I know they do no harm, and are almost mans' best friend but I hate them.
And in this house where we have lived for 2 years, they are enormous and
scare the compost out of me. Is there anything available to persuade them to
go away, or at least not to appear in the bathroom etc? I was thinking
something on the lines of those sonic cat scarers etc.

BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

TIA

ZD

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 19:50:53 +0100, "Zipadee Doodar"
wrote:

BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

I know JUST how you feel but I fear we just have to live and let live.
I like your phrase "scare the compost out of me"! Very expressive.
PS I have not seen one yet this year............................

Pam in Bristol

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 19:50:53 +0100, "Zipadee Doodar"
wrote:

BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

I know JUST how you feel but I fear we just have to live and let live.
I like your phrase "scare the compost out of me"! Very expressive.
PS I have not seen one yet this year............................

We have had several spiders in the house this week I rather like the wee
fellows

Ophelia

BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

I know JUST how you feel but I fear we just have to live and let live.
I like your phrase "scare the compost out of me"! Very expressive.
PS I have not seen one yet this year............................

We have had several spiders in the house this week I rather like the wee
fellows

Ophelia

We have loads of them, the ones with tiny bodies and long thin legs,
they are no trouble except for the cobwebs. They are a sign of a dry
house are they not?
If you want to live and thrive let the spider run alive :-)old saying.
kate

"Kate Morgan" wrote in message

We have loads of them, the ones with tiny bodies and long thin legs,
they are no trouble except for the cobwebs. They are a sign of a dry
house are they not?
If you want to live and thrive let the spider run alive :-)old saying.
kate

Yes indeed)

I remember once I was sitting on the side of my bed chatting on the phone to
a friend. As I sat there I saw a spider run up the bed towards me and
disappear over the other side.

I mentioned this to my friend and SHE screamed!

Ophelia

in article , Kate Morgan at
wrote on 17/10/03 9:36 pm:


BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

I know JUST how you feel but I fear we just have to live and let live.
I like your phrase "scare the compost out of me"! Very expressive.
PS I have not seen one yet this year............................

We have had several spiders in the house this week I rather like the wee
fellows

Ophelia

We have loads of them, the ones with tiny bodies and long thin legs,
they are no trouble except for the cobwebs. They are a sign of a dry
house are they not?
If you want to live and thrive let the spider run alive :-)old saying.
kate

We have lots of those little 'thready' ones but real house spiders are the
big jackboot variety, as far as I'm concerned.
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

Hello .. this is Spider .. :-))
The reason I am called Spider is because I love spiders to the point of
looniness. They are my very dear friends.
Alas, it was not always the case. For 20 years I was terrified witless of
them, regardless of size or leg-length. Moving to this house with its
wrap-round garden forced me to accept treatment, which I did at the Maudsley
Hospital London. The desensitising program was so good that I was happy
with spiders after 3 months, and keeping tarantulas after 6 months!
If you are able to handle spiders in the garden but not in the house, why
not try carrying a 'managable' spider into the house, increasing the size of
the spider as you progress. You may feel anxious and panicky at first, but
try to stay with the spider until some/all of the anxiety subsides. Your
real hope lies in the fact that you can handle them outside - it's a good
starting point.

To respond to Kate's suggestion that spiders like dry homes, I am obliged to
say it's untrue. In an average centrally-heated home, a spider is in danger
of dessication unless it can find a source of water. The moisture from a
house plant will do, as will moist kitchens and bathrooms. Many spiders
mistakenly wander into our homes in search of a mate. Usually it's the male
you see, as they are obliged to seek out the female in her territory.
The need for water is essential; without it a spider cannot walk ..
therefore cannot find water .. becomes increasingly dessicated, and so on.
This is because all thirty-three muscles in a spider's leg draw the leg
inward to the body; none extend the legs. To walk, the spider effectively
uses hydraulics.
OK. Spider lesson over.
Spider

Zipadee Doodar wrote in message
...
I know they do no harm, and are almost mans' best friend but I hate them.
And in this house where we have lived for 2 years, they are enormous and
scare the compost out of me. Is there anything available to persuade them
to
go away, or at least not to appear in the bathroom etc? I was thinking
something on the lines of those sonic cat scarers etc.

BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

TIA

ZD

"Zipadee Doodar" wrote in message
...
I know they do no harm, and are almost mans' best friend but I hate them.
And in this house where we have lived for 2 years, they are enormous and
scare the compost out of me. Is there anything available to persuade them
to
go away, or at least not to appear in the bathroom etc? I was thinking
something on the lines of those sonic cat scarers etc.

I heard on the radio recently that spiders don't like conkers. I don't know
if it's true, but it may be worth a try.

HTH

Steve

Spider spluttered almost incoherently...:

Hello .. this is Spider .. :-))
The reason I am called Spider is because I love spiders to the point of
looniness. They are my very dear friends.
Alas, it was not always the case. For 20 years I was terrified witless of
them, regardless of size or leg-length. Moving to this house with its
wrap-round garden forced me to accept treatment, which I did at the Maudsley
Hospital London. The desensitising program was so good that I was happy
with spiders after 3 months, and keeping tarantulas after 6 months!
If you are able to handle spiders in the garden but not in the house, why
not try carrying a 'managable' spider into the house, increasing the size of
the spider as you progress. You may feel anxious and panicky at first, but
try to stay with the spider until some/all of the anxiety subsides. Your
real hope lies in the fact that you can handle them outside - it's a good
starting point.

To respond to Kate's suggestion that spiders like dry homes, I am obliged to
say it's untrue. In an average centrally-heated home, a spider is in danger
of dessication unless it can find a source of water. The moisture from a
house plant will do, as will moist kitchens and bathrooms. Many spiders
mistakenly wander into our homes in search of a mate. Usually it's the male
you see, as they are obliged to seek out the female in her territory.
The need for water is essential; without it a spider cannot walk ..
therefore cannot find water .. becomes increasingly dessicated, and so on.
This is because all thirty-three muscles in a spider's leg draw the leg
inward to the body; none extend the legs. To walk, the spider effectively
uses hydraulics.
OK. Spider lesson over.
Spider

Zipadee Doodar wrote in message
...
I know they do no harm, and are almost mans' best friend but I hate them.
And in this house where we have lived for 2 years, they are enormous and
scare the compost out of me. Is there anything available to persuade them
to
go away, or at least not to appear in the bathroom etc? I was thinking
something on the lines of those sonic cat scarers etc.

BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

TIA

ZD



Ahhh - so a good blast with a hair dryer from a distance will put them out
of their misery...

Zipadee Doodar declared:

I know they do no harm, and are almost mans' best friend but I hate them.
And in this house where we have lived for 2 years, they are enormous and
scare the compost out of me. Is there anything available to persuade them to
go away, or at least not to appear in the bathroom etc? I was thinking
something on the lines of those sonic cat scarers etc.

BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

TIA

ZD

Get a cat - my three fight over the big black house spiders, my cats appear
to think them a tasty morsel...
--
You can't have it all -
Where would you put it ?

"Spider" wrote in message
...
Hello .. this is Spider .. :-))
The reason I am called Spider is because I love spiders to the point of
looniness. They are my very dear friends.
Alas, it was not always the case. For 20 years I was terrified witless of
them, regardless of size or leg-length. Moving to this house with its
wrap-round garden forced me to accept treatment, which I did at the
Maudsley
Hospital London. The desensitising program was so good that I was happy
with spiders after 3 months, and keeping tarantulas after 6 months!
If you are able to handle spiders in the garden but not in the house, why
not try carrying a 'managable' spider into the house, increasing the size
of
the spider as you progress. You may feel anxious and panicky at first,
but
try to stay with the spider until some/all of the anxiety subsides. Your
real hope lies in the fact that you can handle them outside - it's a good
starting point.

To respond to Kate's suggestion that spiders like dry homes, I am obliged
to
say it's untrue. In an average centrally-heated home, a spider is in
danger
of dessication unless it can find a source of water. The moisture from a
house plant will do, as will moist kitchens and bathrooms. Many spiders
mistakenly wander into our homes in search of a mate. Usually it's the
male
you see, as they are obliged to seek out the female in her territory.
The need for water is essential; without it a spider cannot walk ..
therefore cannot find water .. becomes increasingly dessicated, and so on.
This is because all thirty-three muscles in a spider's leg draw the leg
inward to the body; none extend the legs. To walk, the spider effectively
uses hydraulics.
OK. Spider lesson over.
Spider

I am another spider fan myself, the bigger the better!

I noticed you did not mention the other alleged method spiders have for
getting a drink at night, perhaps best not to. :-)

Earnest Trawler

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 19:50:53 +0100, Zipadee Doodar wrote:

I know they do no harm, and are almost mans' best friend but I hate them.
And in this house where we have lived for 2 years, they are enormous and
scare the compost out of me. Is there anything available to persuade them to
go away, or at least not to appear in the bathroom etc? I was thinking
something on the lines of those sonic cat scarers etc.

BTW I can handle them ok in the garden, just not in the house.

What, the sound of arachnids thundering across the floor doesn't
bring a twinge of joy to your heart? Good heavens.

Victoria here is a spider paradise, perhaps because our seaside
location keeps the humidity fairly high. It's nothing to have two
or three take up residence in the bedroom where they spend their
days more or less somnolent on the ceiling and prowl around at
night looking for prey. And to find a "big one" (big hairy
affair, long legs, up to 2" across, perhaps a Lycos species)
peering up at you from inside the bathtub is the small change of
domestic excitements.

The more tenderhearted sorts simply trap their domestic
co-vivants with a drinking glass and throw them outside.

I suggest two strategies:

(1) *thorough* vacuuming including all the little nooks and
crannies you usually don't trouble with.

(2) mothballs scattered in attics, cellars, and such to drive
them away. (I don't know if this actually works.)


Otherwise, buy a book on spider identification and take up a new
hobby. If you can't beat'em, join'em.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
change "invalid" to "net" to respond

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 22:10:15 +0100, Sacha
wrote:


We have lots of those little 'thready' ones but real house spiders are the
big jackboot variety, as far as I'm concerned.

I've got a fair collection in my workshop - and those thready ones
are, I think, called Cardinal spiders.
From what I've seen, they prey on the much larger and hairier house
spiders.

I have no idea how they do it, all I ever get to see is them feasting
on fresh corpses in the morning - my guess is they wait until the big
buggers are vulnerable after shedding their skin.

As to the original post, I fully sympathise - my wife suffers from a
severe dislike of spiders, but over the years she's managed to bring
herself to collect all but the big hairy ones in a jar and throw them
outdoors.
If you don't want to find them in the bath, leave a towel over the
edge so that they can escape after falling in. Other than that, you're
stuffed - unless you seal the house up and never so much as open a
window.

I believe that London Zoo runs an anti-arachnaphobia course - which
basically relies on the old saw that familiarity breeds contempt.
Maybe if you tried handling some small spiders on a regular basis?
Don't pick up the spindly ones though - they shed the gripped legs as
a defence mechanism.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"Ophelia" wrote:

We have had several spiders in the house this week I rather like the
wee fellows.
---
Wee fellows? Our house spiders are certainly not wee, most of them are big.
A friend had a barn conversion with retained oak beams, on one he had a long
dead (thank goodness!) huge black tarantula spider. I would imagine that
when any living spiders clapped eyes on it they ran a mile. Have you all
noticed how difficult it is to catch spiders with your hands? They
invariably run away being it seems, more afraid of us than we are of them.

Aphodius

"Aphodius" wrote in message
...

"Ophelia" wrote:

We have had several spiders in the house this week I rather like the
wee fellows.
---
Wee fellows? Our house spiders are certainly not wee, most of them are
big.
A friend had a barn conversion with retained oak beams, on one he had a
long
dead (thank goodness!) huge black tarantula spider. I would imagine that
when any living spiders clapped eyes on it they ran a mile. Have you all
noticed how difficult it is to catch spiders with your hands? They
invariably run away being it seems, more afraid of us than we are of them.

LOL yes. I have to say a large hairy tarantula wouldn't be my favourite)

Ophelia