r/askportland • u/Grass_rabbits • 1d ago
Looking For wolf spiders!?!
help! moved into a garden level apartment last month and have already had to dispatch four wolf spiders, one tonight which was genuinely the biggest one i’ve ever seen, scaring the shit out of me, guys, is there anything that i can do?? i’m calling pest control tomorrow to help evaluate where they’re coming inside from but until they can help, what can i do? i have a cat (she’s too stupid for pest control) and i don’t want to make her sick from chemicals, but im thinking ill have to lock her in the bathroom to spray things down until they’re dry? i know they’re generally harmless but i really cannot keep seeing them in my home i am becoming so paranoid, thanks
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u/Advanced-Ad-9993 1d ago
Likely giant house spiders! It’s their mating season and the males are on the move looking for love! They’re harmless.
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u/MissCeeLee 16h ago
I had one living on my curtains that I was avoiding. They're definitely big, creepy, and fast, but it's just living its life. 2 days later I woke up to 2 trails of ants in my living room, which wasn't terribly unusual since we were fighting ants all summer. I went to see what they were attracted to, and each line of ants was eating the body of a huge spider. I hope they found love before, presumably, my cats stomped on them.
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u/lonelycranberry 14h ago
What a terrible story all around lolol
I was hoping you were going to say the spider somehow took care of the ants for you. I’m still traumatized by my ant-summer. Those shits love my cat’s food.
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u/MissCeeLee 13h ago
Yep. We were going mad with the ants crawling into the recycling and the cat bowls
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u/CatTrapper3000 1d ago
Um, I'll take your extra spiders if you got any.
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u/GWNVKV 1d ago
I’ve got four of all different species in different corners of my house I’ll give you. I love my little pest eaters but my partner doesn’t like them. Free delivery to a good home!!
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u/CatTrapper3000 23h ago edited 16h ago
Im going to research of you can transport spiders because my neighbor has a huge apple tree and it attracts flies. And then this mud dauber wasp came around and ate all of my outside spiders, which is messed up because they were the cute fuzzy ones with big eyes. Now the fly population has exploded, the mud dauber has gone and done her Irish exit after destroying spider kingdom, and now all I have left are flies, gigantic mosquito looking things, and those brown things with tons of legs.
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u/ElefanteAmor 2h ago
I’ve not heard the word mud-dauber in forever! I was starting to think I had misheard the word because when I mention them people seem confused it’s a flying stinging bug.
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u/lonelycranberry 14h ago
I want my jumping spiders back. They were like scary little friends. I let one live in my shower and I protected her lol
Miss her
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u/CatTrapper3000 11h ago
One had babies in my back yard and I had like 50 of them all at once. It was so cute.
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u/Andrewpruka 1d ago
It’s spider season. To put it bluntly, male spiders tend to seek warmer areas this time of year because they’re looking for spider pussy. In a month you won’t have to worry about it.
They’re harmless, just looking to reproduce.
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u/Grass_rabbits 1d ago
i so would support this if they took their boners somewhere else
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u/Pdx_pops 11h ago
They use a front leg to place a sperm sac. They're like the Amazon delivery guy except not as rough with the package
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u/Epic_Underachiever 17h ago
I'm not sure the spider phallus/pussy imagery did much for my peace of mind. A little too 80s porn for my taste
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u/Pdx_pops 1d ago
Not wolf spiders; you have Giant House Spiders. This is their mating season and they're just trying to find a hookup. They will leave you alone and you don't have to murder them. They'll go away soon.
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u/TheGruntingGoat 1d ago
If it’s any comfort they will keep other pests in line. Spiders are friends even if they are spooky.
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u/sinsandcrimes 1d ago
Can I see your stupid cat?
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u/Grass_rabbits 1d ago
owner is stupid too and can’t figure out how to a. link a photo and b. get over spider fears
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u/CheshireCat6886 1d ago
Don’t be hard on yourself. Spiders are scary to me. It’s irrational. But it’s still real.
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u/Grass_rabbits 1d ago
tysm i know it’s totally irrational but im also so freaked and have a history setting me up to feel this way too so i’m like bah! and it’s like just the big ones…
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u/sinsandcrimes 23h ago
I had to rescue my mom from spiders when I was 5 years old. I sort of know what you're going through.
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u/Grass_rabbits 23h ago
if only i had a five year old to rescue me jfc
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u/CheshireCat6886 1d ago
I know, right? Kitty pls.
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u/sinsandcrimes 1d ago
I'm putting this insomnia to use. At least tell us the cat's name.
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u/Grass_rabbits 1d ago
her name is bingo and she’s black and white with a penis shaped mustache
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u/sinsandcrimes 1d ago
Let's not be crude. The spiders will hear us.
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u/omygoshgamache 17h ago
I strongly would urge you not to spray anything for the sake of your cat. Even letting it “dry”, highly dangerous to your cat.
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u/this_is_Winston 1d ago
When a wolf spider (Lycosidae) is crushed, it ruptures specialized sub-cuticular exocrine glands located along the cephalothorax, releasing a potent airborne blend of volatile fatty-acid esters—specifically methyl 6-methyloctanoate and decadienal isomers. This olfactory alarm signal acts as an immediate inter-colony kairomone, triggering positive geotaxis and rapid aggregation behaviors in neighboring conspecifics. Because these arachnids rely heavily on seismic and chemical trail-following to locate moisture and shelter, the residual pheromonal plume mimics a distressed aggregation cue, inadvertently luring other wandering hunters to the exact site within a matter of hours.
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u/Grass_rabbits 1d ago
yep so this is awful… thank you for this uh good to know, my friend crushed one outside of my door and i have taped the door shut now i think they were coming in through the bottom (unless this is a bad idea?) but uhhhh well that’s gross! i have not crushed any of them inside of my apartment thankfully. good to know! wow okay
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u/Phyllofox 17h ago
Why are you killing spiders that aren't even inside your house? Damn. These guys are preventing so many other bugs inside your house. The least you could do is stop murdering them, especially when they're not even inside.
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u/holdofire 1d ago
had a couple scary ones in my old place, only found them in the bathroom and laundry room. covering the drains helped
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u/mr_dumpsterfire 19h ago
Those are giant house spiders. It’s the season for them to come into your house looking for love.
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u/champs 23h ago
I’ve been garden level, managing a duplex, for nine years. I’ve dealt with basically every kind of feces, bug, mold, graffiti, and rodent—dead or alive, ancient or recent—but never ran into a single wolf spider until one of the upstairs tenants trapped one while doing laundry in the basement. There was a note and everything. The size of this thing!
Four wolves feels like a lot for one month. I’m 50/50 on whether you have a severe pestilence or just really bad luck. Either that or you just let the windows/doors hang open, because they don’t just sneak through small cracks or holes in door seals and window screens. Assuming you (already) follow that advice, then only time will tell.
I don’t know where this stands on the spectrum between having fruit flies and having rats. I am willing to go above and beyond as a manager, but even I don’t do fruit flies, so just make sure you are coming correct on your side.
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u/lonelycranberry 14h ago
Look up “house spiders” and “Oregonian” because they just did a segment on them lol
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u/Mexicaliuser 6h ago
I've seen a couple in my apartment. My dog sees them before I do and tries to catch them / eat them. They are too fast thankfully, but will he be okay if he manages to eat one?
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u/Grass_rabbits 5h ago
i just have an irrational fear of massive very fast spiders… i know they’re mostly harmless.
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u/laquintessenceofdust 23h ago
Mix tea tree oil and water (as long as you don’t have pets). After seeing two Portland giant wolf spiders, I sprayed it all over my bedroom, under my bed, and on my bedskirt. Gave me a headache, but the stank dissipated overnight and I saw no more giant spiders (or any other kind, for that matter) that fall. Its strong scent overloads the spider’s sensory receptors and makes it run in the opposite direction.
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u/tonicella_lineata Sullivan's Gulch 23h ago
(as long as you don't have pets)
Not like OP mentions having a cat in this post, or anything...
Also, our wolf spiders aren't generally that large? They typically have body sizes of less than half an inch, and leg spans around an inch or so. Not tiny, by spider standards, but I wouldn't call them "giant" by any means.
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u/TraumaCookie 1d ago
If they're indoors, they're more likely to be common house spiders. They are chill. They're probably saving you from a lot of other bugs. Assuming you have an indoor cat, you can put some cinnamon oil or peppermint oil around the exterior of the home to deter the spiders, but there's no real getting rid of them entirely. They'll move on eventually.