Never heard of that.

We do get spiders in the fall - and it seems more this year for some reason - but I wouldnâÂÂt spend the money to have the house sprayed (or want the chemicals around, either). I am not a fan of spiders, but I can deal with the few extra we get.

But if they are a big issue for you, then I would check out the company the party you mentioned uses and see what they say about cost and benefit.

I wouldn't advise spraying the outside for spiders (or the inside either, for that matter). Outside, spiders do much more good than harm as you apparently already know. Also, once it gets cold, they won't be a problem. I would just seal all the windows better to keep them out. We replaced our windows a year ago and get nary a bug these days...well except for the ones that come in through the doors the dogs open-lol. Yes, we even have one (grandpuppy) who has learned to push down on the lever to open the back door when it is latched!

Chemicals are used way too often and the negative/unintended consequences are becoming real problems. If you don't like them, just whomp them when they come in-or get DH to do it!

I spray inside - we were getting tons of millipede creepy crawlies and spiders in the basement level and now they are almost gone. I sprayed the base boards with Bayer Home Pest Control with germ killer.
It came in a spray pump jug that worked crappy, so I bought a 1 gallon generic pump sprayer and poured it up.
That works great.
$20 total.

Terminix comes and sprays inside and out every three months. Right now is a horrid time for spiders, they're trying to come indoors to keep warm. They can some inside in the tiniest of space, like your front door.

We get Fiddlebacks/Brown Recluse spiders. The spray outside only kills those spiders coming to your house, while leaving the million others in your yard. lol.

Inside we don't spray all the baseboards. We spray in the utility room, behind washer, dryer, the hot water closet. The kitchen is sprayed behind appliances, under the sink.

We like to have the bedrooms sprayed though. That's where more clutter is (clothes) which Fiddlebacks love to get into.

We've been spraying for 20 years now. Hasn't hurt anyone. But remember, they use a weaker formula now, by law, so it won't cause harm to pets and humans.

If you are only getting the occassional house spider, I wouldn't bother spraying.

We do, but it's for scorpions. A few spiders don't bother me.

I remember when I lived in Atlanta and my sis came to visit. I had to tell her to hesitate after opening the back door before going into the backyard. She thought that was odd. I had to tell her that you can spray the house for crawling roaches but you can't stop the ones from falling out of the trees and onto your head! She chose to stay inside.

Actually, she had her house here in CA sprayed for ants and spiders regularly. She always had ants. I think they just sent her a bill but never really came out.

Personally, bugs are good but black widows are a no no. I go into garage and yard at night with a flashlight. It is amazing how many of those girls you find in your garage hanging out for the night in the wide open. I think one night I found 8 in the yard. One was on a web between a plante and the door. Yikes.

Ok, everything is bigger in Texas, texanjana. I think I would even take a tarantula over a scorpion any day.

I feel pretty lucky after reading about all these bugs! ROACHES FALLING OUT OF THE TREES????!!! We have very few bugs in our house. We've never, ever had a roach in any of the 3 houses we've lived in. Maybe it's the area we're in? We do have plenty of spiders outside, but they mostly stay there, and spiders are a good thing. Not inside though! Our house is very well sealed, so I second the suggestion of closing up any cracks, check your weather stripping, etc. We do not spray inside our house. I suppose if we had a real problem with something, we might consider it, but would be very careful. Pesticides do have to follow certain guidelines, but not something I want to breathe in. We have an inside dog who I do not want exposed to the chemicals either. We're pretty careful and use as few chemicals as possible.

Termites are plentiful in our area and our house is treated every 5 years (it's almost 12 years old). Whatever the treatment is - it is done at the perimeter - away from the house and honestly, I think that must cut down on alot of pests, because we just don't see many. They also treat the foundation (from the basement).

tina

Yeeeah, I couldn't live in some states. I would be spraying for sure.

I'm not deathly afraid of spiders (like DH is of snakes. :) ) but wouldn't be too happy if someone threw one at me.

They're almost always on the ceiling when I see them. I"ll use a shoe but they leave a mess behind, the paint is flat, and I'm stuck doing touch ups. They wouldn't survive being sucked in a vacuum, right?

We do need to caulk near the one door. Everything else seems tight but they don't need a large space to sneak in.

I should at least find out more about what they're spraying before I we go there.

We're due our quarterly spraying on the 14th.

Just this morning I was walking out of this room and right there on the low wall was a huge a$$ fiddle back. Luckily I was able to kill it!

See, a few months ago we stopped spraying inside the house and only sprayed the outside.

I can assure you they will spray inside..but not all areas, not where we walk barefoot, like along the kitchen cabinets and bathrooms. They can spray under the bathroom sink though.

Another way for spiders to come inside is through your sinks and tubs. Especially now that it's getting cold at night. I've found many over the years in them, and the pest control guy told me that's one way for them to come in.

You can have the teeniest tinest crack under your storm door and they can still come in. Like how a mouse can squeeze it's body to go through very narrow openings the size of a dime.

Because of the black widow story above, now I'm afraid to go out at night! lol. Winter can't come fast enough!

Shee - if you decide to do it - try to find an entomologist, not just a technician. I work on an agricultural (college) campus, and technicians are certified here. However, an entomologist goes to school for several years and is degreed in the field. There are usually not many around. The company we use is owned by an entomologist.

No matter how tiny the cracks/openings, good idea to seal them - it will also make your home more energy efficient.

tina

We have ours sprayed every month-inside and outside. Sometimes when I'm not home, just the outside. We started spraying when my little boy was born, in fear of fiddlebacks and such. I have probably seen 2 spiders (not fiddlebacks)in our house in 7 1/2 years. Rarely see them outside the paremeters of the house either. I know I could spray every 3 months, but we are just use to it now. I hate, yes that is a strong word, but, I really do! YUK!

I grew up in Florida where you had to have the pros out to spray monthly or the roaches, weevils, ants, etc. would carry your house away. I'm in Alabama now and the roaches are still definitely an issue. It used to be because we lived in town in congested areas of old houses. Now it's because we live in the woods and the bugs have apparently never been taught the basics of walls and private property. Spiders don't seem to want to come inside -- just the stinkin' roaches. DH sprays inside and out once a month with the same Bayer stuff bumblebeez uses.

Now, we don't see any of the scary spiders around. If we did, we might take different precautions because of the pets. Otherwise, we let the spiders do their thing. I think they mock us, though, by spinning webs they just KNOW I'll walk through so they can aggravate me.

I love spiders outside. One year I had to trim some bushes in the front of the house and had dh remove 11 giant writing spiders (Argiope).
He put them in a jar and released them in the nearby woods.
When I asked him to come do this, he was derisive until he saw how many there were!

Still..I don't want to ever, ever touch one!!

I can live with spiders any day. Even the black widows as they are pretty darn shy. What would get me to move out of state are the snakes that climb into rafters, etc. Yikes! My nephew was remodeling his bathroom in MO. and a snake fell in the middle of the bathroom from his attic!

No spraying of spiders here. I have taken more than a few pics of very colorful ones (exterior) along with pics of huge brown ones (exterior & interior).

I'm with cyn, in that the spiders serve a purpose in nature. I take care of the invaders of my home, which are very minimal at best considering where I live. I do have cats tho:), so perhaps they are keeping the spiders at bay?

However, if they're bothering you enough and you want to professionally treat your home, definitely have an entimologist come out as suggested by tina61.

Now the stink bugs. Far as I can tell the cons far outweigh the pros on that particular bug at least for me. House exterior treated on 9/25. Fingers crossed!

We spray our basement with Ortho Home Defense. It is relatively mild stuff. We get brown recluse spiders in our area, eeek! Other than that, my DH saves spiders he finds in our house and carries them outside :)

I would have such a hard time living down south or in the tropics where there are tons of creepy crawlies! I will take six months of winter any day :)

Tina, it's impossible to seal every nook and cranny in a home. Even brand new homes.

We live in Oklahoma, home of the Brown Recluse/Fiddleback. However, they are now across all of the USA. A person can lose a limb (rarely though) if bit by one. Their bites rot the skin.

We have a brand new storm door in the front. Paid big bucks for it because it has an invisible screen, I just love that door!

But...the rubber weather stripping under it, like on all outside doors, has gradually worn off.

Just last year when they were remodeling, the guys put new weather stripping on the back storm door. And half of it has worn off too.

I ordered some draft stoppers, so every time I leave one of the doors open with just the storm door exposed, I put them at the bottom to keep spiders from coming in.

How does one seal the areas when they come from the pipes to the sinks? We have a septic system so maybe that's why they can crawl up the pipes.

It was even on the front page of the OKC paper a month ago about how spiders are extremely bad here this summer.

So you can't convince me that it's possible to seal everything in and around a house. We've sealed everything we can visibly see and we still get spiders.

But when we spray inside, we hardly get any at all.

Oakley, my responses were not meant to you personally. I'm not trying to convince you of anything.

I'm not going to argue with you. You prefer to spray inside, we choose not to, if at all possible.

As far as seals, weatherstripping, drains, etc. You can have an energy survey done (usually the power companies will do them), and they can help identify *cracks*. Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there. Our home is not quite 12 years old, but we've only replaced the weatherstripping around the garage doors.

We do not get spiders/bugs in through our pipes/drains. I have had gnats in the kitchen and use baking soda and vinegar then follow with HOT water (down the drain). You could probably do that in any drain. We also have a septic tank.

tina

Alot of our neighbours have their exteriors sprayed. We do our own spraying. I think it has to do with leaving near water as seem to have a alot of webs everywhere and spider crap which is very hard to clean off window sills.
Our neighbours usually spray 2-3 times a year starting spring through summer and then fall. When we lived away from the water we didnt seem to have spider problems.

I'm going to start next spring. I'm sick of having to spray my porch daily for spiders. Their webs span several feet and I don't want someone to walk into them, let alone me! My son can't get on his swing set without it being sprayed and cleared and he plays out there daily. I hear it's a really bad year...but ugh I hate hate hate spiders.

We have a lot of black widows in our backyard, especially around the natural rockscape pool area, so DH uses Terminix to try to control the population as best as he can.