HK726

I live in sunny Orlando, FL. My problem with the spiders is that I can't find an effective way to keep them out. No I'm have no phobias of spiders, it just that having to clean up the webs every few months gets annoying since I have a lot of stuff in the garage.

The spiders in my garage are the variety where they have small bodies but long thin legs.

Please help.

Thanks in advance.

platypus

If it looks like this,


it's known as a daddy long legs spider. We had them in our garage and house when I lived in Florida. Never tried to get rid of them as they are non-venomous to humans and actually prey on other spiders (and mosquitos). We accepted that spiders of one kind or another were going to live with us, so we decided to let the relatively nice guys stay.

I suppose you could spray them with a garden bug killer, but they would just come back. Or something nastier might take their place, like...

Black Widow


Brown Recluse


And, yes, both of the above nasties live in Florida.

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sergi

daddy longlegs are actually the mose venomous, concentration wise, but yeah luckily they cant bite through your skin and don't have any real volume of venom.

but I think they are strictly hunting spiders and don't build webs.

if you can get hedge apples, I hear they discourage spiders.
a hedge apple is a big green softball sized fruit from a very thorny tree. They may not have them around florida.

platypus

I've heard that too, so went looking. Appears to be a myth.

The Straight Dope

Edited cuz I can't spell.

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Out the 10Base-T, through the router, down the T1, over the leased line, off the bridge, past the firewall...nothing but Net.

HK726

Ok, point taken. Daddy long legs is a much better spider to have around than those two.

hotdogg

Never tried it , but essense of spearment is suppossed to get rid of spiders...Very strong smelling stuff, do not know if it helps to get rid of Daddy Long Legs.

clavus

Daddy longlegs are going to show up pretty much no matter what. I urge a peaceful coexistance between you guys. They may be messy, but they kill things that could kill you.

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fhqwhgads

Kill one spider, jab a toothpick through 'em, and post that at every doorway. They'll learn to stay out...if they know what's good for 'em.

BigTruck1956

like was mentioned above, the daddy-long-legs spiders are worth more than you give them credit. around my house i find wasps, ants, earwigs, flies and many other unleasant insects sucked dry in their webs!

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zampolit

If you leave them be their population will start to regulate itself based on the amount of prey available. If you get rid of them you might be asking for bigger trouble. In the form of a prey population explosion.

sunstone

Daddy-long-legs do prey on most everything else you'd rather not have around, but they DO make webs. Suppose it might be so that they regulate themselves, but it sure seems like once they got established they just keep spreading and making a mess that has to be cleaned up every so often. I just make a habit of spraying after I've cleaned them out. That keeps them and the other crawlies away for a while, at least.

trialzin

YIKES sory but this is one man who hates spiders to no end. If I see one no matter its use I kill it, I absolutely hate spiders. If I ever woke up and seen one on me I would blow a gasket. Did I mention I hate spiders. Great now I have the willies. Thanks

lady

Were pics of the spiders really necessary???

*totally has the heebee jeebees now*

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Looften

Wow, the Daddy Longlegs is the only "spider" to have a penis. Forget killing them, I'd consider them roommates, as long as they helped stock the fridge.

obediah

spiders are generally better to have around than what they eat. So it's better to add to the top of the food chain, than take the top off.

I suggest a pile of kittens. They love spiders.

nulltype

Kittens like spiders?

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SnotGoblin

I used to have a pretty bad bug problem. Fly and other flying creatures would somehow find their way into my apartment.

Then, quite suddenly, they were gone.

I saw the killer outside my door last week. I thanked him and wished him well living outside my front door. It's got a cool web too. Kinda like those Wolf Spider's have. With the trapdoor. But this one is just open at the end. And web spreading out all around it against the wall.

general abuse

I'm from Perth, Australia,. There is an insecticide commonly available here called Coopex. Its has a very low toxicity to humans, and lasts up to 12 months. Its just a powder you mix with water, and spray using a squirty bottle. when it dries, it leaves a white residue. very effective against all creepy crawlies

cheerios

we have a widow that lives under our doorstep... did you know they're nocturnal? ours is, anyway... big ugly fucker, but she's outside, and enjoys her web, so I'm all for it. *shudder*

scansinboy

"Spiders is good. They eats the cockroaches"

/Fletch Lives

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alkaloid

There is a spider that's living on the garage door. My wife wanted me to kill it but I told her that they are good for us. We both liked the workmanship of the web. I keep the outside lights near the web on at night so that more bugs will be caught by the spider. It's getting really fat.

jimk

how long til the spider starts thinking, "hmmm, i wonder how one of those big pink animals would taste?"

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Mephisto2

Spare us a thought down here in Australia!


The Funnel Web spider

Symptoms and Signs of Envenomation by Atrax robustus

In most cases of bites by this spider, little venom is injected and no symptoms develop. None the less, first aid should be promptly applied and medical attention sought without delay. If envenomation has occurred, the bite site may be extremely painful, although tissue necrosis is not seen. There is some evidence that prolonged immobilisation of venom in the tissues may lead to inactivation. Systemic symptoms can develop within minutes if effective first aid is not employed. They are due to the effect of atraxotoxin?s direct effect on nerves leading to the widespread release of neurotransmitter from somatic and autonomic nerves.

Symptoms and signs of envenomation include:

Numbness around the mouth and spasms of the tongue
Nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, acute gastric dilatation
Profuse sweating, salivation, lacrimation, piloerection
Local and generalized muscle fasciculation and spasm, commencing in facial tongue or intercostal muscles, and including trismus, which may necessitate paralysing the patient with muscle relaxants in order to manage the airway
Dyspnoea
Confusion, irrationality, coma which may persist in the presence of normalized ventilation, oxygenation and blood pressure, and may be related to raised intracranial pressure
Hypertension, vasoconstriction, tachycardia and cardiac arryhthmias ? related to release and subsequent depletion of neurotransmitter
Widely dilated pupils, which may be fixed
Acute non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema
Later, the severely envenomed patient may develop progressive hypotension and apnoea. These features may relate to depletion of neurotransmitter.


Several people have died after being bitten by Funnel Webs.


The Mouse Spider

Mouse spiders, which belong to the trapdoor family of spiders, are found throughout mainland Australia. They make vertical burrows lined with silk, and with a door at the entrance.
Mouse spiders are aggressive, and will adopt an attacking posture when threatened, rearing up on their hind legs. They are thickset, with large fangs capable of inflicting a painful and potentially serious bite. Mouse spiders are occasionally mistaken for funnel web spiders, and their venoms appear to possess some similarities to those of funnel webs.

The female M. occatoria produces copious amounts of highly toxic venom, which was shown to be potentially as dangerous as that of the Sydney funnel web spider on preliminary toxicity testing performed at the former Commonwealth Serum Laboratories.
Recent work on venom from the male M. bradleyi suggests that it affects presynaptic transmitter release in a manner similar to that of the Blue Mountains funnel web spider (H. versuta) venom, and that funnel web spider antivenom attenuates this effect.



The Redback Spider

he time course and the actual symptoms are highly variable, but progression of the illness is generally slow, and symptoms may persist for weeks after an untreated bite. The acute symptoms include:

· Immediate pain at the bite site +/- erythema and swelling .
· Pain progressing to involve the entire limb
· Painful or tender regional lymph nodes.
· Sweating, sometimes affecting only the bitten limb initially, and sometimes over bizarre distributions distal to the bite site
· Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain
· Headache
· Migratory arthralgia
· Fever
· Restlessness and insomnia
· Hypertension
· Neurological symptoms associated with the neuromuscular blockade and possibly catecholamine release caused by a-latrotoxin

The exact mechanism(s) by which the toxins produce the observed clinical effects are poorly understood, as is the precise cause of death. No deaths have been reported since 1955, a year before the introduction of redback spider antivenom in Australia. Unusually, antivenom may be effective even if administered several weeks after the bite.



The White-tailed Spider

White tailed spiders are found in most areas of Australia, and are common in urban dwellings. They are readily identifiable by their cylindrical body shape and the presence of a white or grey spot on the end on their abdomen. They are active hunters, preying upon other types of spiders, and may be found roaming inside houses, especially in warmer weather. White tailed spiders have been implicated in some cases of Necrotising Arachnidism (skin breakdown or ulceration following spider bites). The incidence of ulceration or necrosis following white tailed spider bite is not known. The majority of cases appear not to develop ongoing ulceration, although blisters and redness are common.

White tailed spiders are readily identified by a distinctive white spot on the abdomen, present in both males and females. They are often found in bedding, or in clothing that has been left on the floor, and are mainly active at night, when they hunt for prey of spiders and insects. It is unknown whether the male and female are equally associated with skin necrosis. In most spider bite cases in which Lampona Sp have been positively identified, only a mild localised reaction or blister ensues. There is, however, a small number of cases of significant tissue loss after a witnessed bite by these spiders.


The Bird-eating Spider

Bird-eating spiders are amongst the largest spiders found in Australia. These large primitive spiders, native to northern and inland Australia, excavate long burrows from which they emerge at night to ambush prey including spiders, insects, frogs, lizards and sometimes small birds. Some species are currently being collected from the wild and being sold as pets in suburban pet shops, increasing the likelihood of bites by these large arachnids. Reported symptoms includes nausea, vomiting, sweating and general malaise. No deaths have been recorded. There is no antivenom available.




Finally, here is an example of Necrotising Arachnidism, the horrible flesh-eating condition that occurs with many Australian spider-bites. The ones that don't kill you, that is...



Nice, eh?


This is only a subset of the nasties you get down here.



Mr Mephisto

Speed_Gibson

Nice pics, Mr Mephisto. Arachnids are such fascinating creatures to study.

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Black Adder

dailyjo2003

I've heard mint, like the herb, repels spiders.

Munku

We found a black widow living on our garage door on the inside. We liked her and let her stay.

chubber

More pics please.......................

tekaweni

I used to live in South Africa and my garage was host to a black widow spider. She kept to the corner where she'd set up home and like Munku, we left her alone.

She fascinated the hell out of guests too (the spider, not Munku lol)

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hansthemolemann

Ive seen these things(at least they looke the same) in my house, up here in vancouver!, and I hate them, its an old house and I dont know how they get in, but I keep having to throw them outside.

And once at work we opened a crate of aluminum from china and a couple of black widow spiders ran out, had to call somebody to take care of them. Good thing nobody did anything stupid and got bit because we werent sure what kind of spiders they were at first...

mvassek

Our cat got fleas about a year ago and trying to keep from using poisons we purchased an electronic pest repeller. It is a little box that plugs into the wall and emits a high pitched noise, doesn't bother cats, dogs , humans, but could bug rodent type pets, hamster, gerbils, etc. It got rid of the fleas in less than a week we just left it plugged in and started to notice that we had no spiders or any other bug including ants in our home. I have suggested it to friends and they have noticed the same no bugs whatsoever. If the spiders bug you this is a good way to get rid of them.

Aesik

I find that the sole of my shoe works pretty effectively