Spiders

[ss600r]

Any good tips on keeping spiders and other bugs out of my garage workshop? I have been using some home defense spray but still see some every few days. I hate to sound like a wimp but I really hate spiders. I have been bitten a couple times and have flu like reactions so I'd really like to keep them out.

 

[kirkpj01]

I would be interested in this as well. Seems like I have to de-web the shop every few weeks.

 

[Trent Mason]

I'm sorry to hear about that. I'm not a big fan of spiders either. :wconfused: Have you tried one of those "bug bombs"? That will usually kill everything in the vicinity, but STAY OUT of there while it is going off. Trust me, I know. :swoon: As for keeping them out, I'd be interested to hear other replies. :eusa_thin

 

[CaptnA]

I also am not a great spider fan. I don't get the willies, I just don't like them so much. I have seen both brown recluse and black widow here so I'm not just paranoid.
The bug man at work and I talked and his word was basically that to kill a spider you have to contact the spider with the spray (or foot).
Bug bombs, I don't really want to use in my shop - check the ingredients and see if you want that on your machines, tools, wood, etc. ??? How about your house? Kitchen? Kids rooms?
Spiders don't clean their legs like most "bugs", so even if they walk through the residue it doesn't kill them. He set me up with a supply of the glue traps. I put new ones down about every week- ten days or so. BUT - THERE AIN'T NO FREE LUNCHES!!
With the decline in spiders the other bugs seem to multiply even faster. The spiders do little real harm. Not so some of the others.... ARGH!!!
I'd love to see some good replies on this one.

 

[thrt15nc]

I use Ortho Home Defense.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_3273-446-01...l__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=ortho home defense

You can buy it almost anywhere. I'm surprised at how well it keeps the bugs down. I regularly spray it on the exterior where the garage doors meet the floor and at the entry way door also. Then every 2 or 3 weeks around the edges inside where the walls meet the floors. I also use it on our porch outside the front door. You can adjust it for spray or stream. My general feeling is that most bug sprays (and weed killers) are hype. But I'm impressed with this stuff.


I'm not affiliated with the product, etc. etc.

Tom Swortzel

 

[gator]

Having lived many places in the US and several places overseas, I have come to believe that NC is one of the most prolific places to have spiders. I have a monthly pest spray service and he has used many things but the most effective thing he uses is a dust head on a long pole and he knocks down webs each month. I don't think there is anything that will get rid of spiders in NC.

George

 

[DIYGUY]

The absolute best and most environment-friendly method is a broom. Spiders spend a lot of energy and effort making webs. When they get destroyed often enough they get the message and look for better places. Of course, every generation has to learn for itself that you don't want them around ...

 

[SteveHall]

I just fogged my shop/garage with one of the Hot Shot room foggers ($9) after spotting a <i>black widow</i> in my shop. I got the blue packing one, which doesn't require pilot lights and A/C units to be turned off. (It concerns me a bit to be flooding a portion of my house with a flammable gas. I started imagining all the items that might spark... phone, CO or smoke detector, garage door opener, light bulb, etc.)

It worked great, I found all kinds of dead bugs and spiders afterwards. Just make sure to measure your shop's volume against the package recommendation, mine said each bomb was good up to 2,000 cubic feet. Mine is just over 4,000, so I used two at once.

 

[tjgreen]

You might try a swath of Sevin dust in front of the door, I used it a few years back when the millipedes were especially bad and it did a number on them.

Too bad on the adverse reaction - as someone once said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Spiders earn their keep by eating so many other bugs that would otherwise bother me. I have the same arrangement with the snakes in my crawlspace regarding mice and voles.

 

[erasmussen]

I just suck them up with the vacuum cleaner, wasps also:rotflm:

 

[TracyP]

Personally I would rather have ten snakes on me than one spider:wconfused::wconfused:. I hate spiders with a passion and I have a good reason to. A coworker almost died from a brown recluse bite a few years ago. He never saw the spider that bit him....

 

[SteveCogs]

I had one of those little lizards living in my garage last summer He did not make it through the winter or just decided that he did not like the indoor life. I've been overrun this year by spiders and am going to try and catch a couple of them little green guys to put back in there.

 

[jmauldin]

I bought two of those electonic devices you plug into an outlet and are supposed to emit signals that make spiders, etc. leave. Well, I placed two in my shop, at each end. Would you believe that the spiders built webs over and around the devices! I must say, however, that I have not been bothered by sharks or bears. Maybe they work on those critters.
Jim in Mayberry

 

[nblong]

+1 for Tom and the Ortho Home Defense. I've used their large size with the spray applicator for a couple of years with excellent results:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_11983-446-0195310_0_?productId=3009865&Ntt=home%20defense&Ntk=i_products&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=home%20defense$y=0$x=0

The applicator is manually pressurized and the pray can reach high on walls. As far as I can tell it dries without any residue and hasn't harmed anything but the bugs.

 

[sushinutnc]

Here are some ideas:
Natural methods to get rid of spiders

How to Get Rid of Spiders

Noticed both mention Hedge Apples. Never even heard of them. Interesting.

 

[terry1166]

Another vote for Ortho Home Defense. I buy it and transfer the contents to a small pump up sprayer (sprays better than the original packaging). I spray across the garage door thresholds and around the garage perimeter on the floor and up to about 4" on the walls. It's true that spiders are not as affected by it as other insects, but if there are not other insects around, the spiders will leave. It's worked great for me so far. Before I used the Ortho, I was always sweeping out webs and sucking up spiders with the shop vac. I hardly ever see a spider or anything else any more.

Terry

 

[sushinutnc]

BTW, just some other food for thought:

I understand the brown recluse is often misidentified, and they are "not very common" in NC. "Although brown recluse spiders can be found in North Carolina, they are simply not very common. There are several spiders that closely resemble the brown recluse." (NCSU Coop article on it)

Other info:
Western NC Nature Center
Identifying and Misidentifying the Brown Recluse Spider

A couple years ago, I found a spider in one of our bathrooms that looked a lot like what I thought a recluse might look like (having never seen one in nature, but being aware of the dark fiddle marking on it). This thing was pretty small, but I could tell it had a dark shape on it... just not certain.

I caught it, preserved it, and looked at it under a microscope and determined it wasn't a recluse. It was VERY similar, but didn't have the distinct eye pattern. It wasn't even the fiddle pattern that I used to ID it-- the spot on the back was similar. So, I'm a trained biologist... years of laboratory work and research... if I wasn't sure on first sight, I'm sure MANY people easily misidentify this spider, especially if they've never seen one before. By contrast, I can't count how many times I've witnessed people misidentifying black widows, and they are EASY to identify. (my 2 cents... or 3 or 4 on the brown recluse). :wink_smil

 

[ss600r]

I bought two of those electonic devices you plug into an outlet and are supposed to emit signals that make spiders, etc. leave. Well, I placed two in my shop, at each end. Would you believe that the spiders built webs over and around the devices! I must say, however, that I have not been bothered by sharks or bears. Maybe they work on those critters.
Jim in Mayberry

:rotflm:

I forgot to mention I squished what I think was a wolf spider the other day. As soon as I did, it looked like 20 baby spiders went running in all directions. That freaked me out a bit. I did use bombs afterwards I just want to keep them out as much as possible. I picked up some ortho home defense so we will see how it goes.

 

[zapdafish]

I see spiders as a first line of defense for keeping the other bugs outa my house so I kinda like em. So far I havent come across any poisonous ones, I'm sure my tune will change if I see one. The first year I moved into my house, it was a new build and spiders webs were everywhere. Over the past 4-5 years, I haven't seen that many anymore, the occasional strand I walk through and a few webs setup in corners that get highlighted in sawdust. I think the sawdust is messing with their webs, so I guess that would be my prevention technique, hehe.

 

[Glennbear]

I have a strong aversion to spiders mainly because I have found more than a few black widows around. Once a month I set off a bug bomb in my detached shop and that seems to keep the bug population down. I do not spray around the outside of the shop since I have a good supply of toads and lizards around. Several toads set up a nightly picnic underneath the outside light which is above the apron to my overhead door. :wsmile: