How do I deal with spiders coming from a ceiling vent?

July 10, 2020 9:53 PM

Welcome to my nightmare. There are dozens of tiny spiders (and a few full sized ones) that have appeared right near a ceiling vent for the central air system in my bedroom, very near my bed. How do I treat this without poisoning myself?

Most of the info is in the header. Other pertinent details;

- The spiders are light tan and the full size ones are about an inch in length. They don’t look particularly venomous or scary - they’re definitely not wolf, brown recluse, or black widow. Other than that I don’t know what kind they are. The baby ones are the same species and about the size of a pin head.
- The room is carpeted
- The second and third floor of the duplex regularly have ants coming in from the floor (3rd floor) and ceiling (2nd floor) each spring for about two weeks in April or May. The landlord has been unwilling to deal with this beyond ant traps (but clearly there’s a food source somewhere in the house structure.)
- I’m in Boston MA
- The ceiling vent cover can be removed with a philips head, but other than the immediate cover I have no idea how the vent system works or where it leads
- My immediate personal budget for dealing with this is quite small, let’s say $25 or less
-My landlord could get involved if need be, both solution wise and financially but it usually takes days or a week for a solution and I might die of phobia by then. There’s also quite a bit of pushback on any expensive, complicated solutions historically.

What would be the simplest way to keep spiders from infesting my carpeted room and not poison myself?

Thank you in advance!

posted by seemoorglass to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

I would get a piece of mesh that is fine enough to trap the baby spiders (you can ask a hardware store for door screen), cut it a couple of inches wider and longer than the vent cover, remove the vent cover, place the mesh, then replace the vent cover. Boom, you've got a spider filter for your vent. Good luck!
posted by mezzanayne at 10:20 PM on July 10, 2020 [9 favorites]

FYI The problem will literally go away on its own in a week or two if you do nothing. They are dispersing and your home is not a good place for them unless it has lots of bugs.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:15 AM on July 11, 2020 [4 favorites]

Not quite the same situation, but similar: To quell my fear of wasps coming in through the bathroom extractor fan (I freely admit this may be a groundless fear), I've taped a bit of net curtain material over it. The fan still works, and the mesh is fine enough that it would probably stop baby spiders too.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:15 AM on July 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Vacuum them up? They are there more or less by mistake; there won't necessarily be more of them.
posted by shadygrove at 6:47 AM on July 11, 2020 [4 favorites]

I would let them disperse or use a vacuum. They will very likely survive the trip up the vacuum though so prepare to change the bag when you're done.
posted by bondcliff at 7:56 AM on July 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

If you think you must apply something, a mixture of cedar oil and water sprayed in the duct would kill the current spiders and repel new ones, for a while. Mix at 8% oil to water and keep shaking it, they don't mix well.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:58 AM on July 11, 2020 [1 favorite]