Wave Goodbye To Banana Spiders With This Natural Home Remedy

Arachnophobia is one of the most common fears. After all, it inspired the 1990 horror film of the same title. Most spider species are harmless and have no rational reason to be feared, but others, including certain types of banana spiders, can be dangerous if they bite you. 

Venomous or not, however, it's a normal response to want to rid your home of a banana spider simply because of their appearance. But you don't necessarily need bug spray or a shoe to do it. All you have to do is grab some white vinegar.

It's one thing to kill a spider, but what's to stop new ones from taking its place? To repel those eight-legged critters and prevent new ones from visiting or moving in, make a solution of water and white vinegar in equal parts and pour it into a spray bottle. Then, spray the areas that tend to attract spiders. Although it's rare for a banana spider to make its way inside of a home, if one does, it would likely make its web in a dark basement or closet corners. Since vinegar can repel smaller spiders, it likely would also repel banana spiders.

White vinegar emits a strong odor that many living creatures find unpleasant and repulsive, so spiders will avoid areas where it's been sprayed. You can also repel banana spiders with this solution if you spray them directly with it. That pungent odor in vinegar is caused by acetic acid, according to AskaNaturalist.com, which is what repels banana spiders.

In addition to spraying areas where you've seen spiders, spraying the cracks and crevices in your home is a great way to prevent them from entering in the first place. Just keep in mind that the scent will fade with time, so you'll need to spray the white vinegary solution regularly as your ongoing banana spider repellent.

Although a can of Raid or spray can repel and kill banana spiders just as well as – or better than – white vinegar, one primary difference is that white vinegar is natural and chemical-free. This can be especially important if you have curious pets or small children who may approach the sprayed areas of your home.

White vinegar can help keep banana spiders out of your home, but it can also be effective in keeping them away from your yard. Banana spiders are commonly found in warm, humid climates. In the United States, you're more likely to find them — specifically the golden silk orb-weaver species — in the southeastern states. They typically make their webs in forests, but they can also set up residence right outside your front door, as one did in someone's Louisiana home.

It only takes about an hour for an orb-weaver to build a web, so that means it's very possible for you to wake up and see a web in your yard that wasn't there the night before. So if you find a surprise web in your yard or on your porch, you can remove/destroy it (if it's in the way) with a stick and spray the area with the same white vinegar spray to prevent the spider from rebuilding nearby. Just be careful not to spray any plants that you don't want to kill, as the acetic vinegar can damage them.