Spider Watch

Unless you have been living in outer space these past few weeks you will have heard about these fake widow spiders sweeping up the country!

Sorry for the picture but if you don't know what it looks like you wont know to be careful of them!

So heres what i have found out about them:

• They have orange legs
• white markings on the body
• The cooler weather outside makes the spiders want to seek refuge in your home
• They hide in the day and come out at night
• The like to live high up so are more likely found upstairs than downstairs in your home
• They will only bite if they feel threatened

I've never been scared of spiders, i'm always the spider catcher in our house Chris is the one cowering in the corner haha. But these scare the absolute life out of me!!! Especially because what if they bite one of my children!!! (i would insert those crying face emoctions here if i could).

So i have been reading up on on how we can help to stop them entering our homes and how to kill them should you be unlucky enough to come across one!!

So the first thing i found out is that spiders do not like peppermint! They cannot tolerate the smell and will run away in the opposite direction. So the thing to do is to get a water spray bottle and fill it with water and add 15 to 20 drops of peppermint oil. The you spray all the cracks in your home, door frames, window frames, skirting boards that kind of thing. If your super paranoid like me i'm also going to buy that source mint shower gel and spray a little peppermint on me and the kids too! You could also leave a few bowls of warm peppermint oil and water out and about when you go to bed for extra measure.

You can also spray down all the cracks of your home with a pesticide but personally i would rather try the peppermint as its natural and will smell a bit nicer!

How do you kill one of these spiders should you come face to face with hell on earth? Well considering they only bite if angered the old swatting with a newspaper doesn't sound so appealing right now, what if they escape the newspaper bash???? And vacuming them up means they will live inside the hoover and a female lays 120 eggs thats 120 baby spiders in your hover arghhhhhhhhh!!

The best thing to do is kill them with vinegar. In a spray bottle mix equal parts white vinegar with water and spray directly onto the spider. Vinegar contains acetic acid which is thought to burn and kill spiders upon contact. I feel absolutely terrible suggesting to kill spiders but there is no way i would let something so dangerous go free to come back into my house and hurt my babies!

Hope this has helped to make you feel a bit more prepared about a fake widow spider encounter!

Spray bottles at the ready!!

Love L

xx

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