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Once the weather warms up it is common to find your house has become a spider habitat. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing because spiders are very useful in eating bugs. So unless the spiders that have taken up residence in your house are of the dangerous variety like the Brown Recluse or the Black Widow it may be wise to just live and let live. By trying to eliminate spiders from your house you may just be making it a more hospitable place for numerous other creepy crawlies.
That being said this is a tough situation for me personally because I am borderline arachnophobic after being bitten eight times by Black Widow spiders when I was a child. I won’t go into the heinous details but it was not a very pleasant experience. I am less then thrilled when I see spiders in the house so I am very sympathetic to those who do not want to share their house with eight legged friends. I like to leave the web spinners alone but I usually will try to get rid of hunter spiders, like the Brown Recluse. If you absolutely cannot live with them or they pose a danger to your small children here are a few natural ways to get rid of spiders.
1. Clean house! Spiders like cardboard and clutter, so clean up all cardboard and make sure closets and underneath beds are clean and without places to hide. And do not leave clothing, towels, and other debris on the floor where spiders can find refuge.
2. Clear out unwanted vegetation from around your house, including Ivy or other vines, which are a haven for them. Seal all cracks that may lead spiders indoors.
3. Keep trash bags and bins away from the house where spiders will lay in wait for bugs that are attracted to the garbage.
4. Cover pet food.
5. Use natural deterrents wherever you see spiders:
* Eucalyptus leaves
* Hedge Apples or pieces of Hedge Apples also called Osage orange
* Pennyroyal on a scrap of cloth
* Baking soda
Natural deterrents for other pests:
Ants: Bay leaves, cucumber peels sprinkled with salt, Cayenne pepper, chili pepper, dried peppermint, paprika, cinnamon, dried sage.
Flies: Whole or ground cloves in a small muslin teabag, flypaper made with honey.
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thanks for the spider info-I have been looking for a remedy for a long time-My mother has spider webs in her garage-even on the ceiling!!!!I can’t wait to tell her.
Question about Pennyroyal. Just looked it up as a single word. It looks very dangerous. Thought you might want to check it out further for this site. Thanks.
Good reading, this is a cheap and easy way to get bugs out of my house for good.
We bought a house that was so infested with spiders we couldn’t go to the bathroom without spiders crawling up the wall beside us, or put on makeup without spiders crawling up the walls. I learned a “new” way to remove spiders (actually an old way–old-timers have known this trick forever) – it’s a safe bug killer (if you must kill them) and works because it sticks to the “slick” legs of insects. It’s Borax (a/k/ 20 Mule Team…) and can be sprinkled in corners, doorways, etc. It’s safe for animals (dogs/cats) and people, but it will kill spiders, ants, crickets, flies, etc.
How can anyone say Borax is harmless for people. It is so dangerous. imagine a small child getting it on their skin. It causes severe alergic reactions and irreversible lung damage and chest problems.
Borax has many many useful uses. Check out earthclinic.com for way to use for health.
I was wondering where you could get a cheap bottle of eucalyptus and I was also wondering if you get a eucalyptus plant – will that work with the spiders.Thank you for the great tips on how to keep spiders away.
So glad I found you while searching how to naturally get rid of spiders! I have started using more and more natural ways in my home and love the benefits of going natural. Very nice and informative site.
Omigoodness!! I love this page. I had a major spider problem in my own bedroom, since I keep so many things in it. Even though I clean it everyonce or so, spiders are still on the walls of my bedroom This oage was very helpful! I cannot wait to try all these remedies!! Love this website by the way!
I just read up on Pennyroyal. Be very careful when using this product. It is said that it’s highly toxic and should not be used around pregnant women. I would assume, based on what I read, that is should not be used around anyone. Be Careful!
Iam new to site. Borax is not safe around pets or children…..June entry used on blog. Vet does not approve Borax near in pet home. KIAY
My daughters bedroom is in a refinished basement which is also near the laundry room. I would love to hear someones effectives ideas, my daughter is 13 and she is starting to get to the point that she doesn’t want to sleep in her room. Please I need some ideas and cheap ones, natural if they work. Do the ones about the Lemon Oil, Rubbing Alcohol, And how do you go about using the cedar chips and hedge apples? Someone HELP ME please!!!!!
How do you use baking soda to get rid of spiders? Also, how do you use eucalyptus oil? Do you dilute it with water or use it full strength? Is it expensive to use?
Borax also works well for centipedes – I’ve put it along baseboards and never saw one again. Thanks for the helpful tips about bugs in the house!
Betty, sprinkle baking soda around wherever you want to detract spiders. Eucalyptus oil is not very expensive and you can put a couple drops on cotton balls and disperse.
Thanks for the excellent tips! I have a sun room that the spiders love as much as I do. :=)
i have a spider and moth problem. Where would I sprinkle the baking soda?
I already have killed one yesterday and see another in corner of the ceil as we speak- I just sprinkled baking soda around the front door. What I would if they are on the ceiling?
I have went to tunr my daughter’s bed and have found spideres in her bed on 2 diff times this spring. What can i do to keep them out of her bed; will these things work for that. She gets scared and comes to get in my bed, but h ave been bittne 3 diff times on same arm and hand by spider that is small, light brown w/ black strip on it.. I have tremedous fear of a spider getting on me; which they have, but the fear is always there.
Thanks for the tips. I live in a small house and I hate spiders. There isn’t enough room for the both of us so one has to leave.
I have a daughter who is pregnant (4 months) and has a spider in her bed that bites her almost every night…her husband sleeps in the same bed & doesn’t. What can she use to get rid of this spider?
We were not making a big deal of the really small house spiders, but they started getting bigger. Harboring in the kids rooms, so we made them get all shoe boxes, old school papers, and anything else that showed a clutter. I was told to use cider blocks, or moth balls. That spiders hate the smell as well. Is that true?
I would appreciate any tips anyone can give me. We are in a house only a couple of years old. Six months after moving in we encountered a spider nest under the front door stop. We sealed all the cracks around the door as much as we could, but they still get under the door. We have used double sided sticky tape around the door which manages to catch some but not all. Eighteen months on and although we eradicated the original nest, the spider problem is relentless. Every time the front door is open one shoots out. We find about 3-4 at least every day, mainly in the hall, but sometimes even crawling up the shower screen! I have been round the front of the house with boiling water, but to no avail. My neighbour’s front door is about ten feet from mine, he’s had about one spider in six months! I have also tried one of the plug in sound and electric pulse spider deterrers, but two months on, and it has no effect whatsoever! Please help, they are driving me insane, but i don’t feel its bad enough to get an exterminator! Also it isn’t one particular variety of spider, about 4 different types we get in. The only plus side is i used to be terrified of big spiders, but see so many now that my fear has reduced dramatically!
Ok I live in Black Forest(Colorado Springs) CO and have a major spider problem pretty much every spider this state has. All my life I’ve lived outside city limits in the “country” up in Washington and have never had spiders like this. It seems like everytime I kill one 5 more show up. It scares me because we have black widows and other poisionous spiders out here and I have 2 small children that like to get into things I dont want them to get biten. Last year its wasnt this bad seems like every where I go in my house theres a spider errr. I cant stand them I dont care what kind they are I just cant stand them I would rather have mice running around eating things than spiders crawling around and not knowing where they are. I have cedar chips if I put that around the house would that keep them out or at least lower the number of them creeping around here???
There are spiders in our house and at first they did not annoy us, however over time they have started to go everywhere. You have spider droppings and cobwebs all over. I have reached my breaking point and really going to try some of these tips. Hopefully this gets rid of them.
Hi Guys, i wrote earlier about my house being overrun with spiders, well…. the good news is i appear to have found a solution, and have been spider free for 2 weeks! i know it is working because i get at least 3-5 big spiders every day normally.
Okay, so i knew they were coming in through the underneath of the front door, and various attempts at sealing the door prooved unsuccessful as they could still get in! Although i’m sure it helped with the cracks in the front door step. I would definitely recommend going around your front door and windows and sealing any cracks that they might be getting through.
Like i say, i knew they were getting in through the front door. I read they hate citrus, so i went to the store and brought an anti-bacterial spray, in citrus scent. I had also read spiders don’t like fumes. So I get home and wipe around my door with a lemon scented floor wipe. Then i vigorously spray the citrus anti-bacterial spray onto the wooden front door step, and all around the door frame.
Instant success! In the first couple of days i still got some, but only one or two. But for the past 10 days, spider free! I spray the doorstep every day now, and one squirt in each of the top corners of the door.
I’ve had the odd beetle and woodlouse come through, but no more spiders! My front door was covered in little red spiders before too, now they don’t cross the boundary, because you can still see them on the pavement running around.
I hope this brings success to other people! I know how horrible it is waiting for the next one to show, and i now feel confident they are gone.
Many Thanks for the great tip on my way ou the door to buy some Citrus Spray of some sort…..
Fingers Crossed
Many Thanks Jane
Great article, and a wonderful blog you have here! I will pass it along.
Im gonna have to try the citrus thing. Its hard to seal off a old trailer so I think using something around the doors and windows might work best. Thanks for that tip.
This is a great site! I found a spider in my bed tonight, I will be using every tip!
I tried it with ants & I closed the area where they were coming from with baking soda & It worked?? They did have wings. I have now ? If anyone has any info on ticks/Lyme Disease,I just moved to the country & the town paper doesn’t say much I do have a dog but I’m close to some woods.
Maria
I am growing to hate God’s creation, the spider. I know they do some good but yuck. I don’t think I’d rather have mice but I don’t like finding them under my bed pillows. I am glad to find this information….thank you for sharing everyone. I just moved back to Washington from Arizona & I used to brag that Washington has no bugs whatsoever. No so, this time back I have encountered spiders which really surprised me. I am living in a basement type apartment so that could be a big part of it but I am working on sealing cracks and things and I too will be trying the citrus thing. Thank you again and keep sharing…please.
Thanks so much! I have found 4 very large hobo spiders crawling across my floor in my room in the past week. I’ve done my research on them and am not sure how they are getting in my room being that i live on the second floor and Hobo’s cant climb up walls. I have extensively cleaned my room and set off a bug bomb. However i just found another one tonight. I wouldnt care if these were just regular house spiders but these are dangerous and i’ve already been bitten once. Im really hoping these ideas work.
Hi again…. Just writing to say ( I wrote about using a citrus spray), that two months on and I am completely spider free! I only spray every other day now too on the door step! Very happy – spiders no longer rule my life! Good luck everyone!
Hi Charlotte and thank you for sharing again. What is the name of the citrus spray that you use? Also, is your house pretty sealed up so that you are thinking the only way they are getting in is the front door? I think I’ll buy the spray you speak of and spray all around the baseboards. The other night I leaned over on the side of my bed and a spider with long legs was crawling up the bed skirt toward my head…oh my gosh…needless to say, I didn’t sleep all night. Not discounting God as the Creator but just need to redirect these little critters
Hi Regina, it is by ZoFlora, it’s an anti-bacterial spray, in citrus scent. It isn’t an aerosol, it is like a liquid spray pump. As long as it is in citrus flavour, and it is a spray it will work, as spiders hate fumes as they can’t breath, and i they hate the smell of citrus, which they taste with their legs. But yes, they only seem to come in through our front door. On our second level we have balcony doors that we open daily, yet only the odd one ever decides to climb through. I think maybe three in two years, so we only concentrate on our front door. I used to see them crawling in, and they were hard to miss, every time i opened the front door as well they dropped off the door, so i was lucky in the fact i knew which entrance they were using. It’s quite funny, my neighbour never had a problem with spiders, but when we spoke to him the other week (after we had not long been using our spray), he said he seemed to be getting a lot of spiders coming in his house, which he has never had before. I said I think they are now bypassing our door and going to his! He he! So he had to go out and buy some spray too!
I’ll tell you what works for me. Monthly, I spray a perimeter all around the outside of the house, being sure to get the doors and window sills, with Demand CS. It’s a long lasting pesticide that is considered quite safe around food and people. I only use it outside though. Inside, I use food-grade diatomaceous earth. It’s so safe, you can and some people do, eat it. I dust it into baseboards, behind cabinets, under furniture, above drop ceilings, etc. You only need to dust once the entire time you live in the house, in most places. You can also use it as a deodorizer in your carpets and sprinkle it on your pets to de-flea. Feed it to them to de-worm. I have had ZERO crawling insects in the house since I started doing this.
Hey tom what are the name of the things you used to get rid of spiders
Thank you everyone..We thought it would be a great idea to build a koi pond. It turned out beautifully. Unfortunately, we didn’t take into account that the 3 ton rock we used to build it would be a perfect spider habitat. Namely Black widows. Las Vegas is already known for these creatures, but now they are everywhere. The biggest problem is we have 3 dogs, one of which likes to chase any and all critters that move. Due to the 5 koi fish in the pond we are very limited as to products we can use. Any thing harmless to them is out of the question…Any suggestions please help. I’ve been reading a lot about vinegar and lavender oil mixed together….Appreciate any suggestions
A few people mentioned cedar chips and lavender oil. I have large brown and black spiders in my garden and around my house. I’m absolutely terrified of spiders and have a young son, so I wanted to do everything I could to get rid of them. I bought lavender and planted them every couple of feet around my house and in my garden. Then I spread a thick layer of 100% untreated cedar wood chips through my garden and around my house. I still have just as many spiders as I did before. Neither helped a bit. I’m going to try the citrus spray that others have talked about. I hope that works!
Hi, Thanks for the Info. I need to try something,I bought a 8 in 1 climber for my Granddaughter an I can not believe all the SPIDERS. I kill tons of them every Day.I took it apart and cleaned it with Bleach spray then hosed with water, let it dry before I put it back together.AND they are back.She is only 15 mo. and crawles around so I can not use any pesticides…I will try backing soda, What else can I use outside that won`t hurt the baby??? Please help.
ALSO any natural way to get rid of Pantry Moths??
THANKS
It is very difficult to get ride of spiders, they can lay 200- 600 eggs per sack… maybe more. I am constantly finding black widows around my house. I read that a natural way to keep spider population down is to raise Praying Mantis they are Natural Enemies to Black Widows. You can buy them online through mail order. BUT be careful or they can become a pest probblem as well. Do not release them in doors, use them preferably in gardens and bushy areas.
um seriously the article said CLEAN YOUR HOUSE.. how is that new?
people should always clean there houses its kind of the way the world turns thats extra gross if u don’t.
I have big spiders around my yard, house, garage and in my basement. Some are as big as a half dollar (body and legs) I guess they are wolf spiders??? I am absolutely terrified of spiders…i often scream that there is a tarantula! I have them under and on my front porch this time of year. Any suggestions? I clean inside often and mow the lawn often…i will try baking soda. I would like to try moth balls but we have a pitbull and i am afraid she will get into them. I often find dead spiders too in dusty basement corners…do they kill each other? UGH! I will let you know how it works for me
I recently moved into a house that was affected by the floods of Georgia. Unbeknownst to me I have a spider issue..It seems they like my stone tile floors because they are cool. But I also had a lot of cardboards boxes stored because of the recent move.
Well I removed the boxes and my house is immaculate but I still see the spiders on the tile near the fireplace or on the kitchen tile. I have an industrial spray but all they do is roll and play dead and when I come back to get it they are dead, So I am going to get the citrus spray today!!! Hopefully I can get rid of these. I dont have any small children but I have a teen and he says he’s seen them as well. Wish me luck!
Plz someone help me. I have house spiders everywhere!!!!! They are taking over my ceilings, doorways basically every part of my home. They have even taken over my shower area wich is very disturbing. I need some answers fast or I feel like I’m going to have a break down. Half of the time I dont even want to be in my home. I’ve read a few comments andwould like to try some remedies out just not sure how to go about it all. Any safe,cheap and effective ways please help. Thank You!
[...] I converted to a system that kept clothes OFF the floor, LOL. For more tips check out my article on how to get rid of spiders naturally. It mostly talks about spiders but also some [...]