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Old 06-25-2009, 10:44 AM
 
Location: Summerville, SC
1,149 posts, read 4,193,933 times
Reputation: 1126

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So, we should be closing on our first house tomorrow or Monday (yay!). The property is a foreclosure, and had been unoccupied for well over a year at this point. One of the previous owners planted lots of flowers, bushes, etc - all of which are now overgrown. I'm really looking forward to working on the plants, however...

Tons of spiders. Inside the house you can find at least 5 active webs in every room, and outside... I almost couldn't get to the front door (which is inbetween some very high bushes) because of the spiders. Now yes, I will admit to really disliking bugs (working on that, but I grew up in an inner city apartment as a child, as a result I don't cope well with bugs). However, we live down south as of last year, and the bugs seem to have gotten exponentially larger. I got close enough to identify the spiders and they seem to be golden orb weavers (beautiful webs, but they are EVERYWHERE). They are also poisonous, and HUGE, and apparently can capture and eat BIRDS.

I think that when it comes to dealing with the inside spiders, I'll coerce my husband to walk around with a shop vac. However, not sure how to deal with the outside ones. Also, if we figure out how to get rid of them, I'd like to find out some effective measures for preventing their return.

Thanks for any and all advice. Some of these suckers are almost as big as my hand!
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Old 06-25-2009, 11:09 AM
 
Location: WA
5,640 posts, read 24,849,524 times
Reputation: 6573
I have found the shop vac works well where ever you can use it. Outdoors I use the pressure washer to knock down the population. In a year the population will be much lower and in two the area should be back to normal.
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Old 06-25-2009, 11:15 AM
 
Location: NW Nevada
18,123 posts, read 15,512,307 times
Reputation: 17108
You can set of some fumigators in the house to clear out the cosmopolitan types, and under the house as well, and spray around acess points at the foundation, (vents, hose bibs and such.) The outside areas not in close proximity to the house, unless the critters are venomous types (the only webspinner you will be concerned with being the Black Widow) it will probably behoove you to make a truce of sorts. I'm not sure if you have the Fiddleback where you are but they don't spin webs and stay shy of occupied places. From the sounds of it you mainly have big garden spiders, cat faces and such. Ugly but harmless and actually beneficial. Lol, in my line of work I know my spiders. Bomb the house and crawlspace, seal and spray your entry points at the founation and get used to the ones on the grounds is my best advice.
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Old 06-25-2009, 11:22 AM
 
Location: West TN
128 posts, read 636,145 times
Reputation: 184
I have a service. The first visit the technician checked the inside and set sticky traps to check on insect population. Since the first visit 3 years ago our tech comes once a month and baits ant traps outside, sprays the foundation or places pellets, and sweeps the eaves for spider webs.

He always asks me if I have any issues inside. I've had very few spiders slip past the defenses. Those that do are dead or dying.

When we first moved in I saw my first black widow ever and it was in the garage on a shelf. Since then nothing. We are careful not to provide them with good spaces to build webs around the garden like unused pots and stacked garden stuff.

I think the service is worth the money spent. I don't need to be handling chemicals.

I do see spiders in the garden but nothing I'd consider dangerous. If I were tackling the overgrowth around the building the first time I think I'd use a general purpose pesticide such as Sevin to clear the way. After that just if needed.
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Old 06-25-2009, 01:20 PM
 
Location: NW Nevada
18,123 posts, read 15,512,307 times
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I had a mortal fear of spiders for a very long time. I had to overcome it as the profession that I ended up in puts me in close contact with far worse than spiders. keeping them out of the house is impossible here in NV as just about every manner of bug we have is double tough and very industrious. The Black Widow is the one that has a presence nationwide here in the US, and they are very common. The readily available sprys keep them thinned out pretty well , however, and as a general rule they will not try and occupy inside your house. They don't like light and activity. They like it in pumphouses, and just inside the foundation of structures. I've notced that the closer to a center of a crawlspace you get the fewer critters you see. The widders like to spin just inside access points and snare the bugs coming in. They congregate on the outskirts of the foundation under the house. They are easy to dispose of and discourage. The Fiddleback (Brown Recluse) is the only other dangerous spider we have in the US. The yare not webspinners. They actively hunt for prey and occupy areas with little to no human activity. Pumphouses, attics, and crawlspaces are likely spots. The same methods that keep the Widders off work for them as well. All the other spiders in the continental US are basically harmless to humans. They can be a nuisance to be sure, but they are nothing to panic about and keeping the area around the house cleaned up and sprayed will keep them in the scrub. Feel fortunate that you don't have scorpions and vinegaroons. They sucketh. The ones we have here are not deadly, down in AZ and the Vegas area they are, but they deliver a painful sting and are born POed. I'd also rather deal with spiders than wasps, hornets and yellow jackets. They are extremely annoying and can be dangerous in large numbers. As far as bugs go, birds are your buddies. Lizards as well. Lol, we have a big alligator lizard that lives in our pumphouse. Big Al. (he can be Fat Albert in the summer) Not a spider or other nasty is to be found in our well house. If you have lizards where you are make friends with them. They are on your side. These Golden Orb things you mentioned? They are a dangerous venomous type? I've never seen or heard of the like in the US. I thought the only nasty ones we have are the Widder and Fiddler. I'm gonna have to Google that one.
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Old 06-26-2009, 07:30 AM
 
Location: mid wyoming
2,007 posts, read 6,804,910 times
Reputation: 1929
This will be kinda after the fact,but I bought a house with a spyder problem,
I know this sounds odd. I lived in Tennessee and I was told to keep spyders from coming in so bad was to gather up some of those Bodark tree fruits and cut them in half and throw them under the house. Well after killing spyders all summer and in the fall when the "apples" started to fall off the Bodark trees. I followed the neighbors advice. I had a very noticeable decline in the spyder population and did this every fall.
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