The only thing I can think of besides poison is, one time when we had a spider issue...we put down those sticky mouse traps and they will walk into them and get stuck. This worked really good for the brown recluse spider infestation we had.

I had spiders in my garage. I burned a large 40-hour citronella candle and they've pretty much left. Did you know the EPA says Citronella is the only environmentally safe insecticide?

I'm one of those who would advise you not to kill them. I'm fond of spiders (yes, really) and appreciate the good purpose they serve.

If I notice a web in the basement, complete with eggs, rather than let them hatch indoors I go down there with a quart-size yogurt container, or a freezer container, and scoop up mama and eggs. Then I deposit them in a sheltered location outside.

I realize this approach doesn't appeal to everyone, but after the first time or two you may discover it's easy (and humane).

I do the same as Alisande, but you will always find a spider or two in our house. I am so sensitive to chemicals (as are our birds and fish) so I use spiders as my 'insecticide'. I know that doesn't work for everyone but I don't have a lot of choice. Even my cleaning lady knows to let the spider webs be! LOL!

I am no lover of inside spiders, I was bitten by a brown recluse and was very lucky...no abscess. they were so bad in my last neighborhood, I could sit on the sofa in the basement and they would crawl across me. I called an exterminator for the first time and when I started moving my dolls away from the wall, I knew why I had spiders. Webs every where. Spiders can't live without their webs so instead of using sprays, vacuum every week, behind and under everything. When I mentioned it to my exterminator he said that is the best control.

I did have a beautiful garden spider this summer and I let him live in my salvia. No point in killing him. I thought the hummers would eat him, but I guess it being as big as hummers, they weren't interested.

Vala, my mom was bitten by a brown recluse, and not so lucky as you. She ended up with a nasty abscess and in the hospital for several days!

oh LORDY!
I just (yes, just now) went in the bathroom and almost ran into a HUGE black spider hanging from a web from the ceiling! ACK By the time I got the vacuum, he'd gone back up. I don't mind spiders, but I don't want them on me. And, I don't know what kind it was. Pure black and BIG

jel48, my bite was behind my knee, there was a round swollen place that was tough as leather it was brown and even had lines like leather. It was a bit larger than a silver dollar and had a raw red center in it.

I researched it and found that most spider bites occur in bed, so it is important to keep the bedding off the floor if you can.

Getting rid of the webs is a good idea. If they can't catch bugs,they'll certainly move on. Also be carefulof letting things pile up in your house. I had a pile of empty plastic grocery bags in a corner of my kitchen. Hubby told me to get rid of them, as I picked them up , out jumped a big garden spider. Scared the Daylights out of me, and I no longer let bags pile up.

I'd purchase some sticky traps that are made especially for spiders. They work great for those spiders that tend to be nocturnal and reclusive.

when I lived at the last house the termite man said bugs love cardboard (corrugated) boxes, they nest in the tunnels. I started buying plastic boxes and got rid of all the cardboard boxes except for my doll boxes. by vacuuming and using plastic, the problem should go away. I am seeing a few silver fish and have been using boric acid powder to eliminate them. It sells under other names in the pesticide section of stores and comes in squeeze bottles that look like ketchup bottles in restaurants. I am only putting it in places the pup can't get to.

My last house was a breeding ground for big black heavy spiders. I don't know what kind they were, but they were the ugliest things. The house was built on pilings on a beach, and they seemed to like living there. I don't like insecticides, so I didn't have it sprayed.

I moved and sold my furniture before I moved. When the people who bought the sofa came to carry it out, I saw two huge spiders on the back of the sofa as they were carrying it away.

I was bitten by a brown recluse when I was in college, it bit me on my ankle while I was sleeping, it woke me and I was able to smash the spider so I knew exactly what it was. I thought I was going to lose my foot. It was horribly abscessed. I got medical attention immediately of course, I still have a bad scar from it.
I have no desire to have spiders anywhere in my home, they are welcome to my gardens.

Keeping the house free of other bugs will help because that is what spiders eat. De clutter that is where they hide, seal up cracks and vacuum up all those nooks and crannies especially those places you rarely clean like in your closets and under the beds. A lot of houses with attics and basements provide a really great place for them because they are not disturbed and can just go wild so you might consider that and do a good clean up job in those areas too.

If you were to use a pesticide I would go with one like this
Deltamethrin belongs to the chemical class of pyrethroids, naturally occurring insecticidal compounds that are synthesized from chrysanthemum flowers, they are the least dangerous.
Suspend SC and D-Fense SC Insecticides

I am not a big fan of chemicals either.

One old time preventative I have heard of is using Hedge Balls or the fruit of the Osage Orange to repel spiders, some swear by them. I have no knowledge personally. We as children used them as baseballs, squirrels do love them!
Osage Orange

The hedge apples put an end to my crickets, but didn't work on spiders, been there done that. I hate chemicals, I only did one treatment (spiders) for anything other than termites. The house with the most stuff will have the most spiders and bugs. It's as simple as that. I got rid of a lot of stuff after that. The irony of it is, I have even less stuff in this house, have never seen a large spider and I am bitten?????

My neighbor was bitten by a recluse her's was pretty bad. When she researched them, she found that their web is usually in the attic or other hidden places and they leave that area only in their search for food.

I think different types of spiders like different habitats. My spidery house didn't have a lot of stuff in it, was actually on the bare side...but there was lots of wood (built on pilings, had a wood pile on the deck, and it had all wood exterior and interior) and I think some spiders like woody habitats.

I prefer spiders to mosquitoes ... flies ... and other flying things that I'd rather stayed outside.

Haven't been bitten by any - so far.

ole joyfuelled ... not fuelled by flies ... unless one flies into my (occasionally) open mouth

And a fly that entered my (occasionally) open mouth ...

... would make a quick, and jet-propelled, departure!

o j

DH was bitten on the forearm while trimming a hedge. I called our MD at the time, who said, "We don't have brown recluse spiders in Chicagoland." (We didn't have the spider; just the bite.)

Fortunately I called the Field Museum and spoke with an entomologist. I described the bite. He said to get my DH to the MD and start antibiotics immediately.

Even with (almost) prompt antibiotics, DH's arm swelled. The site blackened and a half-dollar sized area sloughed off.

Spiders make me love my central vacuum! Whoosh! Gone!

We have many spiders too and my DH got some information from an acquaintance of his about hedge oranges or osage oranges and their use as a spider solution. So he hunted for them and found some and this weekend will put them in our basement and I can report on if it works for spiders....

hosta

It doesn't work on spiders, I saw one crawl across one. If it works it's only because they got stuck in the gooey stuff and died. LOL

Hey thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I am armed and ready to go...it is war against the spiders :)

I'm with Susan. I love spiders and have them in my cupboard because they eat any tiny little moths that might come from flour. I rescue them from the bathtub and put them on plants to eat aphids. But we use no chemicals of any kind in our house or yard. Spiders are very beneficial.

I am the camp of Alisande and others that love/like spiders. All the positives have already been mentioned.

Unless you are inundated with Black Widows or the Brown Recluse I vote for leaving them be.

I won't even go into spider karma for those that kill spiders. But many are convinced it exists.

It is highly unusual for spiders in general to bite. Most people who think they have been bitten by a spider in their bed have actually been bitten by some other insect.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spider Myths

Its a good idea to evict a brown recluse because of the danger it poses. However, many ordinary house spiders are rather benign to humans and we can co-exist. Spiders build webs where they feel they have a chance of snaring a meal. So eliminating other flying insects in the house is a start in reducing spider population (eliminate their food supply). At this time of year, spiders are searching for shelter from winter. Closing off points of entry is the first line of defence.