The best way to deal with mice is to scoop them up in a towel thrown over them. They nestle into the folds in the fabric and you can then take them outside.
Some years ago, at the last house, a colleague who recently moved nearby knocked on our door late one evening and asked if my OH could go and remove a spider from her bedroom … she was an adult aged around 30 … her parents were both prison officers in a particularly tough prison and she was a social worker dealing with some particularly grim child protection cases.
She and her housemates were both quaking wrecks.
OH and I went around and up to her bedroom armed with a large yoghurt pot and an old Christmas card. We spent about an hour fudging around under her bed trying to find any spider at all in thus Victorian terraced house. The two women said they’d have to go and stay in a hotel until it found he found!!!
Eventually OH decided that he’d had enough, slammed the yoghurt pot down in a dark corner, slid the card under the pot and shouted ‘get out of the way!’ and rushed downstairs and released absolutely nothing into the back garden. 🤐
Next morning they reported they’d slept well. About a week later she appeared on our doorstep again … it had come back indoors … apparently 🤫. The housemate was keeping an eye on it. OH wasn’t at home so I went and rescued the poor spider … both women were amazed that I, a woman could do this thing that they thought could only be done by men.
I asked how they thought female gardeners, farmers, girls with horses etc got on? Did they think they go running down the road looking for a man to rescue them? 🤯🤬🤐
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Spiders can just be picked up in the hand and released. We have to do it occasionally for Possum who has been trained not to kill them and knows how to catch and release if we're not there.
Catching mice here depends on how many cats and dogs are "helping". One cat brings them in alive. The other sits and watches, clueless. Rasta (mouser and ratter doggy) thinks they're for her and Bonzo Lab just likes to keep us company whatever we're doing.
RTBC? I have absolutely nothing I have to do today. My time is mine. Wonderful.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
At this time of year putting spiders back outside will do no good, they will simply find their way back in again somehow. September and most of October are the months when spiders make their way into the warmth of your homes - or if you are lucky, your sheds and garages - to find their mates, leading to lots of more spiders to terrorise us poor humans! Now I hate spiders, they quite freak me out, but back in the days of yore when daughter was just a little one I felt it important that she grew up with no fear of the pesky things. So finding a spider in the house led me to still my quaking heart and say "oh look there's a sweet spider, perhaps we should return him to the outside". Making suitable cooing noises I would bravely gather up the said monster and carry it out, trying to not show the sweat breaking out on my brow and to keep my shaking legs working long enough to get to the door. The consequence of all my efforts is a daughter that positively adores spiders and now answers my shouts of "help, spider"! ps. Years ago when she left home to start her own life she used to keep those huge tarantula spiders as pets!!
It's not only women who are terrified of spiders. A couple of years ago on holiday, I went out onto our balcony and the guy in the unit next to us was literally cowering in the corner of his balcony. I asked if he was OK and he said there was a spider on the table and he couldn't get past to get back inside. Initially I couldn't see anything then he yelled and pointed at the table again. The spider including legs was about half the size of my little finger nail, but he was absolutely terrified. It must be terrible to have a phobia that badly.
Where do fears and phobias come from? Are they learnt or innate?
My daughter had no issue with spiders when she was young, even though her mum wasn't a big fan and never hid her fear. But as my daughter aged, her attitude changed and now she doesn't like them either. Her two year old daughter loves all buggy things.
I never had a fear of heights - but now can't go up a ladder and even get sweaty palms from watching stuff on the TV that has a scary height element. But I put that down to my son - he had a habit of pushing away from you with his feet when being carried - and we went to a couple of places where height was involved (ie walkways/bridges,towers) and he did his trick. The fear of dropping him morphed (I think) into a general fear of heights.
The first time OH saw a snake in the garden he came face to face with it round a corner, they looked at each other and both froze, snake beat a hasty retreat and OH turned and ran as fast as he could, it was so funny to watch.
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Next morning they reported they’d slept well. About a week later she appeared on our doorstep again … it had come back indoors … apparently 🤫. The housemate was keeping an eye on it. OH wasn’t at home so I went and rescued the poor spider … both women were amazed that I, a woman could do this thing that they thought could only be done by men.
I asked how they thought female gardeners, farmers, girls with horses etc got on? Did they think they go running down the road looking for a man to rescue them? 🤯🤬🤐
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Catching mice here depends on how many cats and dogs are "helping". One cat brings them in alive. The other sits and watches, clueless. Rasta (mouser and ratter doggy) thinks they're for her and Bonzo Lab just likes to keep us company whatever we're doing.
RTBC? I have absolutely nothing I have to do today. My time is mine. Wonderful.
Certainly pollinators of all kinds are treated well. Flying ants, less so. Slugs (yes, in the house), definitely not!!
I prefer to trap than squash, because it means less mess to clear up. Yesterday evening was an exception. Tough on the spider, but it was quick.
I just don't have a jar/mug/glass to hand all the time. Better a dead spider than a screaming wife.
Now I hate spiders, they quite freak me out, but back in the days of yore when daughter was just a little one I felt it important that she grew up with no fear of the pesky things. So finding a spider in the house led me to still my quaking heart and say "oh look there's a sweet spider, perhaps we should return him to the outside". Making suitable cooing noises I would bravely gather up the said monster and carry it out, trying to not show the sweat breaking out on my brow and to keep my shaking legs working long enough to get to the door. The consequence of all my efforts is a daughter that positively adores spiders and now answers my shouts of "help, spider"!
ps. Years ago when she left home to start her own life she used to keep those huge tarantula spiders as pets!!