Spiders

[MapleLeaf]

I know we see more big spiders in the fall, but I think my farm has more than usual. I bought this place a couple years ago and it had not been well maintained. It took weeks and weeks to take down the thick cob webs covering the ceilings and stalls of the barn. I followed up with a spray to kill spiders and re-sprayed this past summer.

However, I think the spiders are winning. When I go in the indoor, there are probably a dozen big spiders climbing up the kick walls around the ring. It’s a bit freaky.

The barn is not set in the woods but I think the lack of maintenance for years before has allowed the spiders to populate to a level I’m uncomfortable with.

Is calling an exterminator unsafe? Any advice?

[SuzieQNutter]

The advice from my exterminator friend is that you spray the cobwebs with surface spray at least a week before you knock them down. This will kill the spiders and then you get rid of the cobwebs.

Knock the cobwebs down first and you knock the spiders down as well. They then go back up and make more webs.

[MapleLeaf]

Thanks!
I figured that out the hard way the first time. When I re-sprayed this summer, I de-cobwebbed after.

However, still lots of spiders!

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

Spiders will only stay where there’s a lot of food - so whatever you can do to eliminate the food sources will go a long way to getting the spiders to move on.

I don’t like spiders, but I try to leave them alone if I can (black widows and brown recluses die, however). But a total infestation would freak me out. Finding/destroying the egg sacs will also prevent more spiders, if you can.

[Feathered_Feet]

I mean, I don’t love spiders, but I HATE flies and other flying insects, so I tend to leave them be. Otherwise, yes, you can probably call an exterminator. Do you know what kind of spiders they are? Widows or recluses I might be less friendly with, but your average, run of the mill fly-eating spider? 12 of them in an indoor? Personally, I’d let them stay.

[LCDR]

Would you be willing to install a misting system like the Pyranha SprayMaster system ? I have a clone system in my barn and have not had to do any web removal since it was installed over six years ago.

[PeteyPie]

Do you leave lights on in the barn after dark? An exterminator on one of those reality TV shows said leaving lights on attracts bugs which attract the spiders.

[B_and_B]

The spiders are predators. Something else in the bug world is there in abundance, do you want that? Unless the spiders are poisonous, I would let them stay. Knock down the webs, sure. I’ll even vacuum up the random slow one. But, I figure they are doing a job for me.

[B_and_B]

I would, however, look into why you have so many spiders. In other words, what is the underlying bug problem?

[LCDR]

Decide whether the fire risk associated with cobwebs and their attracted dust around barn wiring and lights is an acceptable trade off for you versus the predatory benefit of having the spiders and their webs.

I personally decided to kill the spiders in my own new barn. This is what can happen to a barn. My horses lived here, but luckily we moved shortly before the fire.

[Foxglove]

@LCDR is correct to be concerned! A fireman spoke to the horse 4-H club (years ago) about fire concerns. Suggested alarms in the barns that could be heard in the house, showing young people how to use the correct fire extinguisher should a fire occur in the barn or nearby. Assured everyone that calling the fire department for a fire would not get anyone in trouble. . . .BUT

His main message was cause of fire in barns/stables. Main cause in his experience was cobwebs! Turn on an over head light, cobweb falls on the light that is now hot, catches fire, and falls on to the hay/straw/shavings —he said “In 5 minutes there can be nothing saved,” because everything in a barn is flammable.

5 minutes. Nothing would be left of my barn but the cement slab because everything in my barn IS flammable!

I am religious about spider control --I have a long pole with a brush on the end that reaches all the rafters. I knock down the spider webs. I also keep my barn doors closed unless I am in there.

No spider is worth losing my horses to fire.

[B_and_B]

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for religious removal of cobwebs! Also, for replacement of incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Fire terrifies me.
I just wish our first go to with insects wasn’t mass, indiscriminate spraying of insecticide.
This hit a nerve as I was keeping my mouth shut all day yesterday, owner of the property I work at was complaining about how the large perennial garden had so few butterflies this year, which was my fault as the gardener…I wanted to say, well what did you expect? The mosquito and tick spray people show up every few weeks and fog the place down…you think that insecticide only kills certain bugs?

[StormyDay]

The spiders hanging out on the walls are probably wolf spiders, they don’t make webs. And I hate them with a passion.

Id set up some sort of insect misting system to try to keep down on the cobweb type spiders. But for those big ones, I’d consider painting the walls with a insecticidal paint additive. But that’s just me, who HATES those big spiders.

[eightpondfarm]

we have mud dauber wasps…(waaaaay too many of them!) But open any of the viable mud dauber nests and inside are spiders. Like 1 to 3 spiders per cubicle, to feed the wasp larvae.

[TheDBYC]

I hear ya. And while misting for mosquitos probably works, two reputable pest control companies have explained to me that spraying grass is a poor method of tick control.

I can’t stand cobwebs. Knocking them down has been a weekly chore on my list for any barn I’ve managed or owned. However, leaving cobwebs is not a necessary condition for keeping spiders around. At least not the types of spiders we have here; particularly wolf spiders. I find wolf spiders a little creepy. But I hate the sugar ant problem we have in this house basically year round & the autumnal crickets a whole lot more. It’s kind of fascinating. They seem to delegate coverage of specific rooms amongst themselves. Plus the kitchen door spider. He (she?) technically lives outside & runs in the kitchen door when you open it. If you lift the corner of the doormat up, he (she) shoots under it & grabs as many sugar ants as it can before running back out.

Also had one of those little jumping spiders with the big, watery, imploring eyes that lived in the kitchen one winter. It ate stink bugs and was absolutely adorable to boot. (People apparently keep them as pets.) The only time I’ve drawn a hard line was when I found what I’m 99.99% sure was a brown recluse chilling on my yoga mat a few minutes after I finished teaching a Zoom class. No, thank you!!

There are spider wasp thingies (not sure what their real name is) that kill spiders. We watched in horror as one hunted down & dragged a large spider away near the threshold of the indoor. i wonder if they sell those as natural control? Kinda like those Fly Predators?

[B_and_B]

I think spiders are territorial. What I routinely do in the house is vacuum up any webs but avoid the spiders themselves. And I move jumping spiders to a plant. Same in the barn. I will admit that the massive wood spiders are a little much, especially in the bathtub…but I do put a ladder in for the ones that are forever getting in the laundry sink after fall crickets.
They really, really freak me out, actually; but I put the brakes on that and remind myself that the bugs are worse!

[eightpondfarm]

I’m hand-raising a baby rooster and i take him ‘hunting’ when i got out to fill up water tanks in the upland pastures. He eats EVERYTHING that hops, flies or crawls. I was aghast to witness him grab and gobble a big ground spider the other day! Who-knew chickens ate spiders???!!

[rockymouse]

Oh, our chickens totally eat spiders. It’s tarantula season where I live, so you see them more often than the rest of the year. The hens will totally take one down.

Earlier this summer I walked into my office, which is in the barn, and stopped in my tracks because of a centipede. I cannot express the depth of my hatred of centipedes. So I gathered my wits, yelled “chick chick chick!” and behold, here came those hens at a run, into the barn where they are typically, emphatically not allowed to go. I faked throwing feed for them in the centipede’s direction and, ta-da, it worked. Centipede no mas!

[eightpondfarm]

chickens be sooooo

[eightpondfarm]

Here’s a pic of my little pet velociraptor, T-bird. He’s one month old.