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Spiders

(72 Posts)
blueskies Sun 07-Oct-18 19:22:17

Last year I used conkers ( yes I know it’s an old wives tale} to deter spiders in the house. It worked as only one all winter and usually huge garden spiders scuttle around up and downstairs. They are so big I swear I can hear them breathing! This autumn I can’t get any conkers as too far away from trees. My question are horse chestnuts similar and would they work?

Jaycee5 Tue 09-Oct-18 11:48:54

oldgaijin I agree. I prefer spiders to flies and they will get rid of silverfish.
I don't like the nests or eggs but I rarely see those, I think my spiders find their own way in. (I'm going to believe that anyway).

barbaralynne Tue 09-Oct-18 12:08:47

I read about the conker/horse chestnut deterrent last year so collected a load and distributed them around all of the windowsills thinking that that must be their route into our "spider location" - it didn't seem to have any effect; still got unwanted lodgers - maybe wrong type of conker? Will try the mint idea next.

sassenach512 Tue 09-Oct-18 12:29:38

I suspect the little blighters have been getting into our house through the ventilation grills on the wall. I have always dreaded this time of year but I haven't the heart to kill them so I bought one of those boxes on a stick with the sliding door and I have felt much braver and can evict them much easier.
I heard on a tv programme that they are males who have done enough carousing in the garden and are now looking for a lady friend, she being sensibly tucked away somewhere quiet reading a book wink

muddynails Tue 09-Oct-18 12:33:30

My sister (lives in Aussie) says the wolf spiders are so big you can actually hear them walking grin

Craftycat Tue 09-Oct-18 12:39:58

You can get your phobia cured.
I did. It took about 20 minutes. Love spiders now.

grandtanteJE65 Tue 09-Oct-18 13:00:33

Must try conkers as there are plenty lying around here, and we are inundated with spiders. I don't mind them, but I do mind having to catch and dispose of their webs using a long handled synthetic feather duster.

Grannyris Tue 09-Oct-18 13:04:25

I think there is something in chestnut which deters spiders. We had a house in France which had a lot of chestnut wood beams and the neighbours always said that’s why we didn’t get spiders in the house.

missdeke Tue 09-Oct-18 13:09:05

I gathered loads of conkers and left a bowl of them on the windowsill, I found a very large spider sitting on top of them! Certainly didn't work here. I have an electronic spider deterrent which sorts of works but I still have a few spiders that apparently are deaf! A spider catcher to catch them and throw them out works a treat but best of all is my kitten Shadow who thinks they make lovely playthings and hors d'oevres!

Camelotclub Tue 09-Oct-18 14:16:19

I tried that last winter with conkers. Did bu.....er tall to keep the long legged beasties away!

Kathjohn32 Tue 09-Oct-18 18:23:19

I used to collect conkers (horse chestnuts) but now rely on a spray from Amazon called "No More Spiders" which, I believe, contains peppermint oil. I spray it daily near the doors and windows and round the sofa so they won't run underneath and, this year, it seems to have worked - have only seen two! But the spider mating season is usually over by now. There was a handy piece on the BBC website a few weeks ago which confirmed that the worst is over by the end of the first week in October.

knspol Tue 09-Oct-18 18:23:58

Tried this to no avail unfortunately. Have read that this has been disproved but still looking for conkers just in case.

NonnaW Tue 09-Oct-18 18:57:54

I tried the confers this year as inundated with spiders - nope, still there! However, I have just put them in the corners on the windowsill in the bathroom & en suite. Should I be doing something more with them?

JanaNana Tue 09-Oct-18 19:09:35

If you want to live and thrive,
Let the spider run alive.

We usually try and catch any by putting a glass over them, then sliding a piece of paper carefully beneath the glass and putting them back outside.
Don,t get very many but it's the speed at which some of them move that makes me jump.

Tillybelle Tue 09-Oct-18 22:00:25

blueskies Horse Chestnuts are conkers! Sweet Chestnuts on the other hand aren't.

Spiders can't help being spiders. I mean, did you ask to be a little girl person before you were born? Oh no, I expect this is a serious existential question! But spiders have lives too and it's getting cold out there now. It will only be for a week or two then they will settle down to sleep or whatever they do in the Winter and they will keep away from you if they can because you are so much bigger than they are!

Think of them as homeless and cold and let them have just one little corner in the dark to keep warm. They do not not mean any harm and will eat any flies or little creepy things so will tidy the place up for you.

Tillybelle Tue 09-Oct-18 22:05:23

sassenach512 So much for the lady spider who eats the gentleman spider once he has performed his mating duty then! There was I thinking all my big hairy-legged friends were ladies!

Tillybelle Tue 09-Oct-18 22:12:48

But they are racing indoors to get away from the conkers falling off the trees outside!! Isn't it obvious? They think we have it sussed, that we have built a conker-preventive safe house.

Shizam Tue 09-Oct-18 22:36:56

I don’t mind spiders. Do use a cup and bit of paper to get rid of the larger ones though to garden as don’t fancy holding them. They do nip. I also seem to have them living in my car’s wing mirrors. Every morning loads of cobwebs from mirror to car. Guess it’s cosy in there. And may explain why twice glass in heated mirror has exploded. Cost me 70 quid each time. Can I sue the spiders?

Purplepoppies Tue 09-Oct-18 22:43:48

I watched an experiment on tv... several house spiders & a tank of conkers. They weren't bothered by them.........
I'm glad I don't have a back door and my front door is quite snug. I'm not keen on small 8 legged beasts! A tarantula (pet) on my hand, no worries at all!!! I know, I'm strange ?

MissAdventure Tue 09-Oct-18 22:45:47

I tried the paper and glass method years ago.
The (huge!) spider started jumping up and down, and then I couldn't get the back door open to get out, because my hands were full with the glass and paper.
Never again!

Legs55 Tue 09-Oct-18 23:19:36

Conkers come from Horse Chestnut trees, the ones you can eat are Sweet Chestnuts, they are from two different trees.

I'm not at all bothered by spiders, they keep my house fly free & have been known to catch wasps in their webs, win win situation

sassenach512 Tue 09-Oct-18 23:51:12

Tilly maybe she thinks he's just a dirty stop out and deserves all he gets grin
Shizam we had a spider we named Ronnie living in our car wing mirror too. He came with us on holiday all the way from Wales to Fort William in Scotland with our caravan. He would hide behind the mirror while we were driving and come out when we stopped overnight. In the morning he had spun another web over the mirror. He was still in there when we got home again, he must have enjoyed his holiday, he could have dropped off at any time. grin

Lewie Wed 10-Oct-18 07:30:26

Whereabouts are you blueskies? We have hundreds of conkers from our numerous horse-chestnut trees currently lying on the ground, and you would be most welcome to take as many as you like. We’re in West Yorkshire. We’ve just replenished all our little bowls of conkers all around the house. They work! ?

loopyloo Wed 10-Oct-18 08:25:01

7 schools in East London are closed because false widow spiders! Wonder how they react to conkers?

lemongrove Wed 10-Oct-18 16:55:57

Spiders don’t have calendars so don’t obey the ‘over by the first week in Oct rule’ grin
It’s all to do with weather conditions, so........expect more of them to come!

lemongrove Wed 10-Oct-18 16:57:09

I refuse to think of them as ‘homeless’ they are ejected or swatted in our house.