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Spiders


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8 hours ago, mango said:

Does anyone know why spiders like being in boats when they usually stay outside houses?

Spiders are certainly attracted to an environment near water. 

It was  something we noticed when we moved from a town to a village located near the river. Every window has its own spider. 

I am fairly sure  the attraction to water has more to do with the water being a good source of other insects upon which the spiders prey.

Similarly insects are attracted to light , so spiders will be attracted to the same spot.

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43 minutes ago, MartynG said:

Spiders are certainly attracted to an environment near water. 

It was  something we noticed when we moved from a town to a village located near the river. Every window has its own spider. 

I am fairly sure  the attraction to water has more to do with the water being a good source of other insects upon which the spiders prey.

Similarly insects are attracted to light , so spiders will be attracted to the same spot.

That seems a reasonable possibility.  Garden sheds seem to attract spiders, so I wonder if humidity is a factor.  Boats can be fairly humid because of people living in a confined space and use of unflued gas cookers, and often left unheated over the winter months.

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My brother (who is a liveaboard) swears by this stuff.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Garden-Outdoors/No-More-Spiders-Deterrent-Repellent-Spray-500ml/B00T30EVPS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502631817&sr=8-1&keywords=spiders+no+more

We have a arachnophobic daughter and also find this pretty effective as long as you keep up a weekly spraying regimen (spar around doors and windows)

We tried conkers - not much success.

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  • 1 month later...
On ‎06‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 11:34, MartynG said:

Conkers ,  on the boat ,deter spiders.

 

Having been inundated with the pesky things for sometime now, I thought I would give this a try.

So off I sauntered to the nearest Horse Chestnut tree, ignoring the local kids' call to 'leave some for us'.  As most of my spiders seem to congregate in the windows/curtains, I came up with the bright idea of dangling a couple of strings of conkers in each window, three or four on each string.

I duly drilled them out, threaded them up, cor, it was like going back sixty years, [only then I used a skewer].

Right, I thought, that'll stop the little blighters, Aesculus Hippocastanum versus Arachnid Horribulus.   Let the battle begin.

It might take a little while though, as now I am wondering whether I should have used old conkers or new ones.

After a while, on returning to the boat, I was sure I could hear a 'clacking', coming from inside.

On entering, there in the corner was the usual amount of spiders, presumably discussing the merits of soaking  in vinegar or baking in the oven.

Only time will tell I suppose - if it does not work I might try mangling some up [conkers that is, not spiders] and arranging them in pot- pourri  fashion spread around the boat

Seriously though folk's - Has anybody EVER come up with a surefire way to stop 'em ?

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3 hours ago, Tunnelman51 said:

Having been inundated with the pesky things for sometime now, I thought I would give this a try.

So off I sauntered to the nearest Horse Chestnut tree, ignoring the local kids' call to 'leave some for us'.  As most of my spiders seem to congregate in the windows/curtains, I came up with the bright idea of dangling a couple of strings of conkers in each window, three or four on each string.

I duly drilled them out, threaded them up, cor, it was like going back sixty years, [only then I used a skewer].

Right, I thought, that'll stop the little blighters, Aesculus Hippocastanum versus Arachnid Horribulus.   Let the battle begin.

It might take a little while though, as now I am wondering whether I should have used old conkers or new ones.

After a while, on returning to the boat, I was sure I could hear a 'clacking', coming from inside.

On entering, there in the corner was the usual amount of spiders, presumably discussing the merits of soaking  in vinegar or baking in the oven.

Only time will tell I suppose - if it does not work I might try mangling some up [conkers that is, not spiders] and arranging them in pot- pourri  fashion spread around the boat

 

 

Yes. 

I too have done the conker collecting thing and hung them up all around the boat only return to the sound of spiders laughing at me.

"Amiral" aerosol spray is the answer (google it). Honestly. Try it. The slightest spray of it inside the boat and millions of spiders emerge from everywhere and abandon ship. Hurling themselves onto the bank or into the water. It really is most impressive stuff. 

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21 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Yes. 

I too have done the conker collecting thing and hung them up all around the boat only return to the sound of spiders laughing at me.

"Amiral" aerosol spray is the answer (google it). Honestly. Try it. The slightest spray of it inside the boat and millions of spiders emerge from everywhere and abandon ship. Hurling themselves onto the bank or into the water. It really is most impressive stuff. 

A bit of googling suggests that Amiral has only one active ingredient - malathion. It would probably be much cheaper to buy some malathion, dilute it in water and put it in a spray bottle. Unfortunately though, that’s just a theory, because the lovely EU has prohibited the sale of malathion throughout Europe due to suspected dangers to the bee population. 

It makes me wonder how Amiral can still be marketed. 

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48 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Yes. 

I too have done the conker collecting thing and hung them up all around the boat only return to the sound of spiders laughing at me.

"Amiral" aerosol spray is the answer (google it). Honestly. Try it. The slightest spray of it inside the boat and millions of spiders emerge from everywhere and abandon ship. Hurling themselves onto the bank or into the water. It really is most impressive stuff. 

Thanks for that Mtb, I will look out for some. 

Couldn't believe that someone is selling Cornish conkers as a spider repellent on ebay for something like 10p each!  Hand picked though...... Err, How else would you ?

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1 hour ago, Ray T said:

Because they (spiders) belong to this club:

http://www.cutweb.org.uk/new/

mainheader[1].jpg

Ah yes, I remember being on a mail list and participating in online discussions in the mid-90s, when few boaters were online and probably only from home via a dial-up modem.  Happy days.

http://www.canals.com/maillist.htm  

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