Eek! a Spider Was Crawling on My Baby! Time for Pest Control????

I have an irrational fear of spiders but the spiders in my house? Yeah, we have an agreement. I leave them alone as long as they leave me alone. If they come anywhere near me or my food, it's the vacuum. I make no promises to the spiders about my cats.

Because the fact is that no matter where you are anywhere in the world, you're within 6-12 feet of a spider. They're good pest controllers themselves, which is partly why I have this, ah, agreement with them.

However, roaches are evil and if you saw one roach then there are probably a hundred/s more. If you ever look around and see "dirt" that's not really dirt but looks like tiny little dirt balls, that's their eggs. And you really need an exterminator for the little f*ers because they WILL go into the house and eat any kind of food left around. They'll even eat the glue on wallpaper and contact paper in kitchen drawers and kitchen cabinets. They can live off of a missed, miniscule spot of grease for months.

So yes, get in touch with an exterminator. For the roaches.

No suggestions other than to say OMG!! Your post gave me the heebie geebies!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck!!!

I'm really against the use of pest control on our property due to our human health and the environment's health. We have brown and black widow spiders in our backyard because there is a wilderness area behind our yard. We've taught our daughter what to look for and she now points them out to us and we just club 'em to death. haha. For the roaches I would just use a few of the motels in the garage, but not the spray.

Funny story, when my husband and I were dating, I was spending the night at his house. I'm sleeping naked as a jaybird in his bed in the middle of the night w/ him when I felt something weird and tickling down in my nether regions -- and I mean right there. I jumped right up and it was a big ole spider walking across my, ahem. YUCK!!!!

Oh yeah. My breaking point was seeing an ant crawling on my daughter's head in our kitchen.

We use Orkin.

Unfrotunately, we live 20ft from a river bank, so the bugs are really, really hard to keep out of the house. Even with regular treatments.

If pest control includes spraying chemicals all over the place, then I vote for the spider. Can't speak for roaches, though. If it's a large roach - the kind that lives outdoors, vs. the small roach - the kind that lives in your kitchen cabinets and breeds exponentially (shudder), then I would ignore the large roach. You won't get many of those.

Black widows have a red spot, so they are pretty distinctive.

I like to avoid chemicals with babies if at all possible.

My experience is to not even bother with an exterminator unless you have a major infestation, or bigger issues like termites. Buy some Bayer Advanced pest control and spray around your the perimeter of your house. The Bayer kind is the best! Also, I HATE bugs, too. I'll get a couple bug bombs in the spring and fall and let it off in the crawl space and attic when I know I will be out for a bit. Spring and Fall are the times where bugs and spiders are most migratory.

I use Preventive Pest control. They spray the house, garage inside and out. They also spray our playset's outside to keep the black widows away. They come ever other month and can come back in between if you have issues.

Hi A.,

I use a line of safe and non toxic cleaning products that repel insects. Im living in the house I grew up in in bug infected Georgia and we had numerous pests then. We cleaned from top to bottom when we moved back in with the stuff I use and we have yet to see anything but an occasional pest that has come in on our dog....

I'll share info if you're interested..

M.