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I am deathly afraid of spiders. I have been my whole life. I know a lot of people hate spiders, but I am literally petrified of the things.
So I am at my wit's end with the spiders I keep finding here in my house. They are persistent. And HUGE. And it's only a matter of time before I find one on myself and I think I will pass out from hysteria if I do.
I called an extermination company that told me there's nothing that can be done. There's nothing that can be sprayed to keep them away.
Are they lying to me?
Please tell me they're lying to me!

Sorry Kristi! Spiders are a kill them when you see them kind of bug. The home sprays you can buy at Home Depot and Lowes can deter them some, but they can also be dangerous (supposedly only while wet) to wandering little fingers and mouths.

I have spiders in my apartments from time to time, and I have to advise the tenant just to buy some spray b/c pest control can't keep them away. Hate to burst your hopes! They are just as bad as sugar ants, which is what I have trouble with at my house.

FYI...hairspray will kill spiders and ants and any bug really (I have only tried it on ants and spiders). The stickier the hairspray the faster it will work. It is kind of a slow death vs. the bug spray (which is kind of cruel), but I would rather spray hairspray on my carpet than bug spray which has harmful chemicals in it that could harm my son.

Also, generally, in my experience, the larger spiders are the least harmful. Except for the Brown recluse and Black Widow (they can be an inch or bigger full grown), which I hope you know what they look like. The last house we lived in was full of Brown Recluse spiders. Before Ronald was born we killed 12 inside in one day. I was a little freaked out. Not b/c I am afraid of spiders, but that there were that many living in my house, and those were only the spiders I was able to find. Needless to say I was happy to move away, and we had to be super careful packing so we didn't bring any with us.

They also sell glue traps for spiders at Wally World and Home Depot and such. You put them along the wall behind the couch and other furniture where little hands can't reach. We did that in our previous house and it really seemed to help cut down on their numbers.

Sorry for the novel, just wanted to tell you everything I could to help.

And don't spiders kill roaches & stuff, too, RM?
I've never liked spiders much, but I am TERRIFIED of roaches, so I've never freaked too much when I've seen a spider.
And I don't think you should worry too much about having one jump on you, Kristi. They mostly mind their own business, in my experience!

I am pretty sure spiders will kill anything that gets in their web (roaches, ants, etc...). I generally don't bother them unless they are dangerous or in a bad spot (like in the living room in the corners of the ceiling or somewhere visible like that).

If the big spiders you have seen are gray in color and 1-2 inches around they are probably wolf spiders (really common around here) and they are very good to have around if you can tolerate them. Good Luck! Let us know how it goes?

OMG, you guys. I really can't deal with all these spiders.
This morning I killed a RED one.
Anyone know if that's a dangerous one?
This is like my worst nightmare over here. I have to figure out something to do.

I just can't believe that there is nothing they can do!!

We have our house sprayed quarterly for pests, and I see spiders from time to time - but they are already dead - which I attributed to being sprayed. But I don't know.

I have a rule - no legs, or more than four legs are not good with me. I would be freaking out!!

OK. I think I was lied to. I was at a birthday party yesterday in my neighborhood and one of the moms said a company sprayed her house and she hasn't seen spiders since.
I'm calling her company tomorrow!
Jack actually tried to touch a baby tarantula yesterday. He was saying "bug" "bug" "bug."
My MIL is visiting and squashed it for me since I was about ready to faint from the sight of it. *shudder*
OK, so maybe it wasn't a tarantula....

The exterminator came today!
We have been officially sprayed and there are traps around my house.
Buh-bye spiders! Now I just have to keep Jack away from the traps.