Things You'll Need
- Flashlight
- Tissues
- Long handled broom
- Phone
Instructions
Find the places spiders are most likely to hide in your home. Some favorite places are dark corners, cluttered basements or attics, old boxes and behind furniture or drapery that is seldom touched. Once you have found the places they like to hide, you will know that it was once or is currently a spider home by the evidence of other dead insects (the spider's food) and cobwebs. Use the flashlight may be helpful for places that are dark and hidden.
De-clutter and clean all the places you have identified as spider hiding places. This means you need to remove all objects they could hide in or behind. You may have to rearrange furniture and clean old dusty drapes. Remove the cobwebs with a tissue and knock down the ones that are high up with a long handled broom. If you find webs that actually have spiders in them, you may want to either squash or capture the spider before removing the web to remove the chance that it might jump on you and try to escape.
Catch spiders that you see trying to flee by placing a cup or jar over them and then scooping them onto a magazine or other flat piece of paper. Squash spiders, if you like, with a good old fashioned spider squasher a/k/a a shoe. Remember, spiders can squash themselves pretty flat, so it may not die with one whacking. They like to appear dead and then run away when you're not looking, so if you mean to kill it, make sure you do.
Spray the places you saw the webs with spider insecticide that you can get just about anywhere. If you have small children in the home and you don't want to spray, you can have the exterminator come. Just give them a call and they will charge you on a per-room basis to come and get rid of your spider problem. You may have to vacate your home if the problem is so bad that they have to spray a lot, but don't worry, you can come back within 24 to 48 hours.
Remember to check the places you saw spiders and de-clutter and spray them regularly to remain spider free.