File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
God damn it, /an/, I hate spiders so much.

And I picked an unfortunate place to live. As summer is rolling in, I've been finding upwards of AT LEAST FIVE A DAY these past seven days in my apartment. No, they're not baby spiders from a single egg sac that recently hatched, but all different spiders of different shapes, classifications, colors, and sizes.

So how would one spider-proof a house?

This isn't just irrational fear either -- I live in Washington state which has the dreaded hobo spider. I'd rather not have a significant part of my body essentially become a zombie just because I got bit by one of these things at night.

Also, Google has failed me in this -- can anyone post a picture of a hobo spider next to a penny or some other familiar coin? I still have no idea what their size is. I'm familiar with what they look like but how easy or difficult would they be to notice?
>> Anonymous
..Hobo spiders aren't the ones to be worried about. (I live in Idaho and theres alot of them.) If you have brown recluses on the other hand. Be worried, and bug bomb the shit out of your place. The little bastards do alot more damage than hobos do. I've been bitten by a hobo spider and my wrist is still just fine, except for a small dent in the tissue, which is impossible to see.
>> Anonymous
I hate spiders too, I feel your pain. Wish I could help.
>> Anonymous
>>104608

I'm aware of brown recluses, although I don't think they're this far up north (Sammamish); hobo spiders, on the other hand, dot Washington state in its entirety.

Also, I'm pretty sure brown recluses are called "recluses" for a reason -- they're timid and they only bite when cornered. Hobo spiders, on the other hand, are aggressive. Or so I heard.
>> Anonymous
>>104608

Err... also, if you don't mind, could you describe what the hobo spider bite felt like? It'll only make me more insane just thinking about all the spiders probably, but I must know so in case I ever get bit, I have a modicum of an idea of what to expect.
>> Anonymous
Unlucky, I absolutely hate spiders.

Anyhow, I'm a britfag, so I don't have to worry about anything big or anything that can kill me or damage me in any way. Unless something like a Red Cross or recluse gets here on some freight, in which case, I could be fucked.
>> Anonymous
>>104611
Well I suspect my bite was probably not to severe. When the bastard acutally bite me I didn't notice and just saw her on the log I was carrying. The next day I saw a bump on my wrist and just though it was a mosquito bite. Within about 3-4 hours of seeing it started to hurt like hell, and it turned red. The bite never opened though and just killed the tissue under my skin for some reason. So it took a good 2-3 weeks before the bump went away, although I still have that pock mark in my wrist.

I know that the bites can get alot worse, but 50% of the time they don't even inject any venom if that makes you feel any better. ^^
>> Anonymous
>>104611
And also, I wouldn't be to worried about being bitten. I've lived with these guys in my room for the last 8 years and have only been bitten by the one on the log. So if you see one just grab a cup and a paper plate. Catch it, and put it out side. ^^ keep the spiders alive and you'll see a significant decerease of irritating insects around your house.
>> Anonymous
>>104619
>>keep the spiders alive and you'll see a significant decerease of irritating insects around your house.

I keep them alive if I find 'em outside.

Inside my house is a different story.

Although I learned my lesson about leaving spider corpses around. Tends to attract hungry ants. God damn it, the only good season of any year is winter.
>> Anonymous
>>104619
To be fair to the OP, I'd much rather have a few pests like flies hanging around the house than one of those fuckers.
>> Anonymous
>>104620
Hmm poor spiders. =_=;;
Welp I'm gonna give you a link and one more peice of my Spider knowledge before I run off. =)

linkage: http://www.nps.gov/public_health/inter/info/factsheets/fs_hobo.htm

Piece of info you probably never wanted to hear: Your never more than 3 feet away from a spider. <3
>> Anonymous
>>104630
>>Your never more than 3 feet away from a spider.

... if I buy a hunting-obsessed cat will that least bump that number up to maybe 4 or 5 feet? I don't like cats but, hey, they're trillions better than spiders!
>> Anonymous
>>104635
Possibly.. Although you may need several cats. some in your attic, in your basement of crawl space, in the walls... Etc. lol
>> Anonymous
>>104638

Probably just in the walls. Most spiders I see are just a series of legs poking out of my carpet where it meets the wall, legs that disappear when I get too close.

Fucking creepy.
>> Anonymous
By the way, I'm certain there's some places in the world with no spiders at all. What about Antarctica or the Himalayas?
>> Anonymous
>>104642
I remember one time I tried to kill a spider, I stomped on it a few times, but it was cushioned by the carpet so it didn't die. It moved towards me and I ran like a negro.
>> Anonymous
>>104643
Uhh Ice spiders I dunno lol.
>> Anonymous
You picked a bad planet to live on. Antartica seems to be predominantly spider-free, though!
>> Anonymous
>>104643
Because both of those places are convenient and ideal to live in.
>> Anonymous
>>104605
I'm in WA too, and there's usually hobo spiders in my garage this time of year. A simple fogger wipes them out, but only untill next year.

I know what you mean though. There's hobos in my garage, jumping spiders on my porch, black spiders in my room, and wood spiders in the attic.
>> Anonymous
according to wiki hobo spiders are nastier than brown recluses but no more agressive and "The best protection against hobo spiders in one's home is probably the presence of other spiders that will compete with them for territory and food. Killing all spiders by using insecticides can result in the proliferation of a single species when its competition disappears."
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
get yourself a praying mantis and then you'll start looking foward to having more spiders
>> Anonymous
>>104679

I'm not afraid of mantises, in fact I pick 'em up and gawk at them on rare occasions I see 'em.

...are they deadly somehow and I was blissfully unaware of it?
>> Anonymous
>>104730

Perhaps he meant that they eat spiders and it's fun to watch
>> Anonymous
Wiki'd:
"There is in fact only one documented case of a verified bite by a hobo spider that resulted in a necrotic skin lesion, and this was in a person who had a pre-existing medical condition that also leads to necrotic skin lesions [4]. Further, even in a healthy human, any puncture wound has the potential to become necrotic through sepsis, and given enough bites over a long period of time, any spider that bites humans could be expected to eventually produce a necrotic lesion in at least one victim. The true percentage of bites that fail to produce necrotic symptoms is unknown, as non-symptomatic bites are very rarely reported by victims, if they are even aware they have been bitten."

I can sympathise with your fear, but really, if you still think you are in a realistic risk of losing a body part to a hobo spider bite, you need to do a serious reality check.
>> Anonymous
As much as I hate spiders, house centipedes creep me out even more. Those ugly little bastards move fast as hell and are a lot bigger than any spider I've seen in my house.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
taking random housespider pics is fun
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
House centipedes eat spiders and cockroaches and other undesirable bugs, and they very rarely bite. I have a friendly one that I let live in my room on the condition that I don't see any other insects. They start looking cool after a while.
>> Anonymous
I see brown recluses and house centipedes all the time. We usually kill both of them when we see them. I didn't know the centipedes were here because of the spiders though. Maybe I'll stop killing them so much.

They're annoying to kill anyway. You smack one, and it just crumbles. I swear, they're the most fragile bugs in the world.
>> Anonymous
I have wolf spiders in my house that get around 1cm body length. No recluses or other dangerous ones, though.
>> Anonymous
So how would one spider-proof a house?

Me and my dad spray for bugs and spiders as pest control work in the summers. If you get someone to do it right then you don't usually have to worry about the problem coming back for a couple years. Yeah yeah, someone get after me for not liking spiders too and making money off of it.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Get some scorpions. They hunt spiders.
>> Anonymous
There are no truly life threatening spiders native to Washington state.

Key word being native.
>> Anonymous
spiders are a good thing. they are the only "bugs" (in before arachnids) that i won't kill in my apt. i like spiders because they eat the other creepier bugs and they mostly stick to themselves and stay in one spot. and they tend to be very shy and therefore not attack-y. spiders are win.
>> Anonymous
>>105087

shy my god damn ass. they run across my bed like once a week and it pisses me off.
>> Anonymous
I live in Seattle, on Beacon Hill.
Is there anything I have to watchout for?
>> Anonymous
>>105071

These guys are the reason why I don't like visiting Arizona (from experience).
>> Anonymous
I heard insects will stay away from haunted places (if you believe in haunted stuff and shit). Dunno if it's true or not.
>> Anonymous
I can deal with the occasional fly or ant in the house. If I see a spider, I will kill the fucking thing; I don't care if it eats annoying bugs. I hate spiders so much, I enjoy killing them.

Not too many spiders around my way aside from regular house spiders I suppose, but if there were spiders like the ones in the OP's picture in my house, I would just lose it.
>> Anonymous
>>105118
yes you live in the city - you should be afraid of anything living thats not a human
>> Anonymous
I like spiders. They catch flies. They're so amazing with the articulation. And spiders nests.

I think I've a got a regressive gene, though, going by the number of people who hate spiders.

Remember, everything is beautiful in it's own way!!!
>> Anonymous
I've live in the same house for over 20 years, and have yet to see a single spider. Be it in my room, the attict, basemente or garage. Wich is kinda disappointing, 'cause I like 'em.
>> Anonymous
Spiders are beautiful when dead.
>> Anonymous
fascinating creatures, but from a distance
>> Anonymous
I dont mind spiders out of sight, or even in corners of the house. The clever spider putting up a little web by a light source to catch light attracted bugs? No problem.

The thirty or so spiders to have run across my keyboard as I played computer games late at night as a kid on the other hand, thats freaky unwelcome shit right there.