Autumn weather beginning. . . Oh no! That means spiders will be coming in. . . .

Oh my Lordy
I am so stressed at the prospect of Autumn arachnids
i am currently abroad
I know they are waiting for me when i get home
The secret is keep,your house spotlessly clean .
And sorry they have to get squashed ASAP
Feel quite sick now
Serious arachnophobic

I absolutely love autumn- my favourite season perhaps. And I don't mind the spiders, they are welcome here. They are called 'Fred'. When they are toooo big, I put a glass over them, take a postcard to slip under and put them gently in the barn.

Such a shame for those of you who suffer. Do you remember when it all started and why?

I would definitely go for therapy if it was me.

It is said that having horse chestnuts [conkers] on windowsills etc., stops spiders from coming in. Since I don't mind spiders, I haven't tried it, but please feel free...

You're very lucky that you've got someone to get rid of them for you because I don't have anyone! I'm petrified of spiders and when I see one I come over in a sweat and I get palpitations and feel shaky. I can't pick them up on a piece of card under a dish that you've trapped them in as I can't get that close to them. I have occasionally managed to put a glass dish over the top, but I have to wait till someone comes round and ask them to dispose of it. If I see one I use the hose on the vacuum cleaner and suck them up. It's the only way I can cope but even then I hate doing it. Then I can't empty the vacuum cleaner! Again I have to wait for someone to come round and get them to empty it for me in case it's still alive. Once when I had sucked one up the vacuum cleaner I left the cleaner in the hall for weeks until I could get someone to empty it, but then I noticed cobwebby threads coming out of the bottom of the hose pipe and I was terrified that the spider had been laying loads of eggs in there and hundreds of baby spiders would emerge and run all over the house. EEK!!! Eventually my brother came round and did it and he made sure that it was completely empty and that nothing sinister was left in there. I bought a spider repellent that you plug-in and so far, fingers crossed, I haven't seen any in the house for months. I got it from a company called Primrose and ordered it online. It's supposed to keep other things away as well.

OMG.

Now I can't cross this room, just in case, or go into the bathroom, or feel behind the curtains to close the windows. I'm petrified after all that.

I had a cat once who loved to eat them after playing with them, but sometimes sat thinking about it with a couple of wriggling legs coming from her mouth.

I was going to send a grandson out to get me some conkers this year but if they don't work....and if you put them round windows an doors the horrible things won't want to go out either, will they?

I have used the hairspray trick but you still have to remove the body. And it ruins wallpaper. Peaseblossom - I will look for that repellent and order some.

hairspray and live vacuum ?!? Poor little things,

Oh please don't kill them!

Luckily I am not worried by spiders. We have one (well we only see one at a time!!) in the sitting room and it scuttles from under the sofa across the room and back 2 or 3 times eah evening. DH was excited to tell me he had seen it again this year! Probably the great great great great great grandchild of the original!!

"If you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive."
My grandmother insisted they should never be killed just gently removed- glass and card method. I really don't mind them , in fact killing one bothers me more, all sorts of bad luck involved!!

My son moved about 10 years ago and I absolutely hate visiting because I have never seen bigger spiders than in his house. In the evenings my toes are locked in a scrunched position and my feet don't hit the ground unless I have to move. I think they must be cardinal spiders as they're about 5 inches long. The cats do nothing but watch. It's not just those though as all spiders have far more legs and eyes than they need. Worst experience was a couple of years ago and not only did the spider I had just released from my spider catcher run straight back in he brought a couple of daddy long legs and a large moth in to terrorise me more.

I don't mind spiders in the house as long as I can see where they are. We had a very chunky one which lived in our bathroom and popped out from behind the cistern from time to time. The GSs however are terrified of them and are convinced that they bite. Last year we had a daddy-long-legs which hung beneath the wash basin in the downstairs loo for ages and actually managed to catch a great big black spider, bundle it up in web and suck it's body dry. Fascinating! The boys wouldn't use that loo at all. This year there is a new resident and younger GS spotted it mid-wee with unfortunate consequences..... He'll be 'going' upstairs again from now on.
I'm absolutely freeked out by moths whizzing round indoors though.

Sylvie1 I hadn't thought about them coming down the chimney - another thing to worry about! I'm going to light a fire as soon as I'm home again, no matter the outside temperature.

I don't mind spiders it's snakes that scare me I feel ill and the thought of them. Though I don't wish them any harm.

It's all sold out for this year but I enthusiastically recommend London Zoo's Friendly Spider programme

They run it because they don't want spiders killed, and they recognise that the phobia is a real problem. I did it a few years ago when I was being kept from doing stuff by the thought of finding a spider. They don't force anything, the real power is that of the group - I wasn't as bad as some because I can (just) do the glass+postcard thing, so I could encourage others 'worse' than me. And in a few hours, we ALL got to the stage of picking up boxes with big hairy beasties in, in my case I cuddled a tarantula *trigger warning. Once you know you've done it, you can learn to cope. It wears off a bit unless you can find some samples to practice on.

I wish it was done in more places than London and more often and could be cheaper, as the phobia is really disabling.

These work too. I have one in every room.

I have an agreement with the spiders, (only the Boris variety) I wont touch them if they are outside the house but.... one leg over my threshold and ... bang with the nearest object that comes to hand. Yes I am Boris-ist, I just cannot live alongside them.

Hate them, but as my two grown up son's seem more frightened than me I feel i have to tackle the scary creatures. It's a good idea about putting them under a plastic cup but what about when they're on the wall or ceiling. I don't think I would be brave enough to slip the paper underneath to bring them down

Yes kazbar If you disturb one on the ceiling it might drop down your sleeve or even land in your hair I'd just leave them alone.

But...but...if you leave them where they are, they'll be gone from there next time you look and will be waiting to ambush you somewhere you're not expecting!

I would usually deal with it myself but this was just too big! They're starting to come in!

I have had a terrible phobia of spiders, dating back as far as I can remember. Can't turn over a page if I know there's a picture of one on the other side - and jump violently if I don't know! - and can't touch a toy one. Can't even click on a link for phobia treatment or spider spray in case there's a photo of one of the horrible beasties.

I'm glad to see I'm not alone in dreading autumn and the arrival of unwanted guests. I'm terrified of walking into the bathroom and finding one lurking there, or seeing one run across the living room floor. As for spiders in the bedroom, it's an awful thought...A few years ago, we had the most gigantic monster I've ever seen, on the boxroom wall, and the memory lingers still.

It's not something I can control at all, and even the thought of them makes me want to vomit. I wish there was a 100% guaranteed way of keeping them out of the house.

Eek, there's one in my house! Dh saw it, I didn't. He's hunting it now. He says it's 'small' but he wouldn't be moving furniture and stuff if it was small, would he??? Yikes!

Bluecat I totally know how you feel. Even reading these stories makes me jittery. I have been known to leave the house in my nightdress before in order to get help and my daughter had to call in one morning when she was going to work to rescue me. Her bosses were killing themselves laughing when she had to explain why she was late.

I dont particulaly like them as they move too quickly but I am not afraid of them.

Had massive one in kitchen this morning I was waiting for hubby to get it he was having a shave took him ages I kept checking it was still there but felt shaky and sick he managed to get it best bit about tale is last night I went round house last night with peppermint water ?