I've spent the past few days overhauling my garage.

I don't particulary want the spiders to stay, so I knock their webs down with a broom and squash every one I see. Without failure, the next morning, there are more webs, more spiders. I don't dislike the spiders as much as I dislike their MESS. Dropping carcasses everywhere and such. My question is...

What do I do about it? Anything chemical actually work well? Any animals I can keep around that eat them? Any plants/scents/odors they can't handle? I'm willing to do most anything, I just want to get it clean and KEEP it clean.

Spray bombs will usually work, but will leave fallout on everything in the garage after they are done. Instead of using a broom, try the trusty shop vac. Hit the nooks and crannies really well and follow up every few days for a while. That should cut down on the population quite a bit. Spraying around the garage doors, windows etc. with a good name brand spider spray should help slow the entrance of newcomers. Make sure the spray can specifically targets spiders. Lesser sprays may only wizz the spiders off, and they have been known to form gangs and hide under beds for late night ambush. Its ugly...believe me. You don't want to wake up looking like a cocoon.

According to the site below, geckos look like a good choice for controlling your spider problem. The site also recommends birds or scorpions, but I'd pass on them (one is hard on the cars paint, the other on peoples nervous system ).

Here's the link.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/InfoNed/enemies.html

Email Guico, maybe the employee of the month could come on loan-if you don't let the robots hands get too pruney...

Will

Check out a product called "Home Defense" at Home Depot. I use this around my house a lot and it works great on the spiders. If you spray the spider directly it will fall out of the web and freeze up. I believe this stuff attacks the nervous system and causes bugs to simply spaz out.. And, that's the technical description. hehe

Anyway, make sure you don't breathe the stuff because it can make you a bit light-headed. And, I would avoid getting it on the Z paint. Household paint is ok....

Use one of the containers that connects to your garden hose and spray the outside & perimeter of your garage liberally with bug killer.(this will keep more bugs from entering th garage and if you extend the spraying to the entire perimeter of your house, you'll keep bugs out of there too)

Next, get a trigger spray bottle of bug killer and zap the areas where you see spiders (avoiding spraying your parts and tools of course). In a few days you'll have 90%+ less spiders to worry about.

Gecko's are a tropical species, if it gets too cold at night, they'll croak before they get bellys full of spiders.

Gecko's are a tropical species, if it gets too cold at night, they'll croak before they get bellys full of spiders.

Now THERE'S a good excuse to heat your garage! :classic:

Now THERE'S a good excuse to heat your garage! :classic:

we have the winning combination!

we have the winning combination!

It wouldn't be complete until you teach the Gecko to do the "robot".

very true.....

Judging from the responses thus far, my plan is:

Detonate a bugbomb!

Spray corners/common web spots/existing webs

Sweep/Mop for the 4th time in 2 days (i LOVE this industrial floor cleaner)

Repaint floors/walls (why not?)

Spray perimeter of garage and house with arachnicide ( is that a word ? )

Buy a pet gecko and keep him in the garage! I'm serious, I have an aquarium, I've kept lizards and snakes before, I have a heatrock, a lamp etc, and I'm sure I could keep him alive and happy and comfortable. Trick is, how do I let him out to eat the spiders and make sure he'll find his way back in? Maybe I can cut a hole in the glass about his size, and cover the sharp edges with a rubber gasketish material? I'm really curious about this animal vs. animal idea.

I lived in the Northern Teritory of Australia for quite a few years, and the geckos end up out numbering the spiders. Then when they get big enough they leave their own mess every where to be cleaned up every morning.

The extra trouble then is that the snakes then come in the house to get the geckos.