Infested real estate is harder to sell than non-infested real estate.
I’m sure this is shocking to no-one. Having infested real estate of any kind is hard to live with as a tenant or owner. Your comfort zone has been invaded and until the problem is dealt with, it will be harder to relax, sleep, enjoy life in the place you have created for exactly these purposes.
Right around the fall of 2013 (pre-super cold weather though) I noticed an unusual increase in both the size and number of spiders that were calling my home, their home. I had infested real estate!
It seemed that not a day went by before I found another common brown house spider doing laps of my rooms. At first I wasn’t too bothered by it, but they are big (>1″), they move fast and there were several times where they crossed the line, pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Episode #1: I throw back the covers to get out of bed one morning, only to find I am sharing the bed with a light brown/whitish spider of decent size. Only later did I identify him as a Brown Recluse!
Episode #2: I was about to jump into the shower when I noticed a large spider run into the bathroom and hide behind the toilet. It was late and I was tired, I let him be and continued on into the shower. Grabbing my towel afterwards, I thought I felt a little tickle as I dried my back but nothing fell to the ground when I swatted. Fast forward half an hour and as I’m drifting off in bed, I feel that tickle again, on my head this time. I wiped at my hair only only to have a spider run down my forehead, over my eyes and across my mouth. Yes, I yelled! And as the lamp came on I saw him, sitting happily on my comforter just 4″ in front of my head.
These two episodes marked the end of my “live and let live” policy. I was borderline zero tolerance after this and as such, the cobwebs that had been building for years in my garage began to bother me. How many spider dreams have I had in the last month? Too many! The infested real estate I live in was getting to me.
Episode #3: My foray into the crawlspace after the recent flooding in Boulder to pull out wet carpet and cardboard, also turned up old wood, a bed frame and other trash that came with the house. It was icky, but had to be done. If you read my post about drying out the crawlspace you will also know that I had a spider interaction under the house too. A black widow appeared in front of me after I turned over wet wood and it disappeared back into the darkness about the time I began screaming.
Episode #4: As I took a call on my cell in the front garden, I watched 3 big brown house spiders dart out from under the ivy near the garage. Like a gang they ran onto my driveway. Then 2 zipped into my open garage! Just seconds later I was unable to locate them and my tolerance ran out. (It had been a trying week!)
I’m now the proud owner of a Shop Vac… A big one! Many of the cobwebs are gone from the garage and the rest are living on borrowed time. I don’t do things by halves and my infested real estate was about to become “un-infested”.
The plan, when the crawlspace chaos was no longer a factor, was to clean out the garage, replace the window, insulate between the studs and drywall it. I’m just one woman with a lot of other big plans too, but mark my words, that garage will not be a safe environment for spiders looking for cozy, dark corners by spring!
So far I am pleased to say that all the cobwebs are gone, half of the walls are insulated and I dream of dry-walling as soon as the temperatures cooperate. No more infested real estate. 🙂
And just in case you are wondering; The Common Brown House Spider is not dangerous, but the bites from the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse can be.
Black Widow: Affects from a bite take about 20-60 minutes. The bite itself is small… maybe double fanged, but the pain at the site is severe. People can experience mild to severe symptoms including severe muscle cramps, abdominal pain, weakness, tremor. In more severe cases you might also get nausea, vomiting, dizziness, chest pain and respiratory difficulties. Life threatening reactions have only been seen in children or the elderly.
Brown Recluse: The bite may not hurt initially. Redness, pain and a blister at the site will follow. Itching and mild to intense pain may occur for 2-8 hours after the bite. Necrosis follows a week or more after the bite and the ulcer may take months to heal. Some people will have a systemic reaction which includes the breakdown of red blood cells. Other symptoms include fever, chills, skin rash over the body, joint pain, nausea and vomiting.
What to do after a spider bite?
- Remain calm (I know! Easier said than done!)
- Apply cool cloth and/or ice. (Do not apply a tourniquet.)
- Try to identify the spider or catch it.
- Seek medical attention if you have symptoms that are non-localized.
|
|
| Black Widow Brown Recluse |
