Big Spider in Basement!

[icyappraiser]

I was throwing over some laundry last night in the basement (please no face punches for using the dryer) and a big spider ran out from behind my dryer and ran across my basement (rather quickly) over to some boxes in the corner. I would say it might have been 2 inches in diameter, though it happened quick and was hard to tell. I live in the Midwest so I'm not used to seeing any spiders that size. Needless to say it freaked me out. I closed the laundry room door and went upstairs to get away from it....but now I am wondering what, if any, action I should take? I haven't noticed any other insect issues in my home, but this has me a bit freaked out. I don't want to get cleaned out by some exterminator out of my own fear.

Any tips or ideas?

[Omy]

Call your realtor...it's time to move!

[Noodle]

Flamethrower.

Just kidding.

Talk to your public librarian...they should be able to direct you to resources such as the Master Gardeners or local Cooperative Extension who can help you figure out what the range of possibilities is for a local spider, and then you can decide what to do about it. 

[Cannot Wait!]

I live near water and have to contend with huge 'dock spiders'.  One night when I had a date over, I asked him if he would take care of a spider for me.  OMG, he squealed like a little girl!   So funny!
Usually I just try and think of all the mosquitoes and other bugs they are eating...
If they bug me, I just vacuum them up.

[Blackadder]

I would leave it be for now. They eat bugs (usually less desirable ones). To quote Calvin & Hobbes „Spiders are our friends“

[Anoushka]

I would leave it alone in the basement, but I live in the Southeast, where spiders are the least of my bug problems.

[BicycleB]

You yourself can use exterminator-style spray, which you spray along the baseboards, windows, doors. Kills any cockroaches too, not just spiders. Works great.The bugs absorb it somehow and die. No confrontation, you just sweep the sweep the little carcass into the dustpan and deposit in the trash.

I have a bottle of Ortho Home Defense, though there are other brands in the same section. I buy it at Home Depot but I think they carry it at Target and Wal-Mart.

https://www.google.com/search?q=does+ortho+home+defense+kill+spiders&oq=does+ortho+home+defense+kill+spider&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.8826j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[reeshau]

Here's my guess:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_aurantia  Were there any colors that you noticed?

It's probably just looking for a warm bed for the winter.  If it's a garden spider (above) it's also not really a threat to your or your family, and will want to go back outside for food in the spring.

I am a spider pacifist / recognize their value in pest control, so I just shoo them out.  My typical trick is to use a paper towel--don't press down on them, or they will squish.  But rather, fold it up so it makes a pocket--they are looking for corners to hide in.  It will settle down (or you can close up the open end of the pocket, and it will) and you can just put the paper towel outside.

If you don't want to engage that closely, use something with a handle: broom, shovel, etc.  give it a "lid" and again, likely to settle / cower in the "corner" while you transport it.

If you have to try something to get rid of insects, you could also look at diatomaceous earth.  Food grade DE is safe for pets.  If the spider is really that big, I'm not sure how effective it would be, though.

[former player]

If a spider is on a flat surface you can put something like a Tupperware box over it, slide some cardboard along to make a lid, and take it outside.  If it's more in a corner, use a duster and fold it around the spider - much the same way reeshau uses a paper towel - and take it outside.

Assuming you are not in Australia, then spiders in the house are going to be a lot less harmful to you than all the chemicals people are suggesting using to get rid of them.  But if you don't mind killing it to get rid of it, and can't bear getting close enough to pick it up then vacuuming it up using just the hose end would be better.

Long term of course the answer is to work out how a spider got into the basement in the first place and stop up all the holes it might have used.  Don't store too much stuff down there and sweep around fairly regularly.

[SunnyDays]

I generally always have a spider or two (or three or four, who knows?) in my basement, and I leave them there.  They take care of the pill bugs and centipedes.  When they come upstairs, I put them in the basement if it's winter and outside if it's summer.  I just put a little plastic container over them and slide a stiff piece of paper under it to catch them.  There's one kind that has a huge body and pointy legs that kind of freak me out, but they still deserve to live too even if they're ugly!

[TrMama]

I'm not a spider pacifist and kill any that get into my house. We have huge brown spiders called wolf spiders that like to come inside in the fall. Apparently they're looking for mates. Anyway, if you leave them in the house they make a big mess with their webs and dead bug carcasses.

Go look for it with a shoe in one hand. Use the shoe to smush it and then you can clean up the mess after you stop freaking out.

[nereo]

What's your underlying fear here (besides spiders in general)?  That you will get bit by this poisonous spider?  That there are a lot more down there?

Neither is terribly likely, though you will encounter more spiders (and otehr bugs) from time to time.  I tend to stay away from the harsh pesticides suggested above, as they come with a skull and crossbones warning and definitely should not be used in locations where they could get onto your clothes or skin.  If you must use an insecticide, DE (diatomacous earth) kills most bugs (including spiders) without poison, but with a dessicating powder.  you should not get it into your lungs but otherwise it won't hurt you, and is very, very cheap.

[pk_aeryn]

We corral “gross” spiders with a plastic cup and a plate and dump them outside. We don’t kill them because we’d rather them eat other things even more undesirable.  The only ones we kill are female black widows that make webs on the porch, in case our cat escapes past us and finds it before we can get her back inside.

We leave cellar spiders alone, generally, as they don’t bother us and keep to themselves, and are pretty seasonal.

When I lived briefly in Australia, I would vaccum up spiders weekly as they would bite me in my sleep. I tried to live with them but enough was enough when they would bite my hands and feet in the bed.

[11ducks]

We get huntsman spiders up to six inches in diameter. Unsettling, but as long as you leave them alone they'll usually leave you alone.

[Eowyn_MI]

i bet it was one of these

https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=House-Centipede

we are in the midwest and I occasionally kill these in the basement, they are gross

These guys are so fast and that's what makes them scary!  (besides being kinda ugly)  I used to find them in my parent's basement.  Now, my house has a crawlspace and I haven't seen any of these down there yet.

I do have regular size (1 inch diameter or smaller) spiders in my house and crawl space.  I squish the ones in the house but don't bother with the ones in the crawl space.

[lizzzi]

I was always taught by my grandmother that spiders were good luck. And white spiders were really good luck. And the best luck of all was a white spider in the morning. (Irish family by way of West Virginia.) I never kill spiders, for all the reasons mentioned above. I try to catch them with a paper cup and a piece of cardboard slid under it, and put them outside. And to help with attitude adjustment, I suggest watching "Charlotte's Web."

[reeshau]

Well, looks like the Wall Street Journal is on the case--spurred by this thread, maybe?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/its-a-jungle-in-there-11572001201?mod=hp_featst_pos1

"Researchers cataloged the arthropods living inside 50 homes in and around Raleigh, N.C., and have since examined houses in Peru, Japan, Sweden, Australia and San Francisco. What they’ve learned is that it’s a jungle in there.

Every home had about 100 different species of spiders, flies, beetles, ants and other bugs. Very few were pests—they typically did no harm—and most went largely unnoticed, quietly populating an ecosystem that scientists suspect strengthens our immune systems and improves our resistance to allergens."