Keeping the spiders away

Bursar

Warning: arachnophobia triggers. I had to do the creeper jitters a few times just writing this.

Due to some strange confluence of small-scale geography (a nearby tree, a fire extinguisher box, being near an air corridor), my apartment's doorway has become the place to be for any hot young daddy-long-legs to hang out and make a name for itself. This is invariably in the upper corners of the door frame, meaning that opening the door to leave or enter causes a wild spinning dance of horror as a portion of some spider's web is torn away, at a height of 1-2 inches above my head. To put it bluntly: I do not want this to continue.

I reason that discouraging spiders from being there is preferable to trying to smush them every morning, because killing them just opens the spot up for another spider whereas coercing them to stay away works out in the long run. For a while, I've been keeping a can of compressed air nearby and just blowing them away, but this isn't always perfect; sometimes they panic and run inside instead.

I've seen some spider deterrent sprays online, but I was hoping someone here would have experience with products like this and is willing to tell me what does and doesn't work. Hopefully there's something that doesn't smell too awful that I can spray around the door to keep them away. I don't want them dead, I just don't want them right there.

Thanks!

Salvation122

There's basically nothing you can do to keep spiders away from a given location other than make the area unsuitable for webs, which is not really an option with a doorframe.

Spiders are basically impossible to treat for as most modern pest treatment relies on baits, and spiders are carnivorous. You can try to keep the area low of pests in general but since you're dealing with The Outside your odds of success on that front are Not Good. Sprays are extremely hit or miss because the spider is going to be spending most of its time hanging out in the middle of the web unconcerned with what's on the doorframe.

Source: Used to work for Terminix.

Essee

I gotta say, if you really do mean you have daddy-long-legs, A) they aren't actually spiders, they can't do anything to harm humans, and C) they eat lots of other things, like bugs and many other spiders. So that would be the least terrible problem you could have in this situation! Not the biggest help if you're an arachnophobe, though, I do understand. Unfortunately, I don't have any particular advice if you don't want them to be your personal pest-control buddies, because we had tons where I grew up and never got rid of them... although we also didn't try too hard because having a family of daddy-long-legs around was infinitely better than the potential for making friends with the local black widows. I similarly don't have advice for getting rid of general spiders... they're pretty tricky to remove overall.

Just try to think of them as keeping other stuff out of your house, huh? Maybe? No?

Bruan

Do you have an outside light by your doorframe that attracts the prey for spiders?

The Ender

Have you tried to treat your arachnophobia, OP? Spiders are transient and independent, so I can't imagine it being easy (or even necessarily feasible) to get rid of them.

MichaelLC

I wouldn't say not wanting spiders falling on their head qualifies as a phobia, but agree there's probably not much can be done about the spiders.

Better to alter the area or remove their food source.

CelestialBadger

Who cares if they are dead? They are not in short supply. Cans of insecticide kill spiders in webs nicely without having to touch the blasted things.

CourtOfOwls

I would like to echo what Salvation said. Spiders will go wherever there is food. You would need to find out what in particular attracts the spiders' food to your doorframe. That would be the ideal option in terms of forcing the spiders to hunt in greener pastures. Perhaps you could create a place that is more attractive for them, without being in your sight. (like an empty birdcage to attract all of the bugs in one area.

Bursar

Thanks for the input, people.

Unfortunately, there seems to be little that can be done in the way of removing the food source or changing the area. This is an (otherwise pleasant) apartment complex, and so I can't go about tearing the lights off the wall or removing the door frame. I'm content to allow the spiders to hang out around the general vicinity; it's just them being at the perfect position to end up in my face that I dislike.

illig

Have you considered a screen door?

It would stop a lot of bugs getting in - removing the food source for the spider most likely.

foodle

Get some spray specifically for spiders. But be warned that it is pretty strong stuff. Meaning strong enough to affect humans if you breathe in enough.

Mr Ray

You can definitely get deterrent spray that goes around the edge of doors/windows to keep pests at bay, this is what I use:



It won't stop anything that's already inside, its basically a gel that you put around your door and window frames to keep the buggers from getting in in the first place. You need to create a physical barrier so that there's no point of entry that doesn't go through the gel. It definitely won't stop 100% of bugs, but you should find a lot more spider corpses rather than live spiders. Which is an improvement, I guess? Its supposed to be for outdoors, but I see no reason you couldn't use it around the door of your apartment. Make sure you also apply it liberally to any other windows or air vents they might be getting in through. You'd probably be more likely to find it in a gardening center, but hardware stores might have something similar.

Lilnoobs

I would highly encourage you not to help destroy the environment with chemical poisons and instead think of more sustainable options for all, like wearing a hat.

Unknown

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foodle

Lilnoobs wrote: »

I would highly encourage you not to help destroy the environment with chemical poisons and instead think of more sustainable options for all, like wearing a hat.

Bah. Spiders should be murdered when ever, where ever, and how ever possible.

Gaslight

Essee wrote: »

I gotta say, if you really do mean you have daddy-long-legs, A) they aren't actually spiders, ]

Wikipedia tells me that there are apparently three entirely different types of bug which people refer to as a "Daddy Long-Legs" in different parts of the world, so...yeah.

One is the Harvestman (an arachnid but not a spider).

One is the crane fly (not even an arachnid).

One is the cellar spider (actually a real spider).

The third is the one I grew up (in the American Midwest) calling a "Daddy Long-Legs."

MetroidZoid

Mr Ray wrote: »

You can definitely get deterrent spray that goes around the edge of doors/windows to keep pests at bay, this is what I use:



It won't stop anything that's already inside, its basically a gel that you put around your door and window frames to keep the buggers from getting in in the first place. You need to create a physical barrier so that there's no point of entry that doesn't go through the gel. It definitely won't stop 100% of bugs, but you should find a lot more spider corpses rather than live spiders. Which is an improvement, I guess? Its supposed to be for outdoors, but I see no reason you couldn't use it around the door of your apartment. Make sure you also apply it liberally to any other windows or air vents they might be getting in through. You'd probably be more likely to find it in a gardening center, but hardware stores might have something similar.

I was going to say something along these lines. If you can't find this product, then Ortho puts one out called Home Defense.



The active ingredient is Bifenthrin, which basically makes in invisible barrier that kills smaller bugs when they cross. It's not as effective against larger insects and arachnids; for example, really doesn't do anything to keep black widows away because of their relative size. But overall it's effective in reducing the number of insects around, and you can spray it around foundations, window frames, door frames, etc. It's pet and people safe once it dries.

gjaustin

Bursar wrote: »

Warning: arachnophobia triggers. I had to do the creeper jitters a few times just writing this.

Due to some strange confluence of small-scale geography (a nearby tree, a fire extinguisher box, being near an air corridor), my apartment's doorway has become the place to be for any hot young daddy-long-legs to hang out and make a name for itself. This is invariably in the upper corners of the door frame, meaning that opening the door to leave or enter causes a wild spinning dance of horror as a portion of some spider's web is torn away, at a height of 1-2 inches above my head. To put it bluntly: I do not want this to continue.

I reason that discouraging spiders from being there is preferable to trying to smush them every morning, because killing them just opens the spot up for another spider whereas coercing them to stay away works out in the long run. For a while, I've been keeping a can of compressed air nearby and just blowing them away, but this isn't always perfect; sometimes they panic and run inside instead.

I've seen some spider deterrent sprays online, but I was hoping someone here would have experience with products like this and is willing to tell me what does and doesn't work. Hopefully there's something that doesn't smell too awful that I can spray around the door to keep them away. I don't want them dead, I just don't want them right there.

Thanks!

At night, in the summer, are there bugs flying around your doorway?

I used to have a problem with spider webs at my front door. But after replacing my porch light-bulb with the a yellow "bug light", the lower amount of bugs flying around made it a less efficient place for a spider web. That isn't to say they went away completely, but I went from a new web every few days to only a few webs a year.

Maybe you can convince your landlord to let you replace the lights near your apartment with bug lights? Or even do it himself?

ceres

I would echo that there are all kinds of good reasons not to spray chemicals all over the place.

Pantshandshake

Most of those reasons start with 'It's a public entrance on a building you don't own.'

Bursar

I'm glad to see I prompted a new sig for ceres, though not having read that book, the joke's lost on me.

I was interested in opinions on something like this, but the middling reviews aren't encouraging. Re-enacting the exterminator scene from Arachnophobia was not in the plans in any case.

DrunkMc

I had the same problem, just bought a hosue and I woke up every morning to 4-5 spiders in random corners of my house. The good news is, they seem to be cyclic. It lasted for like 2 weeks, and then they just stopped showing up. [ I kept removing them]. Then I'd see a new type of spider show up, but OUTSIDE. THose I left alone.

Deterrents and poisons won't do anything to spiders. They just crawl over them. You can try to just keep killing them / moving them till they stop showing up.

zepherin

As a suffer of arachnaphobia and someone who makes it his business to keep spiders away from his house. After consulting multiple pest control companies, both at work (Orkin) and at my apartment (local company nobody has heard of).

Here are things that I've done that worked when I lived in a creepy spider house with a basement spider zone.

Use a bleach based cleaner and clean the door frames (bleach may not kill them but it keeps away other bugs and it makes it easy to get the webs). do it once every few days, takes about 3 minutes, just bust it out real quick and wipe it down.
Put in a screen door. Screens keep bugs out
Bait any ant hills near the house (Orkin recommended that).
When I did that the spiders were much reduced, and almost no webs.

I've heard of tricks with lemons, chestnuts, wonky earth crystals, and I've tried a few, but bleach works. Bleach always works.

Donovan Puppyfucker

If your "Daddy Longlegs" spiders are these, then leave 'em alone. They're scared of humans and will run away from you. However, they catch kill and eat lots of other nasties, spiders, bugs, flying insects, and generally make your life better by being around.

I grew up in a house out in the countryside with horses and bushland, which attracts a lot of flying insects, which attract a lot of spiders. The Daddy Longlegs kept the redbacks and huntsman spiders away, and kept the mosquito and fly population at a reasonable level. So if I'm having a shower and one of them inadvertently ends up in the shower with me, I try to pick it up as gently as I can and put it out of harms way rather than rinse it down the drain with the shower head.