Any advice on how to reduce spiders and webs

[abe]

Oh no, please don't kill spiders..they have rights

We are invading their territory. We are the intruders. They also serve a usefull purpose in killing dangerous insects. They may even be protected by law.Yeah right, a good spider is a dead spider.abe

 

[Ross]

Abe, the more you know about them

the more willing you are to evict them from your place. There will never be a shortage of spiders dispite our best efforts. we can control their numbers but as long as there are bugs there will be spiders. Sometime watch a wasp capture a spider and haul it off to her nest. It can be quite a fight, the spider always loses.

 

[Rodger20098]

This is what I use

That Spectraside home defense (probely speled rong) the clear one, you get it at Lowes or Home Depot. It really works great. for a long time the powerboats around me had no spiders. Finally they shared there secret with me and I have had a clean boat inside and out ever sense. I put it in a cheep sprayer, it's easier to get a nice even coat around everything. It really works. Drier sheets did not work for me or any of my friends (Texas). After dark spider patrol with a flashlight and a can of spider killer did work well. before i started using the Spectraside I would see 4 to 8 spiders on and around the boat when I did the spider patrol. So you have a lot of them now. One more note, the guy across from me will not use any poisons on his boat, and his wife and kids quit coming out to the boat. So he just sits there talking to the spiders.Rodger

 

[Herb Parsons]

Wasps

Ross said "Sometime watch a wasp capture a spider and haul it off to her nest."That's another aspect I was wondering if anyone would mention. While bugs attract spiders (as a food source), spiders attract wasps for the same reason. I'm not a fanatic about getting rid of spiders, but I'll kill any wasp I see at the marina. Because of that, I want to keep the spider population down.We have to clean them off our boat sometimes, but usually we go out so often they don't set up housekeeping aboard. Around the marina, I see a lot.We are about to install cedar strips for our ceiling (hull liner), and we hope that keeps what few do come aboard.One thing that, that I found pretty amazing - when we gutted our interior to redo it, I counted 12 "mud dauber" (a type of wasp) nests inside. All had been abandoned, but it was amazing the nooks and crannies they chose for their homes.

 

[Ross]

Herb, Those mud dauber wasps,

also called potter wasps, catch hundreds of spiders and stash them in those mud nests. Sometime dismantle one of those nests carefully, there are many cells in each tube, there will be one grub in each cell and a whole lot of paralyzed spiders. Those wasps are not aggressive with people and don't defend the nest. The wasps that make paper nests will gnaw any bare wood that is convenient and can do quite a bit of damage.

 

[Herb Parsons]

Aggessive Wasps

By wasps, I mean the insects, not the demographic group."Those wasps are not aggressive with people and don't defend the nest."Just for some clarification Ross, do they not sting at all? On one boat I was crewing on a member got stung by a wasp. I didn't see it, but the only wasps I've seen around our marina are the mud daubers. I just assumed that they could sting if they wanted to.

 

[Ross]

Herb , Mud dauber will sting if you are about

harm them, as in sitting on them or grabbing them but they have no interest in people, only hunting and reproducing. I have watched them from a distance of less than a foot as they apply layer upon layer of mud to their nest. If you place a paper cup over the nest while they are absent they will provide some very interesting demonstrations of navigation. They know precisely where in three dimensional space the nest is and when we alter that space they will spend considerable time trying to return to the nest. even a small hole is enough for them to solve the problem.

 

[abe]

Ross, this reminds me of the Alice Cooper song...

"The Black Widow", it goes something like this.."these words we speak are true, we are all humanary stew, if we don't pledge alligiance to, the black widow"abe

 

[Ross]

There are a few that I stay clear of

Black Widows, Brown Recluse, and Austrailian Funnel Web spiders deserve a wide berth.

 

[Ross]

Rick, you know of course that they aren't

spiders and most of the stories about them are myths.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifugae

 

[Rick Webb]

Yeah, I Do

But just imagine what it would be like.

 

[Ross]

Rick, no fly swatters for those puppies

you'd need a hatchet.

 

[William]

Tide

Our boat is spider free for the most part and I prefer to keep it that way. We wash the boat with tide with bleach..it cleans very well and keeps ALL types o bugs off. We spray problem areas and dock lines with spider Kills II. We also use bounce and raid no pest strips inside the cabin. We have been doing this for three years now and have had great results (the wife will actually sleep on the boat now).

 

[Al]

Fly Zapper

The fly zapper from harbour freight works wonders on flys , spiders and anything else you don't want crawling on your boat $2.99 and 2 D batteries. Just press the button, the red lite comes on and start zapping away, looks real inpressive at night with the blue flash from the zapped bug.

 

[Tom Monroe]

I don't mind the spiders themselves, but ...

As someone else noted, a couple of bounce fabric softener sheets left below will keep them out of the cabin. I thought that was fine, I could live with them topsides.But ...When they catch a bug, they inject it with some kind of acid to mush it up so they can suck out the insides. That acid will do in wax, topside coatings, and even gelcoat. When they get inside your mainsail cover, the acid leaves little holes in your sail. Or your bimini. Or your winch overs.I'm all for being environmentally concerned and not overusing poisons, etc., but unless I fight a holding action with them, they ruin my boat. My strategies ...Always clean well on the bottom side of the rub rail. Favorite egg laying place. Bounce strips inside the main and bimini covers (or wherever else they'll stay). Around the docks, try to kill them at night and leave them in place in the web. Acts as a no trespassing sign to other spiders.Keep the boat scrubbed down often. If you're cleaner than the boat next to you, that's where they'll go. Like the other guy said, use spider kill VERY occassionally. On the other hand, since my boat is on the hard this year, I'd really love to have the problem (sigh).Tom MonroeCarlyle Lake