Spiders in the garage..

SkinnyG wrote: There is only one solution: Try to make it look like an accident.

That might solve all my problems with the Alfa as well...

Oh, c'mon...you've all had a project where you were tempted like that!

No, no I haven't, which only means I need more projects. Does a 17' boat qualify?

ReverendDexter wrote: I'm of the "leave 'em be" crowd. Spiders kill bugs, and there's NOTHING I hate more than hearing that one lone mosquito buzzing around the bedroom as I try to go to sleep. I have a deal with 'em. They don't bite me and mine, I let them live where they please that's not in my bed. So far it's worked well, and I've never in my life been bit by a spider. For the record, while Black Widows have very toxic venom, they are one of the most timid spiders on the planet. They will only bite when cornered (i.e. in your boot and you put it on, or if you close your hand around one).

Well, that's kind of the problem. We moved in here in kind of a rush, so there's lots of non-car stuff shoved in the garage. I've got a lot of grabbing & lifting & moving to do, and I was stupid enough to drag a new project home before we decided to buy instead of rent. I know they won't bite unless I bother them, but I'm about to bother them like crazy getting the place sorted out and cleaned up.

At our last place (an apartment that had single garages), I got bit really bad by one that I didn't even see. The bite at first looked like some of the Brown Recluse bite pics I've seen on the internet, but it didn't turn into a gaping hole in my arm like some of those do. Maybe I'm not as allergic to them as some people are? But regardless..it hurt, and it scared me a lot, since I wasn't sure what the hell bit me. I'm not doing that again.

Like I said, we live out in the country now. I want `em under the eaves, in the yard & trees, etc., eating all the mosquitos, cockroaches & ants they can..and I would actually like a couple of Wolf Spiders next to the green Corrado in the back yard. They'd probably eat the mice before they get into my car.

But I want my garage to be somewhere that I can work & hang out without always having to worry about where I stick my hands or park my butt.

I really think the ultrasonic repeller stuff is what I want, but I'm still worried that my girl's 5yr old would be able to hear the thing. Anyone heard any different?

I've been bitten by a brown recluse, I don't recomend it. Try four days at 104deg, the WORST hang-over you ever had, vice grips on ALL your joints and roving muscle cramps. Like I said, I don't recomend it. That said, I would rather have a couple of spiders in my shop than a fraking cat!

I've heard that ultrasonic repellent stuff is crap. Snake oil. But I haven't really tried it out, so I can't judge the pile of crap.

My guess is to do a search and find a real place that tested it, like Popular Science or Popular Mechanics. I'm pretty sure it was one of those places that revealed it doesn't really work.

Release a baggie of snakes into your garage, they'll eat the spiders I'm sure.

we have some kind of US repelent that ticks every 8 seconds. Its very quiet and I almost cant hear it unless Im trying. All I know is that we live near woods, and the outside of our house has a bazillion spider webs on the gutters and under the deck and in the bushes etc, but rarely one in the house. In our last home, a townhouse with units on either side, we employed the same item. Both neighbors at the same time had some form of pest problem, one mice and the other ants. We never saw a one. Im just sayin, that snake oil might also repel little miscellaneous crawling things

The mfgr of the repellent tickers is sunbeam for those who want to give it a try.

Before you do anything you've got to get some of that expanding foam stuff and seal off the entrances or they'll come right back in. We had the same issue in our last house (when we moved in the garage was like a giant-spider frat party) and I foamed up all of the wiring and pipe holes, Dryer vent, etc. then sprayed and I never had another issue with them.

4eyes wrote: I've been bitten by a brown recluse, I don't recomend it. Try four days at 104deg, the WORST hang-over you ever had, vice grips on ALL your joints and roving muscle cramps. Like I said, I don't recomend it. That said, I would rather have a couple of spiders in my shop than a fraking cat!

That sounds more like a black widow than a brown recluse, 4eyes.

I have lots and lots of spiders in my basement. When their webs get too thick I use a shop vac to suck them up. Other than that, I leave them alone.

SkinnyG wrote: My philosophy with all bugs is simple: "If it moves, kill it."

But spiders are (or could be) your allies in that philosophy. Web based ones in out of the way not named black widow get a pass from me. Mobile hunting-type ones don't if they're indoors.

It's not like spiders spontaneously appear. Building a spider takes eating bugs...

Dr. Hess wrote:

4eyes wrote: I've been bitten by a brown recluse, I don't recomend it. Try four days at 104deg, the WORST hang-over you ever had, vice grips on ALL your joints and roving muscle cramps. Like I said, I don't recomend it. That said, I would rather have a couple of spiders in my shop than a fraking cat!

That sounds more like a black widow than a brown recluse, 4eyes.

I concur. Or something completely non-spider I guess.

keethrax wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote:

4eyes wrote: I've been bitten by a brown recluse, I don't recomend it. Try four days at 104deg, the WORST hang-over you ever had, vice grips on ALL your joints and roving muscle cramps. Like I said, I don't recomend it. That said, I would rather have a couple of spiders in my shop than a fraking cat!

That sounds more like a black widow than a brown recluse, 4eyes.

I concur. Or something completely non-spider I guess.

Never saw the spider, it was in an open case of oil. I probably slung it two counties away. The fang marks were almost an eighth of an inch apart! The doc said BR, I wasn't in any shape to argue

Go to the pet store and buy a couple of geckos..

No, not the annoying, British-accent, insurance-selling kind...

cwh wrote: No, no I haven't, which only means I need more projects. Does a 17' boat qualify?

Fiberglass hull with barnicles?

/Yoda voice

..you will be...

\Yoda voice

DustoffDave wrote: Before you do anything you've got to get some of that expanding foam stuff and seal off the entrances or they'll come right back in. We had the same issue in our last house (when we moved in the garage was like a giant-spider frat party) and I foamed up all of the wiring and pipe holes, Dryer vent, etc. then sprayed and I never had another issue with them.

Dave, great advice. I just discovered that the thing actually has a pet door in the back (it's behind the shelving I threw up the first day we moved in), I guess I have to seal that one up before the weather gets cold & the mice invade.

What do you do about the door openings, though? How on earth do I seal those?

4eyes wrote:

keethrax wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote:

4eyes wrote: I've been bitten by a brown recluse, I don't recomend it. Try four days at 104deg, the WORST hang-over you ever had, vice grips on ALL your joints and roving muscle cramps. Like I said, I don't recomend it. That said, I would rather have a couple of spiders in my shop than a fraking cat!

That sounds more like a black widow than a brown recluse, 4eyes.

I concur. Or something completely non-spider I guess.

Never saw the spider, it was in an open case of oil. I probably slung it two counties away. The fang marks were almost an eighth of an inch apart! The doc said BR, I wasn't in any shape to argue

When I first noticed the thing, it was two little cuts about that far apart. I didn't go to the doctor because we were broke at the time.

The bite swelled up that same evening with a hole around the "cuts" (I guess where the venom was busy killing cells). The thing looked like a volcano, a big lump with a hole in the middle. It also made my elbow stiff (the bite was almost on the apex of the joint). Took about three weeks to go away.

I don't seem to have a scar from it, tho..

friedgreencorrado said: What do you do about the door openings, though? How on earth do I seal those?

Just get some 1/8-1/4 inch (depending on gap) foam strips with the adhesive backing and stick them around the door jamb and on the bottom side of the door itself. Or get the kind without adhesive and tack it in place.

It'll be hard to make it totally impervious, but the more you can seal off, the harder it will be for the creepy-crawlies to get in.

DustoffDave wrote:

friedgreencorrado said: What do you do about the door openings, though? How on earth do I seal those?

Just get some 1/8-1/4 inch (depending on gap) foam strips with the adhesive backing and stick them around the door jamb and on the bottom side of the door itself. Or get the kind without adhesive and tack it in place. It'll be hard to make it totally impervious, but the more you can seal off, the harder it will be for the creepy-crawlies to get in.

Thanks, dude. That sounds like it will work.

mad_machine wrote: well, at least they did not bite you

not sweet enough i guess to much brake cleaner

I just keep thinking of this whenever I see this thread, it had to be posted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUvUV69PzA

Mine was on the first knuckle of my index finger...near the nail. No flesh to necrotise there so it went straight into my blood streem Still have the bite scars, if you can pic them out of all the others

So with these huge spiders that get into your houses, does everyone throw a bowl overtop of them and slip cardboard underneath them and toss them back outside or do some of you kill them? I've always wondered what you would kill them with. Many a spider have met their death at the end of a rolled up GRM in my house, but I live in Canada, where a spider with a body bigger than a dime is a big deal. I imagine swatting a huntsman-like spider with a rolled up magazine would just make it angry, and stepping on it would make a heck of a mess. Spraying it with insecticide just makes spiders freak out until they're dead, so I wouldn't want to spray a 5 inch spider and have it jump around the room for 10 minutes while it's nervous system shuts down. A nail gun worked in Arachnaphobia, but seriously, how do you kill one of those big fricking spiders?

Bob

Ever play Dead Space? "Strategic dismemberment".

aussiesmg wrote: I just keep thinking of this whenever I see this thread, it had to be posted http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUvUV69PzA

I love that movie..great thing to watch at the end of a bad day..

Schmidlap wrote: A nail gun worked in Arachnaphobia, but seriously, how do you kill one of those big fricking spiders? Bob

Staple gun?