We are docked at Lake Lanier, Georgia where all critters abound near fresh water and the surrounding forests. Each boat on the dock must be paradise for arachnids and that was certainly evident a few nights ago as we watched a great sunset over the lake. The darker it got the better the viewing laboratory became! A variety of both small and large spiders made their way out of hiding places (vents, under rub rails, stanchions, etc) before our eyes and each took their respective posts and began to weave their webs. I counted no less than fourteen separate webs almost encasing the cockpit from the bimini down. Amazing how they know their territories. Now the issue comes up of how to repel these little borders. My wife is aracniphobic so she will run down the dock like her hair is on fire before sitting in the cockpit surrounded by these nifty little creatures. Citronella candles? Forget it........Spider have their place as long as its outside the cabin so I am desiring to follow a natural approach to repelling them. I am seeking home proven remedies not chlorinated insect spray alternatives. Certainly someone must have a witches brew of say galic, tree sap and bird feathers past down through generations that must keep them away. This should get some interesting responses!! Thanks Bob Cat. 30 "Breezin II"
..and the spiders come out at night!
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How to control spiders
Impossible. I do have an electronic fly swater that zaps the little devils. But the best way is to use a spray can and a flash light. Make a run around the boat each evening and you can reduce the population somewhat. We have had so much rain this spring that spraying is useless.
Impossible. I do have an electronic fly swater that zaps the little devils. But the best way is to use a spray can and a flash light. Make a run around the boat each evening and you can reduce the population somewhat. We have had so much rain this spring that spraying is useless.
Moth balls
Insects and spiders don't like 'em, so they avoid setting up housekeeping anywhere near 'em. Put a few in mesh bags--which you can make from a pair of your wife's pantyhose--and hang 'em around the cockpit when you leave the boat. Change 'em about once a month, or if they get wet from rain.
Insects and spiders don't like 'em, so they avoid setting up housekeeping anywhere near 'em. Put a few in mesh bags--which you can make from a pair of your wife's pantyhose--and hang 'em around the cockpit when you leave the boat. Change 'em about once a month, or if they get wet from rain.
Fabric Softener Sheets for Spider Control
Use fabric softener sheets (the little tissue-type things that are tossed into a clothes dryer) inside the boat for controlling spiders. ...doesn't have to be 'name brand' product, generic will do. Try placing a few around, even under the cushions. Will keep many, if not all, spiders from setting-up housekeeping and as a bonus, makes the boat smell good. I think that the sheets also tend to reduce the nummber of spiders topside.
Use fabric softener sheets (the little tissue-type things that are tossed into a clothes dryer) inside the boat for controlling spiders. ...doesn't have to be 'name brand' product, generic will do. Try placing a few around, even under the cushions. Will keep many, if not all, spiders from setting-up housekeeping and as a bonus, makes the boat smell good. I think that the sheets also tend to reduce the nummber of spiders topside.
Welcome aboard
Spiders are welcome aboard on my boat. They trap and eat he insects that are the real bother, mosquitos.
Spiders are welcome aboard on my boat. They trap and eat he insects that are the real bother, mosquitos.
Bob G
If you run out of spiders, call me and I will ship some of these Texas spiders up to you. If we could just put diapers on them, they wouldn't be so bad. Peggy, the trouble with wholesale use of moth balls is that they also run my wife off. But I do use them under sail covers, etc.
If you run out of spiders, call me and I will ship some of these Texas spiders up to you. If we could just put diapers on them, they wouldn't be so bad. Peggy, the trouble with wholesale use of moth balls is that they also run my wife off. But I do use them under sail covers, etc.
Ross -
My digital controller failed me last weekend. A large spider (can't tell you the type, thin, brown, long legs) set up shop between outboard & transom. I flicked him (or her, who can tell?) into the water. That bug ran like hell right over the water and climbed back on board. Flicked it off again, same process. Finally blasted it across an empty slip with the hose, where it crawled up a piling to begin work on somebody else's boat. I sure wish we had some aggressive fish in my marina. Will dryer sheets & mothballs help with keeping hornets away? There are currently 3 of them building little mud nests in the cabin under the hull/deck joint. Very persistent insects.
My digital controller failed me last weekend. A large spider (can't tell you the type, thin, brown, long legs) set up shop between outboard & transom. I flicked him (or her, who can tell?) into the water. That bug ran like hell right over the water and climbed back on board. Flicked it off again, same process. Finally blasted it across an empty slip with the hose, where it crawled up a piling to begin work on somebody else's boat. I sure wish we had some aggressive fish in my marina. Will dryer sheets & mothballs help with keeping hornets away? There are currently 3 of them building little mud nests in the cabin under the hull/deck joint. Very persistent insects.
spider crap
I'll have to agree with the Texas spider problem. I never new a little arachnid could make soooooooo much poop. It is amazing that they hide so well during the day. I'll take and knock most of them off atleast once a week when washing my boat. By that evening they come crawling out of everywhere to set up webs. I think the key to spider control is coexistance. There is no way to distroy all of them. Too good of a habitat for them. Rigging, lifelines, etc. make excellent web supports and there are lots and lots of insects to eat on the water. Most of them are harmless anyway, but I still dont like them on me.
I'll have to agree with the Texas spider problem. I never new a little arachnid could make soooooooo much poop. It is amazing that they hide so well during the day. I'll take and knock most of them off atleast once a week when washing my boat. By that evening they come crawling out of everywhere to set up webs. I think the key to spider control is coexistance. There is no way to distroy all of them. Too good of a habitat for them. Rigging, lifelines, etc. make excellent web supports and there are lots and lots of insects to eat on the water. Most of them are harmless anyway, but I still dont like them on me.
Bug spray
Hey Bob, I know the problem...same on my boat. Last year I sprayed spider bug spray under my toe rail and wiped over the edges. Wiped it up in and around various covers where they were nesting. This worked for a month or so then they started to come back. I'll probably try again soon. See you at the dock. Paul
Hey Bob, I know the problem...same on my boat. Last year I sprayed spider bug spray under my toe rail and wiped over the edges. Wiped it up in and around various covers where they were nesting. This worked for a month or so then they started to come back. I'll probably try again soon. See you at the dock. Paul
Ben, the little mud condos around here are . . .
built by what we call dirt daubers. Interestingly enough, they lay eggs in individual cells of that mud ball and guess what they catch and put in those cells for the larve to eat? - - - spiders! Kinda of a Catch 22.
built by what we call dirt daubers. Interestingly enough, they lay eggs in individual cells of that mud ball and guess what they catch and put in those cells for the larve to eat? - - - spiders! Kinda of a Catch 22.
Mud daubers
You're right about the hornets/daubers/whatever hunting habits. I have mixed feelings about getting rid of them, because when I destroyed the empty nests last winter, I found tons of shriveled mosquito carcasses. If I were the only person on board my boat, I would simply co-exist, but it's a constant effort to make sure that boating is a pleasant experience for my wife and daughter. If one of them were to get stung, it would make it that much harder to convince them to get on board. So I don't really want to kill them, just convince them that other peoples' boats are nicer...
You're right about the hornets/daubers/whatever hunting habits. I have mixed feelings about getting rid of them, because when I destroyed the empty nests last winter, I found tons of shriveled mosquito carcasses. If I were the only person on board my boat, I would simply co-exist, but it's a constant effort to make sure that boating is a pleasant experience for my wife and daughter. If one of them were to get stung, it would make it that much harder to convince them to get on board. So I don't really want to kill them, just convince them that other peoples' boats are nicer...
It can be a fine safari experience to spend a day
studying the behavior of the wasps. My observations are that the more yellow on the wasp the less tolerant she is about people. Their navigational ability is far better than ours. The solitary wasps sometimes use a nail hole for a nest place and if you plug it with a twig they will return to where the hole should be, not find it, fly out in a wide circle and try again and again. then if you pull the twig while she is out checking her bearings she will land exactly in the right spot. The wasps that build paper nests will scrape wood fiber off any unfinished surface and chew it into a paste and fly back to the nest and work it into place. You can see the different sources of fiber in the color changes in the paper.
studying the behavior of the wasps. My observations are that the more yellow on the wasp the less tolerant she is about people. Their navigational ability is far better than ours. The solitary wasps sometimes use a nail hole for a nest place and if you plug it with a twig they will return to where the hole should be, not find it, fly out in a wide circle and try again and again. then if you pull the twig while she is out checking her bearings she will land exactly in the right spot. The wasps that build paper nests will scrape wood fiber off any unfinished surface and chew it into a paste and fly back to the nest and work it into place. You can see the different sources of fiber in the color changes in the paper.
HIstory Channel just ran a seqment on
animal, insect, spider and bird genetically innate engineering, construction and nav skills. They're born/hatched knowing how build, what to use, where to build and where not to build, where to go and how to get there, what to eat and how to catch it. Humans otoh are born knowing nada...we have to be taught literally everything.
animal, insect, spider and bird genetically innate engineering, construction and nav skills. They're born/hatched knowing how build, what to use, where to build and where not to build, where to go and how to get there, what to eat and how to catch it. Humans otoh are born knowing nada...we have to be taught literally everything.
the "blank slate" idea of humans is inaccurate
We are born with instinctual and behavioral predispositions...though we have more mental mallability than most, if not all, other animals. Spider web building has such a genetic hardwiring to it we can see the evolution of primitive silk around the fertilized eggs, leading to all kinds of more advanced silk engineering as we follow the evolution of the spiders themselves. Most up on the mast's and rigging probably got there by "ballooning" into the air on silken threads...yep, spiders can "fly"!
We are born with instinctual and behavioral predispositions...though we have more mental mallability than most, if not all, other animals. Spider web building has such a genetic hardwiring to it we can see the evolution of primitive silk around the fertilized eggs, leading to all kinds of more advanced silk engineering as we follow the evolution of the spiders themselves. Most up on the mast's and rigging probably got there by "ballooning" into the air on silken threads...yep, spiders can "fly"!
The problewm is
that amongst our spiders is a varity called brown recluse. I may have spelled it wrong. Anyway, they have a habit of getting in the sail covers. When you are bitten by one, it is bad news. One of the sailors in our marina was bit a couple of years ago. His leg developed a large nasty wound and he had to have surgery. Took over a year to heal and he still has a bad scar there. So I am leaving for the boat in a few minutes to do battle again this weekend.
that amongst our spiders is a varity called brown recluse. I may have spelled it wrong. Anyway, they have a habit of getting in the sail covers. When you are bitten by one, it is bad news. One of the sailors in our marina was bit a couple of years ago. His leg developed a large nasty wound and he had to have surgery. Took over a year to heal and he still has a bad scar there. So I am leaving for the boat in a few minutes to do battle again this weekend.
Yes, humans are born with instinctual behavior
Little if any of which is acceptable in human society... Ever read "Lord of the Flies?" About a bunch of pre-pubescent schoolboys who are the only survivors (no adults) of a shipwreck and end up on an uninhabited island. A fairly accurate study of instinctive human behavior. What we're not born with is any real skills, only the intelligence to learn them...either through teaching or trial and error.
Little if any of which is acceptable in human society... Ever read "Lord of the Flies?" About a bunch of pre-pubescent schoolboys who are the only survivors (no adults) of a shipwreck and end up on an uninhabited island. A fairly accurate study of instinctive human behavior. What we're not born with is any real skills, only the intelligence to learn them...either through teaching or trial and error.
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