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help spiders everywhere
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Posted by lisa11310 (My Page) on Tue, May 15, 07 at 0:35
Hi all, my first time here. I have a problem. I am scared to death of spiders. I now live in the woods in West Michigan. Our house is in the side of a hill. You enter the house at road level and can go down stairs and walk out the slider door at the other end to ground level. Our "basement" is partially finished as a bedroom/office. This time of year and again in the fall I get these big brown spiders. I thought they were Wolf spiders, look similar, but are not aggressive like the Wolf spiders I found in Colorado. About the same size and shape, have 2 off white stripes down their backs. I find them usually at night, usually on the floor but have found them behind pictures on the wall etc. I killed 8 of them tonight in the course of about 15 minutes.I have been finding 2 or 3 every night for a week now. I don't know that I can sleep in my bedroom any more. I have sprayed all over with Ortho Home Defence, but they just keep comming. I don't like killing things, I am an avid birdwatcher and nature lover, but these things terrify me. I am having nightmares. Can somebody give me an idea of what they might be, if they are dangerous and if I must have a nest of them in my house? I never find them upstairs. Is there suck a thing as a humane spider "trap" that I could release them back out in the woods. Of course not now that I have sprayed, but in the future. I am looking on the forum under spider id but wanted to post this first, hope someone can help me know what they are and possibly get over my fear so in the future they wont have to die.
Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: help spiders everywhere!!
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| Ok I think I have id them as Rabidosa wolf spiders.(as in rabies????) Most of the ones I have been finding look to be about 1/2 grown. The really BIG ones come in in the fall. Ok so to have 8 running around in 15 minutes means I MUST have a nest that has hatched in the house right? uuummm are there thousands of them then? I have seen some of the spides in webs that have thousands of babies in there. PLEASE tell me these dont have that many. I guess I will be hitting the couch upstairs tonight. Is my Dog safe down here? |
RE: help spiders everywhere
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| There is something called a Spider Catcher. It's a trigger handle with a long rod and a head at the end with soft bristles. When you pull the trigger, the bristles come together and hold the spider to be released elsewhere. I don't know how well it works, but I've seen them on ebay and on the web. |
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| PS, there's also a vacuum Bug Catcher that uses suction to catch the bug so it can be released elsewhere. |
RE: help spiders everywhere
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| The battery operated vacumn bug catcher works really great. You can cap what you catch and catch more before emptying it outside. I bought a couple from a friend, she's out of town now and I don't where she got them. It will even catch those big Texas roaches. Maybe do a search on Google. |
RE: help spiders everywhere
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| DDDAA !! realized the new dark forest green dust ruffle I put around the bed made the perfect hiding place and why they all came crawling out from under my bed at night. Dust ruffle removed, everything vaccumed, everything sprayed, no more wolfies. Does anybody know if they are actracted to light like moths? I just wonder what makes them enter the house. Is there such a thing as an insect DETERRANT that applied around the foundation and openings of a house will turn bugs in a different direction without harming them? This IS important, I have no gripe against bugs if they stay outside, they are so inportant to our Bird populations, frogs, etc, that I hate to kill them. |
RE: help spiders everywhere
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| I've seen different types of plug in ultrasonic sound bug deterrents. Dunno if they work. |
RE: help spiders everywhere
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Don't go watching any movies like "Arachnophobia" before you go to bed! :--)
Rabidosa only means they are vicious (to other bugs) like wolves are to their prey. They cannot carry rabies, as that is a disease of the central nervous system of mammals & spiders are not mammals. They do not care about you either--they are only there because that part of your house mimics the kind of environment they naturally live in. Cool & maybe damp, and dark places to hide, like your dust ruffle. You must also have insects in your house they like to eat (spiders aren't stupid--they live in places where there is prey to eat). You are not prey to them---they will only bite you if they think you are trying to kill them. People get bitten by spiders such as these when they put on jackets the spider has been hiding in, stick their hands in places the spider has been hiding in, etc. The spider thinks you are a predator trying to grab it & does the same thing you would do if a giant tried to grab you--bite.
The big ones in the fall have grown since the spring.They grew because they were eating bugs they found in your house.
I would try to seal the house as much as I could from whatever is attracting them & their meals---get good masonry sealer (check out the UGL Drilock website) & seal where the basement wall meets the floor and any holes or cracks, caulk & put weatherstripping in windows & doors,if your basement walls & floors are bare concrete, paint them with UGL Drilock or a similar dampness preventer. Put in a dehumidifier. Make the place more like Mars from a spider's point of view---dry & desert, ie no food. Sealing up cracks will also help with your heat bill.
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RE: help spiders everywhere
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| Get rid of the dust ruffle because it provides dark places where they like to hide. Get rid of any other of their food, which means other bugs, or any hiding places for their bugs. And since there are so many in your house, yes they might have hatched there. It is common for them to find a crack in your house and wander in, but you killed more than 10 in a few days, that is more than just spiders wandering in. There are glue traps for insects but I never caught a single insect in them. I also live in West Michigan (Grand Rapids) but have never found any wolf or funnel spiders inside my house (they look very similar). I do find house spiders, long legged spiders in my house. There is a fruit of a bush that is supposed to keep away spiders. It is called osage orange. The fruit looks like a wrinkled orange when ripe. Cut it in half and leave in places you have found spiders. Search Ebay to see if someone is selling the fruit or seeds. Or smear the juice on the backs of pictures. And don't worry so much about spiders. You are not considered their food. You should be more worried about mosquitos, they bite over and over again making itchy bumps that last 5-10 days. Just think of spiders as a freaky, fuzzy, poor animal that just can't get no lovin. Since you come from Colorado I'll tell you that the most aggressive animal or insect we have is the yellow jacket wasp. Very mean creature and very common. |
RE: help spiders everywhere
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| "Don't go watching any movies like "Arachnophobia" before you go to bed! :--) " Or worse - Eight Legged Freaks. LOL |
RE: help spiders everywhere
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LOL comettose...no thanks...now get back over in the ponding forum where you belong!;D
Chuck, I grew up in Muskegon, actually lived in GR for about 13 yrs (burton hts.) never saw a wolfie there. Found a nest of them in my front yard in Co. Springs, they attacked the rake...actually jumped at it. These spiders do seem to run away. I still am finding one here and there. I do feel bad about killing them, but I can't put them outside now that I have sprayed, I would be to afraid a bird would get it, or a frog (for comettose)! LOL
Can you believe someone would actually move BACK here! At least I am not in any city I don't think I could handle that. |
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