We have been finding brown recluse spiders in the house quite frequently and so I have been researching how to get rid of spiders. As most of you know.. I like to handle pest control myself and while I don’t like spiders I have no desire to kill them all or anialate them, I just want them out of my house.
I understand their role in the ecosystem and appreciate that but when they are on my turf.. it is war time!
I have done extensive research on the subject and I am reporting my findings of what works and what does not work.
I am not going to get all bent out of shape over spiders that are harmless such as daddy long legs and others that are known to be harmless to humans but the ones that scare the bajeebers out of me are the brown recluse, also known as a fiddleback, and the black widow spider.
Brown recluse spiders are naturally not very aggressive and will usually only bite if it is a last resort and they feel their life is in danger if they do not.
The first step in getting rid of them is to remove their comfy environment.. they love to get in dark places such as inside of clothes and shoes on the floor, inside cardboard (they love cardboard), under the covers on the bedding, etc., they need areas with moisture such as in bathrooms and kitchens.
These are things that are fairly simple to take care of..
- Remove the clutter
- Don’t allow clothes to pile up on the floor
- Get rid of cardboard boxes and use plastic bins instead
- Make sure the bedding is not touching the floor
- Take care of any unneccessary moisture such as leaky pipes, standing water, etc.
The next thing I disovered in how to get rid of spiders.. namely the brown recluse spider is the things that they do not like.
Apparently their taste buds are located on the tips of their legs so they will be very adament about not walking thru or hanging out in areas that contain tastes that they do not like.
They hate citrus such as lemon, orange, etc. and from what I understand.. the best thing you can do is to dust with lemon pledge. They also hate eucalyptus leaves.. another natural way to make them feel extremely unwelcome.
I read somewhere else where they do not like the smell of kerosene.. the source suggested wiping down window sills, door jams and any other area that might be used as access points with kerosene on a piece of newspaper.. that is not something I am willing to try but maybe it will appeal to someone.
Last but certainly not least.. be sure to shake out all shoes before putting them on as well as clothing.
If you have suggestions on how to get rid of spiders please feel free to send them my way.
Im so glad I found this website because have brown recluse spiders in our house as well. Im am pregnant and I do not like to be around the sprays that the exterminator uses so Im looking for more natural ways to get the brown recluse spiders out. We have had the exterminator out 2 times now and Im still seeing them. I’ve actually laid eucalyptus leaves around our bed and it has seemed to help. The bedroom and the living room is where we have been seeing them the most, but we havent seen any in the bedroom since I’ve laid the eucalyptus leaves down. I do have a question though. The exterminator “smoked” the attic and the crawl space under the house. Does that actually kill the brown recluse spider or does it just run them off?
I have not heard of eucalyptus leaves as a deterrant but will try that. I use the sticky pads everywhere, vaccuum a lot, and today read that boric acid around house works well. I’m off to get boric acid!!
I live in a home that seems to have a recluse infestation. I applaud you for wanting to take care of it naturally, but also consider that the recluse can cause damage to anyone, but are more likely to cause damage in infants.
As far as boric acid goes, don’t waste your time. I caught a brown recluse in a glass in my kitchen cabinet. I had also heard boric acid worked on brown recluses. I left that recluse sealed in the glass with a dusting of boric acid, and the spider was not affected. He was in there for 10-20 minutes, and he continued to crawl around just fine. Next, I transferred him to a glass with some insecticide in it. He died within 10-20 minutes. That being said, the boric acid DOES kill roaches, crickets, etc, and if you can get rid of those bugs (and remove their carcasses – recluses will chose a dead bug over a live one 80% of the time!!!), then you are on your way to ridding yourself of these awful creatures.
We had the exterminator come out. We’ve put down at least 50 glue boards in our 3 bedroom home. We’ve sprayed inside and out with “over the counter” sprays. It all has worked to a degree – we’ve caught at least 150 recluses on the boards. I’ve found at least a dozen dead recluses next to where I sprayed. We aren’t seeing as many overall, however, they are still there. Just last night, there was one crawling up my bathroom wall. This is a bathroom I use daily, and it has lots of light during the day and into the night, and NO clutter. ICK!
Oh, I also tried the lemon. I got lemon scented everything – pledge, pinesol, lysol, and real lemon, and I clean my hard floors with the pinesol, wiped down all of our wood trim with pledge, and clean the counters with lysol and lemon. They don’t seem to care enough to avoid it.
I’m spending about 20 bucks a week on these glue traps and still these buggers get through. I bought some spray and bombs at Lowe’s…seems to help more, but that was another 50 bucks. I am renting the home. Is there any culpability on the owners part to assist in eradicating these nasty arachnids?
I mentioned the problem to my landlord, emphasizing that the problem was preexisting – we didn’t bring it in, and I knew that because we had lived just up the street in an even older house. We had glue boards there, and not a single brown recluse. I asked politely if there was anything I could do, asked them if they would help, but also let them know that I was not thrilled about moving into their property that was infested with recluses, and that I would be less than thrilled to have to pay for any doctor visits (not to mention skin grafts, antibiotics, cortisone shots, etc). That did the trick! Be nice, but persistent. Document, document, document!!! Write down everything, and take pictures of the recluses you catch with something in the background that proves its in the rental. Nothing may ever come of it, but if you did get bit and had to undergo months of doctor visits, it may help you in a lawsuit???
“Sticky pads” and frequent vaccuuming is also very helpful.
“Sticky pads” and frequent vaccuuming is also very helpful. I have also used ALL lemon products available for cleaning and air freshening. I have sprayed repeatedly around the perimeter of the house with various insecticides,sprayed under the house as far as possible, used bombs in both attic&under house,used sulfur dioxide(smoke bombs), epsom salts, osage orange balls, and hydrated lime!!!!! Just ordered Demon WP and Delta Dust to try these products. Got 2 cats and they now live under the house!!! All this over the past 3 months!! We still have the spiders, just fewer of them. Now seeing baby recluse spiders…very hard to see, so I’ve increased the vaccuuming. Praying for these demons to leave the property. Hope that helps as nothing else seems truly effective.
My grandma and I have put down sticky pads and we put it down a week or so and we picked it up today and there was a cricket, and 7 Brown Recluses!!! So they Really do work!! Thanks website!!
We have brown recluse in our home and this spring I sealed all of my heating and air vents around the edges. Recluse like to live on top of the vents and they climb up the vents and into your home around the space where the vent fits into your flooring. I sealed off any way that they could crawl into my home around the vents using a caulk gun. It has helped tremendously. I would still love to get rid of these pests completely.
Just tonight, I was going out the door of my home to get my “Baby” her blanket out of the car and just before reaching for the door handle, there it was just inches from me reaching out to close for it to get me…not the fact of getting bit by the little devil but, the fact that my 11 month old daughter plays in and around the door all the time looking out the glass at the dogs and cat…this is so scary that I am really worried about her playing anywhere in the home now…with all the ideas that everyone has provided on here…I will be headed out to the hardware store tomorrow to get all these sticky pads and see how many more of these creepy crawls I can get…I did find one thing that kills them and that was a flip flop…priceless…