False Widow Spiders infesting house

[captain nodge]

i think the time to really panic is when they get as big as the one in the lord of the rings shelebub was her name wasnt it,
i know its no laughing matter and it sounds like the vacuum idea is the best, lets face it during a normal vacuumin sesion were sucking up loads things anyway without realizing it, i hate it when painting and just when you think youve brushed all spiders to safety one makes a run for it only 2 end up covered in what to them must be very painfull slow death, only thing to do is squish em,hate that

[John_M]

Hi.
I have had Steatoda nobilis in my kitchen for a couple of years now. Initially there was a male encamped by my central heating boiler. Last year I had a female in the same place, with a couple of males in close proximity. The males then disappeared, and either one of them, or another male was sharing the web with the female. The female disappeared around a couple of months ago.
Since there is a decent (from the point of view of spiders!) void space above the boiler, I was kind of hoping that I'd had a breeding pair, but I haven't seen any young so far. I have been considering looking for egg sacs in the void space, but about two weeks ago I saw that a Pholcus phalangoides had established itself in the web, so I may just find a few corpses.
I haven't found these steatoda spiders to be a problem at all; occasionally when the web gets a bit too unsightly with dust and dead flies I brush it away. The spider just retreats until all is quiet again and bulids another web, I certainly wouldn't describe them as aggressive. I think half the problem is that they are called false widows, similar to the Tegenaria agrestis / "aggresive house spider" debate in the states.
Personally I welcome spiders in my house and garden as we don't like to use insecticides etc.

[LRM]

Be careful what you wish for - it might come true!

Clearing out conservatory after the winter and have disposed of about 20 FW spiders so far. Took ages checking every pot, tub and tray etc. One tray of plants contained several spiders hiding in leaves, one big FW spider had 6 empty egg sacs beside her.

Even worse when sorting through the stuff stored in fathers spare bedroom I found alot of young false widow spiders, some brown and some black. Huge female FW spider hiding in folds of electric blanket made me jump. Had to carefully check every coat that had been stored on top of it. Some had taken up residence in my shoes and I couldn't wear my wellington boots during the snow, as I didn't know how to check the toes for spiders.

The resident house spider had extended its web from the window across the succulents stored there for the winter, but it didn't come out when I touched the web, but I found that several young FW's had taken up residence. However, I found the House spider hiding in a fold in the curtains. Perhaps it will venture out now I have removed alot of the other spiders. Unfortunately can not get behind the wardrobes, dread to think how many may be there.

You may think 1 or 2 spiders will be fun but wait until you've got hundreds running around, everywhere.