How would you keep banana spiders out of your house?

@NaturalMineralWater, found this on Google:

The nephila clavipes banana spider of North America possesses venom similar in nature to the venom of the black widow, but far less potent, making it quite harmless to humans. A bite from a North American banana spider will not result in much more than a welt that will pass within 24 hours.

N. clavipes banana spiders have elongated bodies that resemble a banana in shape and coloring, beautifully bright yellow and black. The males are about half the size of females, and dark colored. Females grow quite large with a body length of about 1.1 inches (33 cm). North American banana spiders prefer sunny areas and tend to like tall plants or trees. They will often spin a web across a walkway or trail, spanning several feet. The web of the North American banana spider is orb-shaped, golden, and is stronger than most spiders’ webs. In fact its silk is stronger than comparable threads of Kevlar or steel.

The North American banana spider is not aggressive, but if you notice banana spiders building webs close to your home and would like them to move, simply tear down the webs. The spiders will relocate further away where they can continue to do their part in keeping down the insect population.

Other names for the N. clavipes or North American banana spider include the writing spider and golden orb weaver. The argiope or yellow and black garden spider is similar in size and sometimes confused with the banana spider. It too is known as ‘the writing spider’ due to zig-zag patterns in its web.

Unless you’re in Brazil, I doubt that they are banana spiders. The term is also sometimes used to refer to the golden orb weaver spider, but it’s harmless and doesn’t come in houses.

@evelyns_pet_zebra
You beat me to that definition :>>) Still, they don’t come into houses.

@crisw, true, outdoor spiders have no desire to live indoors. Just as indoor spiders have no desire to live outdoors. Outdoor spiders only come indoors accidentally, and usually by riding on your clothes or something. They are pretty scary looking, but a good thwack with a shoe will make em perfectly harmless. You can clean the resultant mess up with a paper towel. :-)

Be careful where you put your banana.

This thread is giving me the heebie jeebies!

eek!

Put a hedge apple or two in the room where the problem exists. These are the fruit of the Osage Orange Tree and have been used for hundreds of years as a crawling insect repellent.

OR

Place a whole package of chewing tobacco in one gallon of boiling water , remove from heat and allow to cool. Strain the solution into a container and put 1 cup of the solution and 1/2 cup of lemon scented dishwashing soap into a hose end sprayer. Spray around your house and yard and the spiders will be gone for quite a while. Never spray on roses though as it will turn them black.

@evelyns_pet_zebra
Why kill them? I escort them outside. Where I live, tarantulas and scorpions are pretty frequent visitors- we’ve even had solpugids (camel spiders!)

@Horus515
That spray isn’t a good idea where any mammals- such as dogs, cats or kids- will come in contact with the foliage, as it’s quite poisonous. In fact, nicotine sprays are illegal in the U.S.

@crisw

Good call on the danger to kids and animals. I wouldn’t spray it directly onto the foliage, but around edges of house. As far as the legality goes, you’re obviously right, but that it says on that wiki link that the law was to prevent residues from contaminating foods. No chance of that here, but still, I guess the law is the law.

I would think bringing in a few Spider monkeys would take care of your Banana spider problem.

@AstroChuck Those monkeys will create an entirely different type of repellent spray.

@thosemoderated Amazing.. people always find a way to make an inappropriate post…

@everyoneelse Banana spiders or not.. they certainly LOOK like them.. their bite hurts like the dickens..

I never said anything about being concerned about the poison.. I just want them to go away.. they seem to love to build massive webs right outside your doorway for a nice morning treat of big ass spider on your neck and yes… they wander inside .. they are just in such large numbers that it’s disgusting

@NaturalMineralWater Mine wasn’t innapropriate, I just said “What the heck is a banana spider?”

@mangeons Why would it be removed then? I don’t get it.

@Horus515 the hedge apple thing is an old wives tale. It doesn’t work, and never has. If you want deer in your yard, spread a few hedge apples in your yard, deer love the darn things.

@NaturalMineralWater, you might try knocking the webs down, and squishing the spiders. I don’t usually condone killing spiders, but hey, if you have tons of them, it’s not like they are endangered. Do you by chance leave a porch light on? I’ve had spiders build webs near my porch light for the reason that the light attracts bugs. A faceful of web is quite the eye opener. You could zap em with bug spray, that usually kills em.

@evelyns_pet_zebra Unfortunately the lights are automatic and built in.. and I’m basically in a dorm like situation (go army). The problem is that I knock em and squish em but for some reason there’s always another one with a full web a-waitin for me in the morning.. It’s great. I wonder if there is some chemical I can spray that will keep them from coming back once I’ve cleared em out. Nasty little devils.

@NaturalMineralWater it’s obvious, they worship you as their god and there is no way to stop it. Accept your fate. ;-)

ha.