Spiders on balcony

[Exodus]

I live in a condo around the lakeshore area and have spiders all over my balcony and windows even up on a high floor. Twofold question:
1. How do I get rid of them and prevent them from coming back. I am currently using raid intermittently with some luck

2. I am assuming what attracts them to such high heights is because of all the flying insects. But do units up on the 60th plus floors get them too? Is it just this bad by the lake or is it better closer to the core?

Who else has these issues?

 

[W. K. Lis]

I live in a condo around the lakeshore area and have spiders all over my balcony and windows even up on a high floor. Twofold question:
1. How do I get rid of them and prevent them from coming back. I am currently using raid intermittently with some luck

2. I am assuming what attracts them to such high heights is because of all the flying insects. But do units up on the 60th plus floors get them too? Is it just this bad by the lake or is it better closer to the core?

Who else has these issues?

Spiders are carnivores. That means there must be other insects for the spiders to feast on. Get rid of the other insects, then you'll get rid of the spiders.

 

[whatever]

Put up bat houses somewhere nearby? They do wonders for keeping insect populations down, and they're really quite unobtrusive.

 

[metroTO]

I used to live on Lakeshore near Bathurst on the 30th floor and I had a ton of spiders on my balcony. The spiders seem to multiply quickly and some were freakishly large and scary looking. I've heard spiders is a very common on condo balconies near the waterfront due to the humidity and abundance of flying insects, particularly gnats. I couldn't enjoy my balcony as much due to the presence of them.
I tried various methods of getting rid of them, but with not much luck. I used various natural repellants such as spraying vinegar, coconut oil, cloves, walnut oil, citrus oils, etc. and it didn't make any difference. Also I tried an ultrasonic device which emits a high frequency sound that repels spiders and other insects but that was also a fail.
The best thing I did was to vacuum all of the spiders and their webs on a weekly basis, unfortunately my vacuum developed a bad smell from the mass of spider carcusses collected in the bag.

 

[Josef]

Spraying is only a couple of minutes temporary solution. It'll end up drying. If you fear spiders, then you'll have to find something that lasts longer. I permit them on my windows and outside the balcony, as they do decrease the population of mosquitos and what not, but as soon as they step foot on my balcony, they get kicked out

 

[Ex-Montreal Girl]

I don't know if this is practical given your location, the wind, etc. but you might try regularly filling a kettle and getting it to boil and then slowly pouring hot water on all the spider nesty type spots. It won't get rid of them permanently but at least it's natural, doesn't smell and costs nothing. Once a week or so should keep you ahead of them.

 

[Rasim]

I am thinking to move to the Lakeview / Mississauga, only 500m north of Lakeshore and just wondering are spiders still a problem in the area ?