Bye-bye to creepy-crawlies
Spraying your home’s exterior for creepy crawlies of the eightlegged kind will eliminate cobwebs, but is it necessary? The finicky among us would say yes.
‘‘Cobwebs are people’s bug bear,’’ said Mike Ward of Spiderban in Canterbury. ‘‘They take them off and then they come back a few days later, or a week later, you’re forever doing the cobwebs.’’
‘‘We take the cobwebs off the house and spray. So you get the cobweb-free appearance straight away and you can tell how well the product works because the cobwebs don’t come back for a year.’’
An exterior spider spraying treatment will rid your home’s outside of unsightly webs for up to a year, plus kill off any lingering white-tails, whose bites can be particularly unpleasant for children.
If you’re anxious about letting your kids run around outside or toxins leaking into your vege garden once you’ve had the treatment done , Tricia Scott of NZ Environmental said it’s best to look into their ingredients, as any potential dangers would depend on the chemicals used.
‘‘Potentially, rain will wash the product into the soil where it could be ingested through eating, or skin contact, but it all depends on the chemicals in the product.
‘‘They may be a plant-based products which are harmless to people – spiders are likely to be more sensitive, given their small size,’’ said Scott.
The products used for an exterior spider treatment by Spiderban and Rentokil are made of synthetic pyrethroids. Pyrethroids in general are less acutely toxic than other pesticides, but are highly toxic to aquatic species, and should not be ingested by mammals.
‘‘We use synthetic pyrethroids, which are chemicals that are synthetic copies of pyrethrum found in chrysanthemums,’’ said Vivienne Van Dyke of Rentokil. ‘‘Natural pyrethrum is not suitable for long-term control as it doesn’t last.’’
A study has acknowledged the usefulness and relative safety of pyrethroids compared to other options, but stressed that generally, pyrethroid contact with the environment needs to be reduced.
Spiderban said it was particularly careful when preparing to conduct an exterior treatment. It uses a wind gauge to assess the direction in which any excess might blow and notifies any close neighbours so they can get their pets out of the way. A basic treatment from Rentokil to the exterior of a 140 square-metre house starts at $160.
To prepare for exterior spider spraying, bring all washing inside, close all windows and doors, move outside furniture, indoors, tie up dogs well away from the area, cover any fish ponds, and lock cats inside or remove with you in a carry-cage while the treatment is done.
The time required for treatment will depend on the size of the home but generally takes around three hours. It’s best to do the treatment in the spring, so if spiders really bug you, put the task on the to-do list for September.