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The Biggest Spider Ever!

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Changing4Best

MyPTSD Pro
I am usually terrified of spiders. So last evening, when I glanced over towards my A/C and there it was, in plain sight! It was huge, fat and ready to lay its eggs!!! I quickly grabbed my spider bug spray and saturated it for about a minute. I made sure it was DEAD. My heart was racing. I was in panic mode. All I could think was, how on earth had this thing gotten into my apartment?

Still, I could not bring myself to dispose of it, still can't. I called a friend/ support person and she calmed me down eventually. I slept fitfully last night, had nightmares. I still feel things crawling all over me. I kept wondering if there were others anywhere in here.

Mind you, I'm still under quarantine, even though my Covid test was negative. I have the flue. So I was unable to leave my apartment, nor get anyone in here to help me. Ugh!!!
 
Although I don't have a fear of spiders per se, if I saw one in the house that I live in that was real big, it would give me the willies a little bit.

I'm glad you had a can of spider bug spray on hand, Changing4TheBest. It's a good thing that you did.
 
Ah! Our old friend... deadly neurotoxin! -GlaDOS

Meaning? If you really sprayed neurotoxin inside an apartment for about a minute? About half the panic and jangles and things crawling on you that you’re feeling may well just be side effects of the RAID (or whatever brand) in your system. Even if you threw open all the windows, and turned off your fans to keep it from circulating and to air things out, AND wiped down all surfaces in about a 10foot radius from where the mist would settle on surfaces (furnishings, carpeting, walls, etc.)... you still would have breathed enough in from the initial spray for 12-24 hours worth of effect. And if you didn’t clear the air and surfaces? Expect to be feeling it for up to a week or three as it slowly breaks down and becomes inert. (Cleaning surfaces, wearing gloves and a mask, and changing out the filters in your HVAC can minimize exposure down to a day or so, instead of up to a few weeks).

That stuff is gnarly. We had to quit using it, entirely, once we had family members with asthma... even short 1-2 second bursts would be enough to f*ck their systems. But even people with normal pulmonary systems will often feel jittery for a few days after minimal exposure. With a stress/panic disorder & phobia on board? I’d pretty much blow off any symptom spikes (panic attacks, nightmares, sweats, creepy crawling muscles, etc.) as a reaction to the neurotoxin, but also take steps to remove as much of the toxin from your home as possible, in the interim. It’s not strong enough to kill you (in smallish doses, I wouldn’t go huffing it), or anything... but it can certainly drop kick your central nervous system for a loop even in short controlled bursts. Much less 60 seconds of continuous spraying inside of a small unventilated space.
 
Yikes! And I thought the enemy was the spider. I'm doomed. My windows don't even open and I'm under quarantine until a week from today. I will go do what I can to clean the air vents in the A/C. Thanks for the info.
 
Ps. What else can kill spiders? I already have a guest lizard and he takes care of most all the insects in my house, but this thing's body was bigger than his head! @Friday
 
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Yikes! And I thought the enemy was the spider. I'm doomed.
Lol... not actually doomed, just likely to be jittery and reactive and anxiety running hot for a bit. Wiping stuff down & replacing filters will help a ton. So will showers & clean sheets & stuff.

Ps. What else can kill spiders? I already have a guest lizard and he takes care of most all the insects in my house, but this thing's body was bigger than his head! @Friday
I paid the college boys down the street in beer & pizza -or home cooked meals- to come squish spiders for me for years. Shudder. (Prior to thay my husband did spiders, and I did bees/wasps/snakes). Anansi aside, I’m not a spider fan.

The big strong men in my life? ;) Usually used a combo of smacking them with a shoe & yelping like little girls. I’m fairly certain it was the shoe thing that killed the spider, but one can never be exactly sure.
 
THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!!!

It's the same color as my carpet. So all I can see is a shadow creeping along the way to the bathroom.

I froze this time, then fled to grab the RAID, but when I returned to the spot where it had been, it was gone. It's too early for Halloween creepy stuff!!! This is not fair.

How will I sleep again tonight, knowing this beast lunrks nearby. I'm still under quarantine for another week. I'm trapped here with this thing and I can't hire college kids or anyone else to kill them for me. I still have no idea what to do. At least I got four hours of sleep before I saw it, SIGH....
 
I did manage a few more hours of fitfull sleep. I would wake up to see it darting away quickly towards the bathroom again. I prayed about it, asking God to protect me and then I slept a bit better. I guess I got an OK night's sleep, considering, thanks be to God.
 
A friend of mine says that tea tree oil will kill them too. She's going to add some to some water in a spray bottle for me and leave it at my door.
 
Thank you, @Rani G it is much needed and appreciated. The way I see it is this: spiders belong out doors, away from dwellings. They are valuable out in the wilds, but I don't want to live with them. They give me the hee-bee-gee-bees!
 
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