PrincessMommy Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 our new house has a lot of spiders, especially in the basement, but I've found them in the main floor too. I'd like to know how to effectively keep them out of the house. The old house used to have a yearly infestation of mice - those I know how to deal with, but I'm clueless about spiders. :confused::confused: help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwickimom Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 We dont mess with spiders...we have professionals come and spray quarterly. I live in southern IL and we have brown recluses's though :D The only things we do is keep the house as clean as possible and vacuum regularly. Most spiders are drawn to dark spaces that aren't used a lot so I make sure to shop vac the basement even though its not finished. Glue traps help you see what spiders you have. Our professionals put those down and came back a few weeks later to see exactly what we had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love2read Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 (edited) We have this problem too. This advice probably won't work if your basement is living space, but we were told by "the bug man" to vacuum all spider webs and visible spider things in the basement and then spray along the edges of the basement ceiling where the spiders come in. Do this first with spider spray. Wear a mask, gloves and goggles. Any spiders who are still in the basement will die when they walk over it. Cut the weeds alongside the house and then spray along the edge of the house or have it done professionally. Do this in the spring and fall when the weather first warms up or starts to get chilly as that's when they are looking for new homes. Most importantly, sprinkle Sevin (diatomaceous earth) along the foundation of your home. I do this about a week after we've sprayed outside and will even sprinkle some around the radiator pipes where I know them come up (we don't have little children or pets and the Sevin is close to the wall and not really visible anyway.) It cuts up their legs when they walk over it. Sevin is a brand name and you can find it in Walmart, Lowes, etc usually in the garden section this time of year, but also with the bug spray. It's a powder and different from the diatomaceous earth people use in pool filters. If you do it consistently, you will only get a few spiders in your home. Our home is old with lots of cracks (obviously seal them whenever you see one) and it's very damp so many people have bug problems. It's a lot of work, but worth it. Best wishes for a spider free future. We had them for 5 years before getting this advice and have successfully eliminated most of them for the past 15 years. I HATE them and do wonder what will happen when we're too old to put in the time to battle with them. Edited May 16, 2012 by love2read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 We have this problem too. This advice probably won't work if your basement is living space, but we were told by "the bug man" to vacuum all spider webs and visible spider things in the basement and then spray along the edges of the basement ceiling where the spiders come in. Do this first with spider spray. Wear a mask, gloves and goggles. Any spiders who are still in the basement will die when they walk over it. Cut the weeds alongside the house and then spray along the edge of the house or have it done professionally. Do this in the spring and fall when the weather first warms up or starts to get chilly as that's when they are looking for new homes. Most importantly, sprinkle Sevin (diatomaceous earth) along the foundation of your home. I do this about a week after we've sprayed outside and will even sprinkle some around the radiator pipes where I know them come up (we don't have little children or pets and the Sevin is close to the wall and not really visible anyway.) It cuts up their legs when they walk over it. Sevin is a brand name and you can find it in Walmart, Lowes, etc usually in the garden section this time of year, but also with the bug spray. It's a powder and different from the diatomaceous earth people use in pool filters. If you do it consistently, you will only get a few spiders in your home. Our home is old with lots of cracks (obviously seal them whenever you see one) and it's very damp so many people have bug problems. It's a lot of work, but worth it. Best wishes for a spider free future. We had them for 5 years before getting this advice and have successfully eliminated most of them for the past 15 years. I HATE them and do wonder what will happen when we're too old to put in the time to battle with them. I'm so glad you said this or I may have been tempted to go by our pool store (old house had a pool) and bought it there. Anyway, I really appreciate yours and Kwickimom's advice. Our basement is finished but it is on the dark side of the house...but being the basement the main area doesn't get vacuumed as often as it should (dd has a bedroom down there that she keeps clean). Now that it's May, I wonder if its too late to do the spring spray. I guess it can't hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudboots Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 (edited) The people who sprayed our house shortly after we moved used diatomaceous earth. It's perfectly safe for humans, which is important for our house full of little ones. They blew it into the walls (which did leave a few tiny holes in the walls) and into the space between the main floor and basement. They sprayed pyrethrins (also relatively safe) all around the outside of the house and along the baseboards. We got several spiders in our spider traps in the first few days after that, but then we didn't see any more living bugs for several months. It has been almost a year, and we're starting to see a few spiders. Hopefully the follow-up treatment won't be as involved! (ETA - After reading a previous post, maybe I'll try re-treating the house ourselves with Sevin.) Edited May 16, 2012 by mudboots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 We live in the boonies and want to avoid spiders and scorpions in our house! We have a pest control company come out monthly. They use a product that is a neurotoxin of sorts for them... with regular pesticides the spiders/scorpions have to eat something that has contact with the insecticide... with this stuff all they have to do is to cross a boundary and they die. It is safe for people (and babies). If a frog or bird were to eat something with this stuff on it (or a dead bug) they would be just fine... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love2read Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Yes, go ahead and do the treatments now, it's not too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
applethyme Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 I am also in the group that hires someone quarterly. We have black widow spiders that I don't want the children to mess with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 Yes, go ahead and do the treatments now, it's not too late. Thanks. I'm going to start working on it tomorrow. If I have no luck in a year I might call up the pros. And, thanks everyone for the tips and advice. Boy! I'm glad I don't live in scorpion or black-widow territory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillfarm Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 The active ingredient in Sevin dust is carbaryl, a synthetic pesticide. Actual diatomaceous earth (aka DE) does not have any added pesticides. It is made from fossilized diatoms, a type of hard shelled algae. The problem with DE from pool supply stores is that the product there is not tested for use in other applications and may have impurities added that could be harmful to people or animals. IMO, the best place to buy DE for use around people and animals is to get food grade DE at the feed store. You can usually find it in 25 and 50 lb bags. We put ours in one of the cheapie mustard bottles with the pointy spout that you can buy at the Dollar Store, two for a dollar. We use that to "puff" the DE into cracks and crevices. We also sprinkle it on our pets' food if they show signs of internal parasites, and it seems to work quite well. I have heard of humans using it for a similar purpose, but I have never tried it for that! It is gritty and I imagine it would surely scour your fillings if you took it internally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love2read Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 We put ours in one of the cheapie mustard bottles with the pointy spout that you can buy at the Dollar Store, two for a dollar. We use that to "puff" the DE into cracks and crevices. That's a great idea!!! I've been doing it with a spoon and it takes forever. Thanks so much for sharing that tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 :bigear: We seem to be having a few more spiders than normal this year. I think it's because we had almost no winter at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 :bigear: I'm reading this thread and planning a shopping trip to the farm store. I hope they'll have the food grade DE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 We live in the woods and always have spiders, although harmless ones. This year with the mild winter and wet Spring we are getting all kinds of other things too - some freaky ants with wings, bees, regular ants. We're going to set off bug bombs when we go camping Memorial Day weekend so we can take the dog with us. We used to do this twice a year - spring and fall - and it always worked well to get rid of critters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 My teen dd would say "scream like a little girl until Mom comes running and make HER deal with it!" but that doesn't help you much :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 We live in the woods and always have spiders, although harmless ones. This year with the mild winter and wet Spring we are getting all kinds of other things too - some freaky ants with wings, bees, regular ants. We're going to set off bug bombs when we go camping Memorial Day weekend so we can take the dog with us. We used to do this twice a year - spring and fall - and it always worked well to get rid of critters. Make sure the freaky ants with wings aren't termites! Catch one and compare it to a photo on the internets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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