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October 2015 Moms
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Spider problems

intheversaintheversa member
in October 2015 Moms
I'm at my wits end here. We bought this house two years ago and found out shortly after that it had a brown recluse problem. After doing some research we found out that several of our neighbors had them too because the jerk that built our houses didn't seal things properly so there were tons of cracks leading to the outside. And we live in a wooded area. The original owners did not disclose anything about it. We found some of the cracks during the inspection and had them fixed. Months later we started seeing the spiders and had our exterminator confirm what we were seeing. For the past two years we've eliminated all cardboard and moved everything into containers, gotten rid of as much clutter as possible, sealed our entire attic of any possible cracks, sealed the sides of our fireplace, and replaced all the insulation in our attics and unfinished storage room. I don't even want to think about how much money we've invested just to fix the areas that they're getting in through. We have someone come and spray once a quarter, but I'm calling him Monday to have him come again. 

I don't know how they're still getting in. I found one in the nursery today and another in my dog's water bowl. I think they're crawling through the air ducts. I have glue traps everywhere. The one's we're finding are babies which is good and bad. I think we've eliminated all the adults but there was a nest somewhere in our house and now we have babies.  We've talked about bombing. There's no guarantee that it will work and it will be a lot of sterilizing after if we do. I think we're going to have to though. I had planned on having our air ducts cleaned before the baby arrived because I don't think they've ever been cleaned. I guess I can ask my exterminator if that could also help.

DH is so calm about it and just keeps trying to find any other places that they could be getting in. I'm freaking out because we're due in 9 weeks. I know they go into hiding in October, but I really want to eliminate all of them before then if I can. I guess I'll see what my exterminator suggests and try that. Anyone else have this problem? 
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Re: Spider problems

  • christina4436christina4436 member
    Ugh that sounds awful. I hate spiders. We tend to get a lot of smaller ones. Unfortunately if you were ever told your house will be completely sealed up that is just not possible. Have you ever heard that all the cracks in a house can add up to size of a doorway? Not to freak you out more but this is common and you will never be completely sealed. Like you said air ducts, dryer vents, windows, doors. Quarterly spraying should work. If it doesn't I would try someone or something else. We spray ourselves about twice a year with stuff from lowes. It's an orange can with a spider on it. I forget name. You have to be out of the house for the day and it's probably pretty toxic but we just do around doors and basement. It really works because then after we will see dead spiders where we sprayed. Like when they touch it they will die. Maybe try that too. Good luck!
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  • Sweet Sadie MaeSweet Sadie Mae member
    edited August 2015
    I would bomb the shit out of those nasty things. My husband was telling me about them. They are nasty dangerous. You and your baby do not want to get bit. It's worth it to bomb and have to take extra steps to sterilize. I'm so sorry you guys are stuck with this mess. I would cry. I hate spiders!
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  • bgriestbgriest member
    We have this same problem! We live in a basement apartment in a house that's over 100 years old! We don't have brown recluse (that I've seen) but we seem to have every other Damn species of spider and centipedes. The number of spiders that we sucked up in the vacuum or killed before we moved in a year ago (I did a heavy cleaning) and since then is ridiculous.

    The people we rent from have the house sprayed every spring which seems to help but no matter what we are always finding the bastards.

    The nursery closet is their biggest hiding spot which is why we are not using it for clothes for the baby. We got a clothes rack that hangs on the wall so all his clothes will be out in the open. I'd rather that than the spider closet.

    I am going to spray the closet with peppermint oil and water but it doesn't kill them....it'll just make them all come out. Ughh.

    If I were you in would have the foundation sprayed again AND bomb the place. Maybe even use the peppermint oil/water combo on the air ducts. The heavy cleaning will suck but brown recluse spiders are, as I'm sure you know, nasty little buggers! Definitely don't want you or the baby to get bit by one!
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  • SteinblSteinbl member
    What's the name of the natural spray? We get so many spiders in our house when the seasons change...like this fall when the baby is due! We also get centipedes and I cannot handle those at all!
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  • christina4436christina4436 member
    Ugh don't even get me started with those tan nasty centipedes. Beginning of season I see small ones then by summer they are huge, fast and GROSS!
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  • SrhbgrSrhbgr member
    Plant mint all around the foundation of your house. It's invasive so it will totally sustain itself but spiders hate it so hopefully it will keep the neighbors spiders from joining you once you fix your spider problem.
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  • intheversaintheversa member
    Thanks ladies. @christina4436 it's called Terro spray and it's the only bug spray that kills them. I've done so much research on these things. Terror must be sprayed directly on them to kill them. If you spray the house they must either be hit with it or eat something that has been hit with it in 24 hours or it doesn't work. I'll try everyone's suggestions but from what I've learned, it's Terro, glue traps, and regularly fogging which my exterminator does.

    The good news is we've only found them in the family room and storage room and since we did our last treatment we've seen about 8 in 2 months. Compared to daily that's pretty good. But if they're in the air ducts we may have to bomb. We were told if we brown recluse bomb there's no chemicals involved, instead they suck all the oxygen out of the house for 6 hours killing everything in it. It's the only way to kill these things. I'm still sterilizing after, but this may be our only option. :(
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  • intheversaintheversa member
    I should add the two I found last night were right outside the vents.
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  • juliemayejuliemaye member
    I dont know how you still live there OMG Im so afraid of spiders...phobic even.
    I literally keep the vacuum out and available to catch all the wolf spiders we get in our basement suite...still doesnt feel enough. Luckily wolf spiders are scaredy cats and run and hide the minute youre around so less chances of bites
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  • intheversaintheversa member
    @juliemaye well the good news is unlike wolf spiders these guys hide and run away. Wolf spiders are scarier in my opinion but we don't have those. Or centipedes so I'm counting my blessings. We talked about moving but legally we'd have to disclose the spiders. I think the previous owners didn't know because they flipped it and sold it in 3 months. The owners before they were in their eighties so who knows. If we had known though we wouldn't have bought it.
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  • weaselwhiskersweaselwhiskers member
    We have seen a few brown recluse spiders in our house before, which completely freaked me out. We now have an exterminator come to our house monthly to spray inside AND outside, which seems to have taken care of it. The spray kills off all of the other bugs around (it doesn't kill the spiders outright), then the spiders either die from eating poisoned bugs or they go elsewhere because there is nothing to eat. I also have sticky traps around the house just in case, but haven't had anything show up in them. Good luck getting rid of them!!!

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  • intheversaintheversa member
    @weaselwhiskers Yeah that's how we're killing them too. I'm about to change the trap in the family room since we think we've sealed off where they're getting in. I'm going to watch it and see if we have any more. I'm hoping we're down to the just the few in the vents. I'm really hoping that spraying and traps puts an end to it. Plus like you said, we don't have other bugs in the house anymore so there's no food for them. Hopefully they'll start looking elsewhere. 
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  • komorebikomorebi member
    I'm so sad for you. I'm not too incredibly phobic but venomous spiders scare me. I hope you find a solution that works.

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