4. Take away their food. You can’t take away everything spiders dine on, experts say. But you can remove some of the obvious insects that make your home a supermarket. For instance, some outdoor lighting attracts insects, which then attracts spiders. “If possible, keep lighting fixtures off structures and away from windows and doorways,” says the University of California.
Next, figure out whether you have insects in the house, from flies to earwigs to fruit flies — and determine how to reduce their numbers, Brown says. If you have a lot of flies inside, you can reduce your spider population by fixing your screens, covering food and taking out the trash more often.
5. Take the fight to the bedroom. Small children and infants can be more vulnerable to the bites of spiders. And small children also spend more time in bed, where spiders seem to like to hang out. (Some brown recluse bites occur when a sleeping person rolls over on one, trapping it, says the University of California.) If you’re nervous about spiders in the bedroom, try these simple strategies:
- Move your the bed away from the wall.
- Remove any skirts or ruffles that would give a spider an easy ladder up onto the top of the bed.
- Put sticky traps beneath the legs of the bed; they will stop spiders from reaching the legs.
- If really nervous, hang a mosquito net over the bed.
- Don’t store items under the bed; keep it clean and empty.
- Finally, don’t leave clothes and shoes on the floor.
6. Spray anyway? “If you are seriously afraid, and you do have problems with spiders — say you have an old home and you can’t close all of those openings — then I would talk to a reputable pest-control operator,” Zack says. A company can put perimeter sprays around the house — barriers that the spiders can’t cross, at least until the sprays wear off with time and weather.
Inside, the pros have “sorptive dusts containing amorphous silica gel (silica aerogel) and pyrethrins,” according to the University of California. Those dust particles dry out the spiders and insects that they touch. “When applied as a dustlike film and left in place, a sorptive dust provides permanent protection against spiders. The dust is most advantageously used in cracks and crevices and in attics, wall voids and other enclosed or unused places.
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But Zack says to be wary of the promises that pest-control companies make. “Talk to the person who’s coming out to do that and get a feel for what they can help you solve,” he says. “Does someone say they’ll come spray your yard for spiders?” he asks. “You don’t need that; that would be a waste of your money.” And be realistic, experts say: You’re not going to banish all spiders from your home — especially an older home.
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Living smartly in SpiderLand
Once you come to terms with the idea that you’ll never get rid of all your home’s spiders — and that the ones that remain don’t want to hurt you — the less anxious you’ll be. Still, you should practice a little common sense with your remaining housemates, say the experts:
1. Suit up. If you’re going to be thrusting your hands into darker, less-traveled places — into woodpiles, under manhole covers, into attics, under beds — buy and always wear a good-quality pair of leather or thick cotton gloves,” Zack says.
2. Wash and wear. If you’ve stored clothes in the attic or put winter sweaters in storage, spiders may have crawled inside to hang out. Launder or dry clean them to kill what’s in there, or at least shake them out thoroughly, Brown says. Ditto with shoes from the back of the closet: Shake them out before wearing.
3. Seal it up. An unsealed box “is an ideal spider habitat,” Zack says. When storing things in your basement — such as those clothes — store them in sealed plastic containers, not just cardboard boxes, where “it’s easier for them to crawl in,” Brown says.
4. Heads up. “Be aware of what you are doing,” and don’t be on autopilot while working, Brown says. Many bites occur when the spider gets put in a bad spot — say, when you pick up a piece of firewood that it calls home, and then you press the kindling to your body.
5. Keep it clean. If you do get a spider bite, wash it thoroughly and apply an antibiotic, if possible. (Studies today are starting to cast real doubt on old ideas that some spiders have “necrotizing” venom that killed the flesh around the bite; the truth may simply be that the victim got a bacterial infection at the spot, Zack says.)
If you do fear you’ve been bitten by a venomous spider, wash the wound and go to a doctor immediately. If possible, take the spider with you.
But most of all, the experts say, try not to get too spooked. In the end, you’re probably managing your own irrational discomfort as much as you’re managing spiders.
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