Spiders! How effective and how safe is it to spray the inside of your house? DOES IT WORK??

[SallyKay]

Hi all, we are due to emigrate near to Sydney next year and as many people have also posted, I am a bit worried about the spiders. The huntsman due to their size does worry me most as I know they come into the house. My question is, how effective is spraying the inside and outside of your house? I've heard the huntsman still come in?! Also just wanting to know how safe it is to spray inside as it's obviously chemicals, I know they'll say it's safe but I have kids and am concerned about the chemicals and what they are inhaling.

Thanks so much! Can't wait to come and join you all down under!! Xx

[walkerfamily123]

I think it might be a bit dependent on where you live in sydney.

Basically we are south sydney and we dont really get many spiders (I mean we get a few little redbacks on the garage door, but thats about it).

[Guest]

I never sprayed inside or out, what are a few spiders compared to the risks of powerful chemicals.

 

i am a bit extreme about this and don't even use artificial air freshners but there is absolute evidence of the risks of spraying with pesticides - this is research that was done recently in WA.

 

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/16671499/child-cancer-link-to-pesticides/

[Rupert]

We are in northern Sydney and I see no more spiders here than I ever saw in UK. I would not be spraying inside of my house for sake of a few spiders a year or thereabouts.

[SallyKay]

Thank you all and especially Lady Rainicorn, this is exactly what I was worried about and thank you for the link! i will not spray the house and learn to live with them! ;-) xx

[blossom]

Remember that the houses here have screens on the doors and windows. I honestly have far less spiders in my house here then I ever had in the uk. I can think of one in maybe the last six months. The screens stop them. :-D

[Guest Ptp113]

Wouldn't do it. The sprays are more dangerous than the spiders!!

[Alaska]

That's an interesting article.

We are in Brisbane and it's not too bad. The biggest difference is that we have cut a lot of the branches and bushes back from the windows which has helped a lot. We spray the outside of the house occasionally but not the inside as I don't want the kids to be around the chemicals (although it was sprayed when we moved into the rental by the agents).

 

Huntsman are so fast that nothing seems to stop them. That said, we have only had a couple in thankfully (when DH was home to deal with them).

[NickyNook]

I've lived in Sydney for well over 30 years and I would barely see one huntsman a year - indoors or outdoors.

 

They're certainly not common where I live. We don't have any screens either.

 

I'd be much more concerned about cockroaches, if I were you, because they're everywhere.

[flag of convenience]

Don't use spray indoors. Spiders are not such a problem. Just remove them if they bother you or in the normal course of cleaning. It is difficult to prevent a few webs from appearing but a feather duster does the trick. Poisons inside the house never.

[flag of convenience]

I've lived in Sydney for well over 30 years and I would barely see one huntsman a year - indoors or outdoors.

 

They're certainly not common where I live. We don't have any screens either.

 

I'd be much more concerned about cockroaches, if I were you, because they're everywhere.

 

Roaches can be a menace. Some years more than others. Do put baits down for them but wouldn't spray.

[Guest]

I've been in Brisbane for 18 months.

 

Haven't seen anything other than a couple of small spiders. Probably curse myself and have a white tail waiting for me in bed now

[Guest littlesarah]

I never sprayed inside or out, what are a few spiders compared to the risks of powerful chemicals.

 

i am a bit extreme about this and don't even use artificial air freshners but there is absolute evidence of the risks of spraying with pesticides - this is research that was done recently in WA.

 

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/16671499/child-cancer-link-to-pesticides/

 

To be clear, there is no such thing as 'absolute evidence'. Scientists do not claim to have ever definitively found anything - one set of findings is just one set of findings, and we must always be willing to be contradicted. (That is the nature of scientific endeavour - it's about learning more, not 'proving' things.) This is one study, which was particularly concerned with professional insecticide treatments (many of which contain chemicals that are not present in those marketed for household use). In addition, the authors themselves state that a small sample size and the risk of selection bias are limitations of their study. The largest risk was associated with exposure to termiticides, all of which may only be applied by licensed pest controllers, and which therefore are not likely to be used in order to control household insect populations. Individual chemicals used were not identified, so it's hard to elucidate exactly how such chemicals may cause tumours.

 

Having said that, I personally prefer to avoid exposure to insecticides wherever possible, partly because I don't feel it necessary to kill insects for no apparent reason, and partly because I don't want to be exposed to such chemicals unnecessarily.

[Peach]

We normally share our house with a couple of large huntsmen in the summer. They eat the nastier species, so we let them be.

[Bobbsy]

We're in Southeast Queensland rather than Sydney but I actually see fewer spiders here than I did in the UK. It used to seem like every time I looked in the bathtub (in the UK) I'd see one or two house spiders. Here, seeing anything 8 legged is an event.

 

Even the infamous huntsman tends to be a lot smaller than the famous pictures--usually no bigger and a large British house spider. We have had a couple of redbacks (over six years) but neither in a place that caused any problem. (One in a pocket on a second hand pool table we bought and the other in a distant corner of our clothes drying rack outside--I actually look forward to seeing the web each time I hang out laundry.)

 

However, the most spectacular one was a large "golden orb" on the laundry "whirly-gig" at our first house. It was big but incredibly beautiful--and the thread in its web was like steel wire. As golden orbs aren't particularly venomous, I moved it gently to some bushes at the back of our yard--but never saw it again.

 

Seriously, despite all the discussion of big and venomous spiders, it's really not the issue it's made out to be.

[SallyKay]

We're in Southeast Queensland rather than Sydney but I actually see fewer spiders here than I did in the UK. It used to seem like every time I looked in the bathtub (in the UK) I'd see one or two house spiders. Here, seeing anything 8 legged is an event.

 

Even the infamous huntsman tends to be a lot smaller than the famous pictures--usually no bigger and a large British house spider. We have had a couple of redbacks (over six years) but neither in a place that caused any problem. (One in a pocket on a second hand pool table we bought and the other in a distant corner of our clothes drying rack outside--I actually look forward to seeing the web each time I hang out laundry.)

 

However, the most spectacular one was a large "golden orb" on the laundry "whirly-gig" at our first house. It was big but incredibly beautiful--and the thread in its web was like steel wire. As golden orbs aren't particularly venomous, I moved it gently to some bushes at the back of our yard--but never saw it again.

 

Seriously, despite all the discussion of big and venomous spiders, it's really not the issue it's made out to be.

 

 

Thank you all so much it's so good to hear positive stories and especially that they're not as large as the photos you see, I'm sure there are some that are huge but I'm hoping those are a rare find! After googling far too many photos and stories to try and 'prepare' myself I ended up scaring myself to death! I guess people love to tell a horror story no matter what the subject! Feeling much more positive, thank you all so much! Xx

[Guest]

To be clear, there is no such thing as 'absolute evidence'. Scientists do not claim to have ever definitively found anything - one set of findings is just one set of findings, and we must always be willing to be contradicted. (That is the nature of scientific endeavour - it's about learning more, not 'proving' things.) This is one study, which was particularly concerned with professional insecticide treatments (many of which contain chemicals that are not present in those marketed for household use). In addition, the authors themselves state that a small sample size and the risk of selection bias are limitations of their study. The largest risk was associated with exposure to termiticides, all of which may only be applied by licensed pest controllers, and which therefore are not likely to be used in order to control household insect populations. Individual chemicals used were not identified, so it's hard to elucidate exactly how such chemicals may cause tumours.

 

Having said that, I personally prefer to avoid exposure to insecticides wherever possible, partly because I don't feel it necessary to kill insects for no apparent reason, and partly because I don't want to be exposed to such chemicals unnecessarily.

 

 

I said 'evidence' not 'proof' I am fully aware they are not the same thing, my language was perhaps sloppy but then I was writing on a forum not a scientific paper.

 

Most people I knew in WA did have their houses professionally sprayed - in fact when we were renting it was part of our contract that we agreed to this.

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

I read somewhere that there's only been one fatality from a spider bite in Australia in the last 50 years, which if I recall was only fatal due to very extenuating circumstances, so basically if you have a spider phobia, then it doesn't matter where you live in the world they are everywhere.