# I am afraid of my laundry pile...



## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

As if heaps of dirty socks and underwear weren't dangerous enough, a GINORMOUS and I mean GINORMOUS wolf spider came creeping out from the midst of the pile. We had a chat, and it was decided he could return to the pile of laundry. Well, HE decided he could return to the laundry pile. There isn't a shoe big enough to take this monster on, he would likely wrestle the shoe from me and beat me over the head with it. Getting my DH to do the laundry isn't going to help because I told him about the spider, darn it, and he ain't going near that pile either. The socks and stuff aren't bad enough, but I have a blanket in there, gosh knows how many different folds he could find to hide in in the blanket! And all my baskets of clean laundry are suspect too, now. I am NOT exaggerating, he was 2 and a half inches long without his leg span. Believe me I had plenty of time to look at him, and he looked right back at me. His body was easily as fat as my thumb. :soap: (this is me hiding on top of a soap box in the laundry room). There are definitely some downfalls to country living in the fall.


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## giraffe_baby (Oct 15, 2005)

LOL I feel your pain, and they are the kind that you could (if you dare) slap a saddle on and ride to town! 
I have one up on you though, all i have to do is call " DESTINY!!!!!""" and my big 90lb chocolate lab comes and pounces, digs and finds said spider and chops it in half and then spits it out!!! LOL

WORKS for the tub too!! And shes been known to jump a wall ( in the basement) to save the children of the home the horror of a big ole spider!


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## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

They're kind of cute.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Uggh, I am being overrun by them. I was on the basement commode the other day and had to make peace with one in a corner, I tiptoed over to the sink, turned on the water to wash my hands and washed one that must have been hiding by the drain in a circle! Too big to fit down the drain, I just gave them the bathroom and ran. Doesn't help any when DH is afraid of them, too. I am only afraid of them if they look big enough to eat me.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Oggie, you stink. I had just posted and hit submit, and when the browser redirected me back to the thread, THAT is what I saw. I think I peed a little in my pants.


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## krische1012 (May 3, 2009)

We have them too... I HATE them...I go on shrieking stomping rampages in order to kill them. A friend of mine was riding through the woods on my property and nicknamed them tree kittens because they are so big!!! ARGGHHH


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## TexasArtist (May 4, 2003)

oggie you do that again and we're postin pictures of kitty cats!


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

Actually Oggie is quite right. They are kind of cute. Being in PA, I can't say I've ever seen a wolf spider (I don't think we have them here), but I know we do have some big brown spiders.

They routinely walk across the floor of the house at night, and usually, I let them go. If my sees one and starts screaming I usually scoop it up in my hands and let it go outside (all the while she is screaming "Kill it, kill it, KILL IT!") But I have a "live and let live" approach to life.

I would assume you have wolf spiders because they have found your house to have nice living conditions, shelter and food provided. Since they eat insects and other spiders, I'm guessing if you get rid of the insects and other spiders in your home, your "pet" wolf spider will look for greener pastures.

Now, (and I know I'll get yelled at for this), tonight as you lay in bed and start to feel "something" on your leg, it's probably your "pet" wolf spider saying goodnight. 

I can see several HT women tonight pulling the sheets back BEFORE getting into bed and cursing Michael W. Smith for putting the thought in their heads!!!!


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I can sympathize. We've been overrun with them in the house this Fall. They most definitely seem to like hiding in the laundry pile! Fortunately, the home invasion seems to have slowed down here. Hopefully it will slow down for you soon!


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## lenii (Dec 31, 2005)

I would take Roses advise and put big gloves and catch that baby. I could never have peace unless, it was dead. Just think of all of the places it could crawl, that are worse than the laundry pile. I would squash it between my fingers!


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

But you know what the best part is? The females lays eggs and carrys them with her. Once they hatch, they ride around on her back until they are old enough to hunt on their own, and then they disperse.

They DISPERSE all through your house!!!!!!


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## puddlejumper007 (Jan 12, 2008)

Beccachow....put on some big boots and stomp the heck out of that laundry...


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## Sumer (May 24, 2003)

I feel your pain. My kids still swear 15 years ago that there was once a tarantula in my basement laundry room. On the wall near the piles of clothes. They werent lying, they did see something. I dont think a tarantula would make it thru a Michigan winter but wolf spiders would. Im just glad I didnt see it but I used a long stick to sort laundry for a while after that. 

Sooo this might help.
Start the wasing machine on HOT water. Hook the clothing on the end of the stick and carry it over to the washer, shake the clothes off the stick straight into the machine. Wear gloves when putting it in the dryer and folding them.


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## Jerngen (May 22, 2006)

I've only seen one in my house once. I paused and looked around for something to kill it with (I was barefoot)...... and the stupid thing charged at me! So I retreated and it kept coming!! It was chasing me! 
I had never had an insect do that before (other then bee/hornets). Thankfully I quickly came across a heavy phone book and taught him the consequences of chasing me in my own house!! 

Going off of what Michael said above.... another time we were in a friends garage when a large brown spider came across the floor. He was wearing his combat boots and stomped on it...... and it exploded!! Or so we thought, it was actually (what seemed like) thousands and thousands of little spiders scurrying everywhere! We were all jumping up and down trying to kill them all when he decided to drown them.... grabbed the only thing he had which was a jug of windshield washing fluid and dumped the entire thing on them...... which only spread them out even more! 
Probably one of those "You had to be there" things but it was hilarious!


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

OK, laundry successfully washed. The only way he would have survived that was if he had on tiny little Scuba Gear.

This brings me back to a statement I made once: what's worse than seeing a huge spider as you step into the shower? Not seeing it when you get back out. I have no clue where that thing went. *shudder*


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

ok...I'm completely creeped out now. Thanks


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## ChickadeeL (Dec 10, 2008)

Minelson said:


> ok...I'm completely creeped out now. Thanks



((((shudder)))) Me too.....icky icky icky.

(thinking ahead to tonight and all the place I have to check for spiders now darnit before I get in bed....)


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Just think of everything that "huge" wolf spider has eaten. They're the good guys in your house. 

Pop a jar over him & take him outside, please don't kill him. If I see one in my home, I say happy eating & we go our separate ways. 

Now when I lived in Phoenix & had scorpions - that's a different story.


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## Farmerwilly2 (Oct 14, 2006)

I think you should super glue 8-10 ft. of string to his back and keep him where you need him. Red Green would have told ya if you don't find them cute you can at least make him handy (well he'd a said something like that).


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

rose2005 said:


> Can we cyber lynch Michael girls? Tar and feather him and feed him to, um Oggies evil cats?:duel:
> 
> Rose


I'm in, but I don't think it will help me sleep any better tonight. :viking:


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I'd rather have the few bugs that ride in on the firewood than to have the dozens of wolf spiders I've had in the house this Fall. I've killed up to 10 or more a DAY for the last few weeks. 

I know spiders are beneficial and I don't kill them outside, but when they come in my house, run across my hand whenever I pick something up...well, their lives are VERY much in danger!


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

I'm with you, Ravenlost. I generally leave them alone outside, but if they come in my house, I will kill them--twice.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

I actually leave them be as long as they don't bother me. Mostly I am afraid of squishing them for the SIZE of them...would make a really unpleasant squish. I also worry, spider bites can be pretty painful and we are talking some BIG guys I have seen over the past few days. Well, he is at large in the laundry room, who wants to take bets on him crawling into a clean clothes hamper and being uncovered upstairs on the bed as I am putting away the clothes...


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## CherieOH (Jun 10, 2005)

Eeeeks! That's enough to make a gal quit goin' barefoot!


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

This is really creepy, when we lived in Byesville, Oh, a HUGE spider ran across my face while I was sleeping. I thought it was dh tickling my face with my hair to wake me up. I didn't realize it had been a spider until later when I was making the bed and found it! Huge wolf spider (I guess, hairy brown and fully 2 inches long without the legs!!!!)!!! I absolutely hate them, they are not afraid of you in the least.

But last summer I did allow a fishing spider to roam at large in the basement. Fortunately for her she stayed there and kept far out of squishing reach. I had to respect her because of her age, they don't get that big in 1 season. And she didn't try hiding in the laundry.

I say pay a neighbor kid to catch it and put it in a jar, box it up and ship it to Oggie, COD.


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## Saffron (May 24, 2006)

We get the wolf spiders a lot!

Once when I was a kid, I caught one and had it in a large mixing bowl with a plate on top. Showed it to my dad because at the time I didn't know what kind it was and it was the biggest spider I had ever seen. I pull the plate off, he says "Yep, that's a wolf spider. You know they can jump about 3 feet high." SLAM and out the door he went. lol

I don't mind them, but I catch them in a jar and let them back outside.

As far as the bed - you should always check your sheets, no matter what!

One time I was laying in bed almost asleep and felt a tickle across my scalp. Figured it was a nerve spasm and rubbed my head a little on the pillow. About three more times later, I realized it had moved and felt "odd." Lifted my head and screamed - because it was one of the millipede things that can sting! EWWWWWWWW


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## TexasArtist (May 4, 2003)

I'm wondering if there's other ways to kill them besides a can of bug spray or a brick? Do you really wanna go after something that can over power you and take the can then spray you back or catch the brick and throw it back at you?!?!


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## Mrs. Homesteader (May 10, 2002)

rose2005 said:


> 3 years ago I found a wooly caterpillar under my pillow when we were in the cabin we built. We were on a mattress on the floor at the time.
> 
> I still look every night under my pillow to make sure there is nothing there and you...YOU put THIS idea into my head?????
> 
> Rose


When we moved to Florida, my sister-in-law told me that I better get used to palmetto bugs (huge roaches). She said one night when you get up to go to the bathroom you will step on one and it is not pleasant. Well, every night I had to go to the bathroom, I would always look down at the floor before I put my feet down. I did this for over a year and kept telling myself that it was dumb and I should stop. Well, one night I looked down and thought... Hmmm I don't remember a knot hole there.... Yep, it was a big one and would have been right where I put my foot down. I got out farther down the bed and got a shoe.  So, Rose... keep looking!!!


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## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

sorry but I'll take the bugs over that thing! I used to have a live and let live philosophy about spiders....till I got bit by one! Now they all die if they venture into my house. Its MINE not theirs and they are not welcome! I'd put on big boots and stomp away too. I could never sleep knowing that thing was in the house.......see it would be my luck that I would wake up and it would be on my bed! So it would have to die. Course I'd make dh kill it if he was here. Something to the effect of if he wanted to ever sleep in the same bed again.........


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## maidservant (Dec 10, 2007)

Geeze, lol. I feed the wolf spiders here. If we find them inside, we scoop them up and put them in our utility room (on the outside of the house) so they will stay warm at night. 

I've had rats, mice, spiders, and other not so nice things fall on my feet while I'm going through the dirty clothes, lol. Luckily all of the critters have been pets, other pets food, or just things to take outside, lol. 

Emily


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## suzfromWi (Jun 1, 2002)

How on earth do these things get in your houses? Spiders, snakes,etc....ewwwww. I would have to move. I walk around barefoot in the dark in my house at night...ewwwwwwwwwwwww.


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## GoldenCityMuse (Apr 15, 2009)

Tarantulas are the best!!

Black Widows, brown recluses, & scorpions I will kill without hesitation. Rattlesnakes too.

And skinks that won't get out o fthe house..... well, once.


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## slynn (Aug 24, 2002)

I found a dead mouse in my laundry pile once. Yikes!


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## stormwalker (Oct 27, 2004)

I'm peeved with M.W.
Smith! 
At first I thought he was trying to calm the hysteria- but, no -he was simply making matters worse!!!!!
The big spiders we have in temperate zones are only our friends, eating the critters we don't need in our houses!
We do need to think about Brown Recluse spiders, they're moving North at an alarming rate!
I got nailed at my in-laws house a few months ago.
It's rather interesting to watch the tissue destruction!


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I guess I'm weird, because I am not creeped out by spiders. :shrug: I always showed them to my kids and told them how good it is to have spiders, etc. Didn't work, though - all four of my kids are totally scared of them, lol. I've only seen wolf spiders on documentaries on TV, though...I thought they were really neat looking. Do they bite? I might feel differently iffen they were poisonous and about to bite me.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Yup, they bite and are mildy poisonous. They also seem to be intelligent. THAT'S what freaks me out. They follow you with their eyes...they don't scamper away and hide, they CHALLENGE you!! I'm not in the least afraid of daddy-long-legs and any spider I see outside, I also show them to DD because they are neat. But not so much up close and personal, and HUGE! They must eat good at my house. Now I really do let them go their own way, mostly because I am too afraid to get near them with anything they might wrestle away from me on use on me in return. Even this big monster, once he crawled out of my laundry pile, was allowed to carry on. I am, however, on high alert back by the washer and dryer(I also walk around barefoot).


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

The Rabid Wolf Spider is what's commonly called a garden spider or zipper spider. We have these everywhere outside during the warm weather and don't disturb their webs. 

But I have to admit, if one of those beady-eyed Carolina wolfs was inside my house and looking at me as a future meal, that would be its last thought if I have anything say about it.


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## ronbre (Apr 26, 2009)

my husband said use a golf club..of course we don't golf


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## ronbre (Apr 26, 2009)

me i'd use a vacuum cleaner and then staple the dang bag shut and put it in the garbage


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## Countrycowgirl78 (10 mo ago)

Does it look like this? This is the second one I found in my laundry pile


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Countrycowgirl78 said:


> Does it look like this? This is the second one I found in my laundry pile


beccachow hasn't been around for a long time. But that is the kind of spider I often find in my house or shed. It's a Dark Fishing Spider and they get to be really big. A little one ran in my basement this afternoon when I opened the outside door.

I have a mountain of laundry that needs to be done and now I'm worried about spiders hiding in it.


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)




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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Yesterday I was taking laundry off the line and a little spider dropped down from the line. And hubby wonders why I run the dried laundry through a short spider killing dryer cycle.


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