Avoid Pesticides Get Rid of Spiders Naturally

Spider webs & spiders are only cool at Halloween. So how do you rid your house of spiders? If you’re like me you don’t want to be around the toxic chemicals that can trigger an autoimmune flare up and you don’t want to allow the spiders to become squatters in your house. The good news is there are effective safe natural options to TOXIC pesticides!

Safe natural options to TOXIC pesticides

Safe natural options to TOXIC pesticides

Unless you live in Richmond Virginia “Spiders” are those predatory creatures with organs made to spin silk. And, did you know… There are about 40,000 different types of spiders! (Yuck)  They have hairy legs that contain their organs for hearing, smell and touch.  They also all have fangs that bite with venom injecting precision & their webs are made of strong protein strands. (double yuck)

A spider’s venom works in one of two ways.  One way is to attack the nervous system with neuro toxic venom which can paralyze the entire nervous system. The other way they can bite is with necrotic venom which attacks the tissues around the bite.  Lovely eh?

While this all sounds like a double decker sandwich of yuck — spiders are good too.  They kill more bugs then birds do. (This may be the only reason I like them.) Fortunately, most spiders aren’t aggressive and a bite from a spider into a human doesn’t do a lot of damage however there are exceptions and who wants to chance it? Like snakes, I respect these guys as one of God’s creations but I’m not willing to have them hang around long enough for me to figure out which type they are just yucky or truly dangerous.

 

NATURAL OPTIONS TO TOXIC PESTICIDES.

Chestnuts:

Chestnuts are good for more than ‘roasting on an open fire’ at Christmas. Fresh shelled chestnuts are a deterrent to spiders so place them in corners, across entry points etc. and they will serve as large electric fences.  Obviously, be careful if you have pets that like to play with ball type toys.  This solution wouldn’t work in my house.

Salt:

1 ounce of table salt and 1 gallon of warm water will kill them in short order. Guess that’s why I’ve never seen any sunbathing at the beach? Again be aware of the areas in which you spray this… it sounds obvious but be careful when spraying around wooden furniture. It may cause it to dry out & leave marks if you miss wiping it up.

Essential oils:

One drop of citronella, lavender, peppermint, cinnamon, and tea tree essential oils mixed with 1 quart of water will kill spiders as well as other insects. Admittedly, I have been successful using only the citronella, cinnamon, and peppermint (I’m not a huge tea tree lover) …. I’ve also used just peppermint and that worked great too – plus my rooms smelled like a candy cane!

Our sun room used to be such an attraction for spiders. You’d clean a web away one and they’d be 8 more the next day (kind-of like plucking a gray hair!?)  Clearly, a toxic chemical is not an option in my house so I got a empty room deodorizer spray bottle (any kind works but I like keeping the 7 oz ‘grab green‘ metal bottles) & loaded it up with the peppermint oil & added water. Granted I probably over did it with the amount or freely poured goodness… I think my first clue was when my husband walking in asking why the sun room smelled like chewing gum. My second clue was that days later I still smelled the peppermint…. but I haven’t been cleaning up daily webs for months!

Pennyroyal:

Pennyroyal is a herb that when sprinkled in areas that spiders frequent, it deters them from ever coming back. You can get it in any health food store. Just open the capsules.

Well, I hope this information has empowered you with natural options to get rid of spiders without toxins. As we approach Halloween, the only spiders I want to see are the stuffed kind that adorn our door as decoration!

September 17, 2016

2 Comments

  1. Judy September 17, 2016 at 11:01 pm

    Love this….you know how much I like spiders! Sounds like a nicer ways to get rid of them with out the awful smell of the spider sprays I’ve used in the past! LOL

    • Mama Frat September 18, 2016 at 1:47 pm

      Yes it is! Thanks for the comment Judy S.

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