Getting rid of spiders.

[Charles Thomas]

Does anyone have a good solution to help eliminate some of the "shop spiders" ? I am getting tired of having to unclump sawdust that is held together with spider webs. As an insect, they don't bother me but I am sure tired of the mess. Thanks.

[Mike Cruz]

Are you kidding? They are nature's dust collectors! :D

I would imagine that spraying inside and out would be the only real solution.

[John Pratt]

Pest control guy told me that a thorough cleaning of the cobwebs is the best solution. Inside the cabinets, ceilings, corners, and outside eaves. He told me that if you git rid of the webs, most spiders die fairly quickly from starvation. I don't know how much truth there was to it, it seems to work pretty good at our house. The pest control company even has a service where they come to the house once a month to clear cobwebs so they don't have to spray (I dont have the service, I can handle that myself). If they spray it is twice the cost.

[paul cottingham]

Indoor cats. They are natural hunters and hunt whatever they can. I have not seen a spider in 15 years.

[Bryan Rocker]

As with any pest you gotta get rid of the food source.....I don't worry about the small ones...its the big ones that I bump into once in a great while that will give me a start. AS to spraying, I don't have a lot of confidence in that. What have I have had work well is sticky traps. The ones used to catch mice. I used them in Oklahoma and it caught lots of them. Place them in places your pets can get to and check it so often. Keep in mind the trap only traps them, doesn't kill them. If you are lucky enough to catch a brown recluse or other poisnous spiders, becareful, they may still be alive.......

[John Hart]

I live in the country and have had a real spider problem. When we first moved in, the place was infested. I found that Spectracide's Triazicide is the best.
It is designed to continue killing for 90 days, but I double up the mixture and it kills for a year. We no longer have a bug problem of any kind.

This bottle costs $9 at Home Depot and makes about 50 gallons. You just spray in all the corners, under counters.....everywhere. It is toxic to pets while wet, so keep them clear until it dries. My dog hates the smell...so she runs off. No problem.
152419

[Zach England]

shop cat...mine sleeps on the router table sometimes

[Gary Click]

When we first moved to Birmingham I was cleaning out the basement, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and did a double take because it looked like a scorpion about 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" long. I chalked this up to moving battle fatigue but started to dig the little sucker out to see what it was. Sure enough it was a little scorpion, curved tail and all. Several day later we found another and I called an exterminator. He came out and told me that there was no treatment that he had to kill the scorpions that didn't kill us.

He did tell use however that since we had scorpions, he knew that we didn't have spiders or mice. He explained that the scorpions hunted and fed on the spiders. We looked and sure enough spiders were very rare. He went on to explain the the presence of scorpions indicated that we didn't have mice since the mice would hunt and feed on the scorpions and if we wanted to get mice to control the scorpions he could do something about the mice.

The solution to your problem is then simple.

First, introduce scorpions into your shop to get rid of the spiders. When the spiders are under control, bring in mice to get rid of the scorpions. Next bring in a cat to get rid of the mice. According to the exterminator the mice are easy to control.

This is the same logic that I grew up with in East Tennessee for the treatment of cuts and makes perfect sense.

For a serious cut, first salt was poured on the wound to stop the bleeding. If this didn't work, then the solution was to burn the wound until the bleeding stopped since anybody can then cure a burn. Ranked right up there with wrapping the wound in a rag soaked in turpentine so it wouldn't "fester".

I think they call this the circle of life or something like that.

gary

[Leigh Betsch]

Hedgeballs. The wife buys them at the grocery store (no Osage orange trees around here), she puts them in the corners of rooms, the bugs go into them and don't come out. They actually do work. But then we don't have the big spiders that you get further south.

[Van Huskey]

I found that Spectracide's Triazicide is the best.



+1 I use it and have had great luck. We get spiders on the porches, tons of them. My neighbor buys some REALLY expensive "spider killer" and he has given me some in the past it does work great but the last couple of times I needed some he wasn't around so I picked up some of this and it works just as well.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

When I was a kid a rep from one of the pest control companies went under the house to give a free check for termites. When he came back out he told mom that we would never have termites due to the big spider population under the house. That happened about 50 years ago and there have been no termite issues.

[Bryan Morgan]

You can introduce some of these guys into your house:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata

Creepy looking but they stay out of sight and eat all your bugs

[Anthony Whitesell]

Pest control guy told me that a thorough cleaning of the cobwebs is the best solution. Inside the cabinets, ceilings, corners, and outside eaves. He told me that if you git rid of the webs, most spiders die fairly quickly from starvation. I don't know how much truth there was to it, it seems to work pretty good at our house. The pest control company even has a service where they come to the house once a month to clear cobwebs so they don't have to spray (I dont have the service, I can handle that myself). If they spray it is twice the cost.

I received the same advice. It works fairly well. I can tell when I get behind as he little critters seems to breed exponentially. I have found both the shopvac with the 2 1/2 nozzle and DC with the 4 nozzle are quite effective at sucking the cobwebs (more so that a brrom or rag).