Never tried it, but I have lost track of the number of times I've had to trap and remove spiders from my home in the last few weeks- all those open windows to try to cool down! That lager glass never gets used for anything else.... as for horse chestnut, there;'s a thread on here somewhere where someone said they'd lined up conkers on windowsills, but spiders had just climbed over them, so not sure whether your spray will work or not. I'd love to know if it does...

My friend has a phobia and she reckons it works. She lives in a bungalow.

Thanks. I tried conkers in my previous bungalow and I swear I heard them laughing as them clambered over them! This is the time of year the males are looking to mate - not in my house! I shall let you know.

I've tried the chestnut stuff. Didn't work for me. I still found a huge spider in the spare bedroom. I've never seen one so big - at least 5 inches across, I reckon, including long legs. It was beige with brown and even without my glasses I could see the hairs on it's legs. I'm not quite arachnophobic but I am scared of the wretched things so with one that size there was no way I was letting it have the run of the house!

It took me several weeks to stop searching for it's mate and I hope to never see one that size again.

Check out my blog "To Add Insult to Injury" written this past May to see photos of what a spider bite did to my leg. It took 4months to heal with scarring. Kill them if they are in your home. This is the time they start moving in to the home to find cosy places to overwinter and if they are female wolf spiders, to find a nice location to turn into a nursery. I have been bitten by spiders, centipedes and stung by wasps and bees but the bite by this spider felt like I was being injected with acid with prolonged pain afterwards.

This makes me so happy we don't have spiders like that in the UK! I generally leave them be because I think if they can find enough mini-beasts to keep them going they are doing a useful job. But enough is as good as a feast!
Its leeches that give me the heeby jeebies but fortunately we don't come across them very often...

Agree, thankful we don't have such aggressive spiders in the UK. Live and let live is my attitude, they catch flies and other insects and I've never had a problem with them biting.

I have always had to deal with them when the children were small and hubby was at work but I hate it. I'm going to give the house a good vacuum (as recommended) in all the dark hidie holes and hope for the best. A friend's child was bitten by one when she put her slippers on but it didn't cause too much trouble.

Looked up the nastiest spiders in the UK and you do have some real hot heads both indigenous and imports. The father of one of my high school classmates had a business which fumigated imported bananas before going to be sold. This had to be done because once bitten by one of these bannana spiders one would die in about an hour or so. I wonder how many banana pickers succumbed to this spider over the years. I do agree that they do serve a useful purpose in the garden (not in my house thank you very much) and that's where I got bit but it was startling how much tissue damage occurred.

I've never had a problem with spiders but the mere thought of them can produce vivid nightmares and phobias for some. Aside from the Black Widow & Brown Recluse, they don't bother me at all.

Even the NHS lists spiders as one of the things that can bite us in the UK, but the one to worry about is the False Widow spider - their bites can cause redness, pain, and in some people, a bad reaction. The advice is 'not to disturb spiders because they only bite when they feel threatened'... hmm, if they think I'm leaving any spider I know is in the house undisturbed, they must be totally bonkers... mostly I don't kill them, but there were two occasions when I sucked it up the hoover in desperation, it being in a difficult spot to trap and put outdoors.

Well, I'll admit it, I did have one of the best low cost and low maintenance pets a busy person could have, tarantulas. I kept the gentle and reasonably slow ones though, Mexican Red Banded and Rosehair ones. The name of the game with these pets was to keep the temp and humidity just right so they could successfully molt and not get caught in their shedded exoskeleton which would mean certain death.

I touched a stuffed tarantula once, but I knew it wasn't going to crawl up my arm - eeeeek.

Apparently its only the female Fasle Widow that bites, and then only if alarmed. And they are still quite rare here. I thought we were talking really serious bites like the one that bit Loosestrife. We don't have those thank goodness. Though must admit I do occasionally look at the bananas and think "I wonder..."
And even ladybirds will bite occasionally.

Funniest experience I had with a spider was out walking in local woodland and, nearly, walking into a web... the spider loomed out at me most impressively looking extremely aggressive - can't say I blamed it!

I took a shoe off recently and felt a sharp pain on the top of my foot. My foot swelled up, I had a big red lump and I couldn't stand anything on my foot for over a week. The Dr said it was a spider bite, and the next week I noticed 2 very large spiders in my bedroom.
I have a photo of my foot and it's horrendous, and a photo of the spider.

Probably a false widow then Hank - there was a whole thing about this spider and its bite last year in the press and on tv... I've never liked spiders, its the one thing that requires extreme self control to stop myself screaming and running like hell... don't mind rats, mice, snakes, but spiders... and now there's a good reason! I hope you got shot of the spiders in your bedroom a bit sharpish...

Okay, now I'm really bothered. Like, Bamboo, whenever I see one it requires extreme self control. I could never go to Australia because I've read about the poisonous spiders there and how big they and their webs are. Just read Bryson's Down Under and I guarantee that none of you spider haters will ever go there either.

My daughter lives near Sydney and she's an even bigger spider freak than me.

B. Trod on one by accident and let the other loose in the garden. And searched my bedroom from top to bottom - and still shake all my shoes and slippers before I put them on.

This website might be of interest,with photos of all three species of false widows to help tell the difference.

http://srs.britishspiders.org.uk/portal/p/False+Widow+Spiders

They just don't bother me at all and I don't think about them either. Whenever I see one, it goes its own way, I go mine - that works well for us both. No point going frantic. lol

Yes but you're not a woman, Paul. Many of us run a mile from those scary things, most of whom can run faster than us! That's why we women call the man of the house when we seen one.

Well, while in my basement I saw a hairy eight legged one crawl into a space in the wall between two bricks. Not desiring its presence while there I took a wooden ruler and tried to dispatch it. Being fed up with my efforts it ran out of the nook and across the basement wall making a loud buzzing sound. Man of the house? This battle hardened veteran of the Korean War ran up the stairs and out of the house leaving my wife and children alone with that monster. Later I read that certain spiders can make noises if severely agitated and for mating purposes.

Whoa there, Arbuthnot, that's very sexist - my first husband did a damn good impression of Usain Bolt at the sight of a spider, never seen such a pace from a standing or sitting start... and I had a male friend ten years ago who, quite incredibly, leapt backwards off a bed and legged it because he saw a spider - which I dealt with. Since my twenties, I've never once called a man to help me with a spider, and, having lived alone now for over 15 years, I'd have a long wait... I deal with every one of them myself. Actually, the necessity to do that has helped reduce my phobia - I still don't like 'em, but am able to keep myself under control. The reality is, phobias are not confined to females, but a percentage of the general population, both male and female, will have a somewhat phobic reaction to some creatures. I well remember my mother standing on a chair in the kitchen screeching like a banshee when she saw a mouse when I was small, but I've never disliked them. I don't tolerate them in the house, but I actually feel really sorry about having to eject them...

Loosestrife - I had to laugh at your description, thanks for that - I've never heard a spider make a noise, its bad enough they run fast, never mind chattering as they do, I'd absolutely have done what you did. Thats the trouble with phobias, they're difficult to over ride.. but some of them are there for a good reason, a piece of human survival programming.

Cammomile - I dunno how helpful this is, but I noticed a significant reduction in spiders in the house after the windows were all replaced - I still get them in late summer because all the windows and doors are usually open to the outside, but the rest of the year, the drop in numbers was very noticeable, I rarely get one apart from in the bathroom where the window's open all the time.

I wasn't being sexist, Bamboo, but merely commenting on the fact that MOST women run a mile or shout for help. Because I'm independent I despatch the spiders in our house except where they're in the mail domain such as the garage, shed etc. I refuse to do those as there are always quite a few whereas I can only cope with one at a time.

It's right what you say about controlling the phobia though. Getting rid of them does help to keep the panic at bay. Besides, I just can't leave them to have the run of the house - the very thought of one running over my face while I'm asleep gives me the jitters. Especially if my mouth is open....ooh, no!

"I know an old lady who swallowed a spider...." That's not going to be me, I can tell you.

I didn't think you were being sexist Arb. I did have a few night terrors involving spiders - cold sweats, hyperventilating blah blah. A product of my imagination.

I'm not a screaming wreck when I discover a spider and mainly put them out myself but, if my husband is around I quite like him to do it - it's not too much to ask. This all started because I went upstairs, was coming back down when I saw the beast sitting on the landing where the stairs turned. My brave husband refused to come up and deal with it so I put the plastic tooth mug over it and left it there. He did eventually put it out but the creature was clinging onto the inside of the mug for grim death and took a good four goes to shake it loose. When husband came back in doors he said there was another one just over the open window in the sitting room, waiting for its turn. That's when I decided to get the chestnut spray. Fingers crossed it seems to be working and even wasps don't like crossing the threshold. Our windows are still under the ten year guarantee and are all double glazed so no problems there Bamboo. Loostrife made me laugh too, I've seen so many Utube films of people trying to catch spiders with hilarious results.

Where'd you get the spray from Cammomile?

What's wrong with me? I'm a woman and I quite like them...(except the very chunky very black ones that run very fast and tend to live in the unswept places of mess in the garage...)

Nothing's wrong with you Steragram - how do you feel about snakes or rats or big stag beetles (another thing I don't like, big flying beetles) There must be something you're a bit phobic about, lol!

I bought it from a local hardware store but you can probably buy it from Robert Dyas and they sell it on Amazon.

I like stag beetles Bamboo.. Snakes are reasonably OK except those very small but deadly bright green ones that you see in the zoo. I have had a python hung round my neck on one memorable occasion.
Don't like rats but not phobic about them. Not quite.
What freaks me out is leeches. It's the way they stretch out very thin and then compress and go very thick. And they way they can come out of the water...Yikes.I once sourced some pond weed in a local pool and having read it should be washed before putting in a garden pond I tipped it into the sink. It was simply alive with leeches and they started climbing out of the sink onto the draining board... Its the only situation in my married life that I totally funked and was completely unable to cope with. Hurray for OH who came up trumps!

Oh and I can't bear to touch slugs...

Ah good - I was beginning to think you were superhuman! I don't like slugs nor leeches, can pick a slug up with bare hands if I have to, but I couldn't do that with spiders...

Thanks Cammomile, will have a look at amazon.

I'm not afraid of slugs though they do make me cringe a bit. But pick up the slimy things? Definitely not. I have to use a shovel or kitchen paper then they go in the garden recycling bin. Snails are ok as their shells are firm and they're quite fascinating. Slugs are just yucky.

I once knew somebody who came to visit from a nearby smallholding and was looking round the greenhouse. She picked off a slug and squished it between her fingers. Then when I'd made the tea she ate a few biscuits with the same (unwashed) hand. It takes all sorts, I suppose.

Eugh, disgusting, I wouldn't squash one like that - one thing I can tell you is, after you've picked up a slug, their slime stays on your fingers even after ordinary hand washing, its necessary to scrub with a nail brush and soap to completely get rid of it. Hmm, biscuit and slug slime... maybe she likes it!

Perhaps slugs sautéed in a nice garlic and butter sauce?

Well if you can eat snails in garlic sauce why not slugs? I do have to say though, Loosestrife, please don't invite me to dinner!

Who can eat snails in garlic sauce? Not me...you might as well put your sauce on bits of india rubber.

Bamboo, lol! I couldn't bear to pick up a slug with my bare hands. If I accidentally touch one I can't move fast enough to get rid. Interesting that the slime sticks. That was nasty about eating the biscuit.

Some people would eat anything dipped in garlic sauce - snails, slugs, worms, heck even spiders! Have you ever been to Thailand?

No. But it wouldn't get me eating snails with or without garlic. One mouthful was enough to last me...

me neither. I draw the line at clams & oysters thank you!

Now I am reminded of the famous and hilarious " oysters and snails" scene between Olivier and Curtis in the movie " Spartacus" :) The scene was cut out of the origional movie but placed back in the restored version.

I won't eat lobster either as when put in boiling water it squeals and nobody will convince me that the noise is just air escaping.

I've only ever eaten one lobster, in Canada. I then learned that lobsters mate for life and now feel it's cruel to eat them leaving their poor mate bereft and lonely.

They do not mate for life though it's nice to think so.

Loosestrife's right, they don't mate for life at all, in fact, the male lobster gets very busy indeed with an entire harem of female lobsters, who apparently form an orderly queue awaiting their turn... that episode of Friends where Phoebe says they (Ross and Rachel) were like lobsters because they mate for life has a lot to answer for! I really like lobster - but that scream when they're boiled means I never eat it, surely there must be a more humane way of killing or at least anaesthetizing them first... it might be quick, but it must be agony for a minute or three.

I agree Bamboo. I won't eat it either. Just as well it's expensive or Him Indoors would be tempted!

I won't eat it either - or any shellfish come to that.

As far as killing before cooking, there is pithing but that takes a skilled hand. I think the most humane way is to place the lobster or crab in the freezer for 20 min and then into the pot they go. Some say that they do not have the nervous system to feel pain as we know it but a noxious stimulus is just that no matter how the organism perceives it and it would be kinder not to administer that stimulus to it even though it is not what we humans call pain.

If you have a full rolling boil going and it's salted, it's instantaneous for the lobster. What sounds like a 'scream' is really just air being forced out of the stomach. Lobsters don't 'scream' and they don't have brains. Unlike chopping off a chicken's head. Now that's gotta hurt!

Years ago we went on holiday to Corsica where one of the national dishes in blackbird pate. I threatened Him Indoors with divorce if he tried it. Thankfully he restrained himself.

As for the squealing, Bathgate, I've heard the same air 'justification' as you have but it still sounds like the lobster is in real pain. At least if it was dead first it would be ok but some gourmet chefs insist it has to be alive before going in the pot. That's cruelty in my book.

I won't argue, but for health & safety I'd prefer him alive up to the last second. Otherwise the meat goes rancid & doesn't taste as good.

Lobsters must have brains or they wouldn't be able to function.

They don't have a cerebral cortex like we do though, Cammomile, what's usually classed as a brain - they have a sort of neural network with ganglions at various points in the body instead - which makes it likely they're entirely capable of feeling pain anywhere throughout the body. Be easier if they had a brain one end, you could just chop that off before boiling them...

Yes, no cerebral cortex or not well developed ones so even though they might feel feel pain, they don't feel the torture of the questions of, "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?"

And 'what happens when I die' and a whole list of other discomfiting existential angst... I can't help feeling a bit jealous of something that simply lives, until it doesn't any more. Hmm, I must be older than I thought...

Yes Bamboo, as the old saying goes.." If I look a bit confused it's because I am thinking." :)

Ha ha, good excuse, reminds me of being told you've nodded off and protesting 'I'm just inspecting the inside of my eyelids'...