Having a furry eight-legged spider on the bed is a horrific nightmare that can also happen in real life! It’s actually not uncommon for spiders to end up on our beds. They prefer dark areas, and your bed can provide a variety of different coves and dark spaces for them to investigate.
Finding a spider in your bed can be unsettling. Especially if it’s a venomous spider type, like a Black Widow or Brown Recluse. You can’t really just spray for a spider infestation, so you have to find the root cause and treat that first. There are some DIY methods however, that can limit spiders from getting into your bed.
So to get a good night’s sleep and to stop worrying about these creatures climbing into your sheets, here are 10 tips on how to keep spiders out of your bed.
What You'll Learn
Spray Essential Oils
Since you can’t use chemical pesticides on your sacred sleeping space, using natural repellents would be one of the best options for you. Essential oils like lemon, peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree oil and especially lavender are potent and very aromatic. These oils contain compounds like d-limonene, a natural chemical that has been proven to drive away various pests like mosquitoes and spiders. Not only that, these oils also promote a good night’s sleep with their soothing aromas.
To make the repellent, all you have to do is add a few drops of these oils into a spray bottle that’s already been filled with water. You can try various combinations of oils instead of just one, depending on your preference. Remember that the more oils you add in, the stronger the spray will be. It’s best to experiment on the effects of your spray by applying it on a test cloth first. Start from a few drops and work your way up.
Spray your repellent under your bed, on the sheets, on the headboard and on the bed’s legs. Repeat this method a few times a week.
Launder With Essential Oils
Another way to use essential oils is doing the dryer method. Laundering with these oils evenly distributes their scents on your sheets. Mix your preferred essential oils together. Lightly soak a damp wash cloth or several wool dryer balls with your oil mixture, and throw them into the dryer, along with your bedsheets, blankets or pillow cases. Lavender works great, and some people use tea trea oil. Just make sure you have no allergens to either before you use them.
Then set the machine to dry on low heat. If you want a much stronger scent, set your machine to high heat. Remember that the amount of heat a fabric can take depends on its composition. Linen, for example, shrinks if it’s not handled carefully.
Wash Your Sheets Regularly
Now that we’ve talked about doing laundry, you need to do it once every week. Dead skin cells, food crumbs, moisture from sweat and wet towels, dirt and grime from dirty clothes are only a few of the nasty things that can collect on a bed. And with this hefty collection of debris, you’re bound to have pests like small roaches crawling all over the place. Not long after that, spiders will be there to hunt those insects.
Don’t Eat on Your Bed
To help you with the laundry and to avoid attracting pests on your bed, simply don’t eat where you sleep. Take your midnight snack in your kitchen. Avoid getting crumbs, food debris and sauce smears on your sheets. As we’ve mentioned before, you’ll attract the wrong crowd.
Keep Your Furniture at a Distance
Having lamps and bedside tables can be convenient. However, spiders can use them to wander into your bed. What you want is to stop your furniture from leading the spiders into where you sleep. So keep them a few inches away. Set a distance that’s close enough for your hand to reach them but far enough that no spider can get to you.
Clean Your Room
If you want a spider-free bed, clear out all the cobwebs in your room. These webs are indicators of spiders already living inside the bedroom. Get rid of their hiding spots. Find them, and kill them. Declutter and organize your room to keep the spiders away.
Use Beds That Have Long Legs
It’s a pragmatic and effective solution. Accordingly, the most difficult type of bed for spiders to climb up on are the ones with thin legs. Thus, beds with long skinny legs get less wandering spiders than those that are closer to the floor.
Tuck Your Sheets In
Another way to modify your bed is to keep the sheets from touching the floor. Tuck them in every time you’re not using them. Dangling sheets invite spiders to climb up, and making sure they are tucked will give them one less thing they can cling to.
Sprinkle Boric Acid Around Bedpost Legs
Sprinkle boric acid around each leg. Boric acid is a known repellent against roaches, termites and fleas. It’s also an abrasive powder that can kill spiders. Walking on them can cause small wounds on the spider’s soft belly, making it leak out bodily fluids. The powder can also kill the arachnid if it accidentally eats it, causing lethal dehydration and trouble inside its stomach.
Just be careful with using this method with kids and pets around. It’s not lethal to them, but it can still cause health issues if a significant amount has been eaten.
Declutter Underneath Your Bed
Putting stuff underneath your bed may save space, but it’ll also provide spiders with dark hiding places to spin their webs. Spiders are well known to like dark spaces, but it’s slightly more disturbing when they are nesting near where you sleep!
Hawkins Pest Control advises against using too many storage boxes under the bed because they collect debris. They can also absorb moisture, so they’ll definitely attract insect prey. And more prey means more spiders that hunt them.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it. These simple tricks seem easy enough to do but they actually take time and effort. After all, knowing how to keep spiders out of your bed means maintenance and commitment. That is, if you don’t want an eight-legged creature crawling under your sheets at midnight, put some effort into it.
