Pesticide-Free Ways for Fewer Spiders in Your Home
I was reading a few sentences of an article recently that said something about September being an extra spider-y month, something about male spiders coming out to flirt with females? I didn’t really read the whole thing because who wants to really know that much about spiders? Here’s what I do know: I don’t love them, particularly when they like to call my bedroom home and dance on my face at night. But I also don’t love the idea of dousing my sleep space with chemicals to keep them away. Fortunately, there are three secrets to living with less spiders that don’t require a thick coating of pesticides to achieve.
Not giving them fun hangouts around the house
Spiders like to hang out (and build cobwebs) in corners; we all know that fact. But they also love tucking away and getting comfy in, behind and around piles of well, things. From collections of books in a corner to really busy vignettes on tabletop and shelves, if it’s dark, tucked away and you don’t go there often, spiders are like “honey, this looks great!” Of course, it’s not always possible to go without things, so if you do have places that spiders might like to call home…
Try vacuuming, dusting, and in general making your home less welcoming to them
Spiders are not big fans of having their whole homes disturbed regularly by vacuums, dusters and rearranging. The more regularly you keep the corners of your rooms and the elements collected together clean, dusted and vacuumed, the less spiders will want to move in (or at the very least, you’ll keep it so clean they don’t have the opportunity to make webs and get real dug in deep).
Cleaning the perimeter of the exterior of your home
Do you have lots of leaves, bushes, wood piles, grass or other plant life and stuff piled up around the exterior perimeter of your house or apartment? You might as well be building spider condos for them to move into. Just like they like tucking away, hiding in and making homes out of stuff in the corners of your interior rooms, so too do they like tucking their spiders kids into leaf piles at night (just kidding that’s not how spiders sleep, but you know what I mean). Keeping the exterior a little cleaner might discourage them from hanging out and then trying to slip into your home.
Want more tips for keeping spiders and bugs at bay? →
- The Battle of the Bugs: How To Prevent & Get Rid of Pests
- Household Pest Control: 5 Natural Bug Repellents
Editor’s note: The inclusion of the gorgeous photo of this corner from Rachelle’s home is not meant to imply that she’s got spiders; merely meant to illustrate the sort of dark corner a spider might want to hang out in.