Scary shed question.......

pigpen

Delegate!!!

I cannot stand the webs.. Spiders are fine so long as they don't jump on me or fly.. I get a tad hysterical over flying insects and spider webs...

I have lots of slaves.. sorry, children.. who I delegate spider watch to.. in stripey spider season the horrors build loads of webs on my washing lines so I go out armed with a broom which I wave madly in front of me to destroy any webs I may not see.. OH laughs at me like a loon but the sound they make actually makes me sick.

I once had my neighbour from across the street come rescue me from an enormous Boris who jumped on me from a great height.

booter

pigpen wrote: »

Delegate!!!

I get a tad hysterical over flying insects and spider webs... .

Me too!! Especially wasps. I once actually burst into tears when I was being dive-bombed by 3 of the little beggars and this sadly was at my local market :o

pigpen wrote: »

I once had my neighbour from across the street come rescue me from an enormous Boris who jumped on me from a great height.

I thought it was just our lot who called them Borises (or Harrys - as in "today's Harry the spider's coming out party" - remember that!)

Justamum

booter wrote: »

As an aside, my niece sent me this the other day (warning to all arachophobes)

That picture gave me the heebie jeebies :eek::eek::eek: If I was faced with that I would run screaming from the house. I'm not as scared as I used to be - I can usually stay in the same room if I see one now - but I get DH to get them out of the house. We don't kill them.

We met on a kibbutz, and one morning in the middle of the room I shared there was a huge hairy tarantula, which proceeded to run under my bed and hide under my rucksack with just two legs poking out. I had to rush off to work, but when I got back and it was still there I went and found my now DH (just a friend then) and he picked up a small glass to put it in. I warned him it wouldn't be big enough, so he took a jug (while rolling his eyes at my exaggeration ) The spider proceeded to leap about the room trying to get away from him :eek: He eventually managed to squeeze it into the jug and take it well away. He's admitted since that even he was scared but didn't want to show it.

In his kibbutz room he had a big hairy spider which he was quite happy about - they named it Harry. One day another spider turned up, then after a couple of weeks there was one spider, plus the legs of the other, and the remaining one was pregnant. Suffice to say I'm not coming back as a male spider in my next life :rotfl:

kettlenic

OMG that picture - makes my skin crawl!!! terrified of anything that could land on me!! esp locusts we had loads around where I grew up in south Africa...eugh!! I have a spider catcher which I use - I am too scared to get close enough to kill them as well!!! no hope for me!!

I am going to try the hoover idea - thanks for all the understanding tips

Justamum

kettlenic wrote: »

OMG that picture - makes my skin crawl!!! terrified of anything that could land on me!! esp locusts we had loads around where I grew up in south Africa...eugh!!

You're like my husband. He also grew up in South Africa and is scared of locusts and big grasshoppers. Some of them are so beautiful though. I never minded picking them up, so it's a symbiotic relationship - he would deal with spiders, I would deal with locusts. Even when I was picking some beans and one jumped off the plant and landed on my mouth it didn't scare me (well not too much anyway :rotfl:)

Spendless

Conkers might be a bit hard to find at this time of year. Unless there's a young boy in your family that loves to hoard and you can liberate some of his stash. I *think* I've seen a spray with horse-chestnut in it in somewhere like the betterware catalogue, but I can't be sure.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Fruball wrote: »

I found a false widow on my back door step, and one climbing the curtain in the house :eek: If you google "false widow bites" you will see how nasty they can be! Frightening.

My mother had multiple bites from gardening in open toed sandals about 10 years ago - ended up with terrible swelling and pain - turned out to be spider bites.... She was previously of the opinion that spiders in this country are harmless

In fact, we have about a dozen biting spiders in the uk, not including any escaped 'pets' :eek::eek::eek:

OMG I am all jumpy now! A strand of hair just ticked my neck and I nearly jumped through the roof!!!

And I've got a scar from a horsefly bite that got infected. Big deal. Mind you, I'd have more sense than to garden with practically bare feet in the first place.

Plus there are things such as the native Blandford Fly which you would definitely prefer was eaten by a spider than anywhere near you.

charlies-aunt

Gently remove old dusty webs with a long handled brush if you must but leave the spiders be!

Have respect for everything that lives

pigpen

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Have respect for everything that lives

I will have respect for all living things when they respect the fact I don't like them and go live elsewhere!

Anything that flies (including them themselves!) .. those large rodents that are NOT mice.. and rat-birds... my house.. get your own and no I won't visit!

booter

My mum always swore on oil of spike lavender as an insect repellent - and it does work! So maybe some sprigs of lavender tied up and hung around the shed will deter critters (and make it smell nice!)