toxic. I cured mine by my anxiety not to pass the fear on to my first child. A large spider used to emerge from the fireplace every evening: I would simply say "How interesting. He is probably afraid of a big thing like you." It is also helpful to study them; I got a wonderful book on spider silk, which is elastic and incredibly strong.

Yes conkers do work. We put them on the outside window sills, in the loft, and by any small holes (eg for plumbing pipes etc) where spiders could get in. This summer we also fitted insect netting on our bedroom windows to keep moths & flies out at night and I'm sure it will also keep spiders out this autimn.

I hat spiders, they have a habit of appearing where you least expect them, must try some of the ruses you have all mentioned. My 4 year old GD turned to me while we were discussing them and said "I'm really not a fan of spiders!"

I actually rather like spiders and find them fascinating! My husband however is scared of them and calls me to catch and remove them. Please don't waste your money on any so called spider repellant sprays or peppermint oil etc. None of these things work and if they appear to, it's really only coincidental. My husband has insisted on using them at times over the years and we have seen spiders making their little webby homes in the exact spots where sprays have been used/conkers etc have been put. Just keep corners and under furniture clean and as clear of debris as possible to discourage them from hiding/breeding.

Have disliked spiders forever it seems. As a child woke with one next to me on my pillow & slung it out the window. Then my brother one day in the garden squashed a garden spider on my leg. Lunch all over garden followed by huge fear of the grotty things. Can deal with small to medium with the help of a catcher. The huge nasties are dealt with by my lovely girl Poppy. She chases them till they die & then I can deal with the corpse. So get a cat or 3, that works ?

I have got over most of my spider fears over the years but still can't cope with a really big one. I remember the first time I dealt with one alone. I was still a student and home for the summer holidays. I wanted to go to bed but there was one in my room and being alone in the house I tried to do what my mother always did to remove them. I used a feather duster to pick it up, carried it out of my room, shook in onto the carpet then stamped on it. (Yes, not very humane I know.) Once I'd permanently destroyed it hysterics set in and my mother returned home to find me screaming on the landing at the top of the stairs. She couldn't belive I'd only dealt with a small to medium spider!

I once opened a drawer at work and was confronted by a huge one. I screamed my head off and my boss rushed in to see if I was ok thinking something terrible had happened. He thought it was hilarious and simply picked it up and put it outside. I think he thought I'd spilled something nasty on myself as I worked in a chemistry lab at the time!

I think the thing that helped most was not wanting to pass the fear on to my children, same with wasps, and now I only fear the real giant ones.

I use the long hose on my hoover.

A friend was absolutely hysterical about spiders; she ran away from them and could not re enter a room until they were removed. Realising that her phobia was getting out of hand, she contacted London Zoo - they had a programme to help people overcome this fear and after attending she could actually allowed a spider to walk over her hand. It seems the therapy does work - perhaps you could investigate?

Just grow up.

Moggycuddler you’re a girl after my own heart. I too find them fascinating.
I catch them in a spider catcher and look at them for ages.
My 18 yr old DD says “mam for goodness sake chuck it out!”
She used to be petrified of them but she tolerates them more now simply because I didn’t react to her screaming when she saw one.
I’d tell her it was more afraid of her than she was of it, and over time her fear seems to have subsided thank goodness.
Some of those screams were bloodcurdling!

emilie Just grow up.
Thank you. What a sweet and understanding person you sound.

Just be brave. You are bigger than them, and they are probably more afraid of you than you are of them.

I used to be very frightened of spiders. My cure -having to deal with them when I was alone and no-one else around to help.

I’m frightened of spiders and thunderstorms! ??

I watched a programme where school kids did the conker experiment. Sadly they disproved the myth ?.
I will definitely try peppermint oil , I dislike spiders too ?

Spiders hate the smell of peppermint oil.
I have a daughter in Australia who controls the monstrous huntsman spiders over there by dabbing peppermint oil in corners and places they like to hide. So if you have to put up with a strong smell at least this isn't an unpleasant or harmful one. It also fades quite quickly to the human nose but not to the spiders.

Couldn't you have just scrolled past emilie rather than be so rude

I hate the darn things, too. Luckily DH is very brave and will catch them in a tissue and put them out of the window. He's convinced they just walk in again though. Somebody once told me to spray them with hairspray (not kind, I know, but we are talking BIG SCARY SPIDERS here). I tried this once when DH happened to be out. Well, the result was spectacular. One nervous spray from me and the spider went absolutely berserk and jerked all around the room like a mad thing, finally expiring on the hearth rug but not before I nearly expired myself. Ladies, do not try the hair spray.

I bought my son a spider catcher last Christmas as he hates them. Works well.