# Frog-safe spider repellent?



## froggie4queen (Apr 9, 2007)

I'm having a problem with spiders in my frog room due to fruit flies which escape every so often from the Dart tanks. I'd like to find a safe, effective repellent. I was going to try a combination of peppermint oil and lemon oil mixed with water in a spray bottle but want to make sure it would not harm the frogs. If anyone has other ideas for an effective, safe solution..I'd like to hear about it. Thanks, rosie


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## Azurel (Aug 5, 2010)

froggie4queen said:


> I'm having a problem with spiders in my frog room due to fruit flies which escape every so often from the Dart tanks. I'd like to find a safe, effective repellent. I was going to try a combination of peppermint oil and lemon oil mixed with water in a spray bottle but want to make sure it would not harm the frogs. If anyone has other ideas for an effective, safe solution..I'd like to hear about it. Thanks, rosie


The best solution I have found that is no risk due to chemicals is vacuuming on a regular basis. With escapees your going to have them around. Most of the spiders I deal with on a regular basis is Cellar spiders/daddy long legs which don't get my aracnophobia going.

They are also known spider killers so quite honestly I like to keep some around to kill escapees and other nasty spiders.

I guess it depends on what species your having issues and an abundance of.

I don't see why peppermint and lemon oil would be an issue as long as your not spraying it into the vivs or getting it aerated into the air to the point where it will get into the vivs through the ventilation in the tanks.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

You can always free range some day geckos in the frogroom.


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

Larger spiders work well, as Azurel said.

I personally would be worried about the peppermint oil in a spray bottle, that can be some potent stuff. Citrus is a known deterrent and should work well. You could also try drying out some orange and/or lemon peels in the sun and putting those in some stockings, then leave those hanging or lying around. Regular spraying to problem areas will work better, but you may experience issues with mold, spotting on walls or a number of other unforeseen issues. I'm not sure how well just spritzing it into the air would be, as the aerosols designed for that type of use have a far finer spray than a spray bottle with water would be able to achieve. 



oddlot said:


> You can always free range some day geckos in the frogroom.


A reptile specialty shop I know of releases house geckos for precisely this reason. They do a great job of keeping escaped crickets in check and breed well on their own, though they've told me that the gecko population always experiences a dip whenever a Tokay gets loose...


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

oddlot said:


> You can always free range some day geckos in the frogroom.


When I lived in Brazil there were house geckos that ran around trying to eat the bugs that got inside. They weren't pretty, but they ate what they could. They kinda looked like this:


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

hypostatic said:


> When I lived in Brazil there were house geckos that ran around trying to eat the bugs that got inside. They weren't pretty, but they ate what they could. They kinda looked like this:


Yes, in tropical climates where they're present they'll love hanging out around houses and indoors to catch all the bugs drawn by lights and food. The catch to this shop was that it's not in a climate which could support the animals if they left the premises. I should have mentioned that.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Jeremy M said:


> A reptile specialty shop I know of releases house geckos for precisely this reason. They do a great job of keeping escaped crickets in check and breed well on their own, though they've told me that the gecko population always experiences a dip whenever a Tokay gets loose...


Haha,I bet there was.Tokays can be a bit aggressive when they eat.House geckos don't have much of a shot while they're around.



hypostatic said:


> When I lived in Brazil there were house geckos that ran around trying to eat the bugs that got inside. They weren't pretty, but they ate what they could. They kinda looked like this:



I'm sure they did a great job of cleaning up the bugs.If I didn't have cats,I'd contemplate having a few run around. I don't find that gecko to be unattractive.Not as pretty as a Williamsii or laticauda and such,but not ugly at all.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

Just realize, geckos leave gecko poop....everywhere.....

Best solution is chemical free. The Vacuum. A strong shop vac works very well b/c it has a larger opening and more suction power makes vacuuming an entire frog room of spiders a bit faster.

Come to think of it....I think my room has reached its limit again....have to put vacuuming on the to do list....again


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

sports_doc said:


> Just realize, geckos leave gecko poop....everywhere.....


That's what the free range isos are for


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## dsaundry (Sep 29, 2011)

I have also heard that horse chestnuts can be effective. Haven't tried it myself yet. Lots of info online about them though.


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## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

By simply repelling the spiders you're putting a bandaid on a broken arm. The problem is the fruit flies. The spiders are trying to help solve that problem. On top of regular cleaning and vacuuming, I use a few well placed 2 oz. deli cups, half full of 50/50 water to apple cider vinegar with a small drop of soap to remove surface tension so the flies drown rather than float. You will quickly find that the fruit flies are escaping more frequently than "every so often", and your spider problem is less.



froggie4queen said:


> I'm having a problem with spiders in my frog room due to fruit flies which escape every so often from the Dart tanks. I'd like to find a safe, effective repellent. I was going to try a combination of peppermint oil and lemon oil mixed with water in a spray bottle but want to make sure it would not harm the frogs. If anyone has other ideas for an effective, safe solution..I'd like to hear about it. Thanks, rosie


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## froggie4queen (Apr 9, 2007)

Thanks for all the info.
As far as releasing geckos in the house, my daughter would have a lot to say about that.
She already has "a lot" to say about the flies roaming around. I will have to be more vigilant about cleaning I guess. I thought I was doing a good job, but apparently not as good as I should.
I have noticed the flies end up in the water sources in the terrariums, so placing some water outside the tank may help contain them. I'm going to try the oil as well, but won't spray it.
Maybe I can place small containers of cotton balls soaked in the oil to repel the little creeps. I'll try to place them wherever I find the webs. I realize the spiders are in the room because of the ff's, but there isn't much I can do about eliminating the source...the frogs insist on eating  
Thanks again,
rosie


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

oddlot said:


> That's what the free range isos are for


You're starting to describe my girfriend's nightmare, where she'll walk into a room and it'll basically be a jungle.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

hypostatic said:


> You're starting to describe my girfriend's nightmare, where she'll walk into a room and it'll basically be a jungle.


More of a self contained bio sphere


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

The main problem is the flies escaping from the cages, tightening up the enclosures will go a long way towards reducing the spiders. This in combination with a shop vac can really reduce the problem. 
Keep in mind if the flies can get out of the cages, spiders can get into them and there are some cases of the spiders capturing frogs. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

I have a fly trap under the cabinet holding my viv: a shallow bowl of apple cider vinegar mixed with a little bit of dish soap. (People say red wine also works but the vinegar is pungent enough for me!) The flies congregate under there even if they don't actually drown in the bowl -- and lots of them do drown! I've found the trap a huge success in cutting down on the flies that crawl out of the viv, and I suspect there might be spiders helping out down there because there's either spiderwebs or cobwebs.

(I am going to try to seal the next viv a little better against flies; the frogs won't be in their current enclosure much longer, with any luck.)

I haven't tried any repellent because like you, I'm not sure what would work without possibly harming the frogs, so this for me is the next best thing.


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## froggie4queen (Apr 9, 2007)

Oh thanks a ton for that comment, Ed.
It isn't bad enough to know they're in the
frog room where I spend a fair amount of time,
now I have to think about them "capturing" my
frogs.
Seriously, though, the spiders I see are fairly small.
They are more of a nuisance and... I don't want the
frog room to look like a haunted house with the all
the webs they keep weaving.


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)




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## InvertaHerp (Mar 4, 2013)

Enlightened Rogue said:


> Homemade Flamethrower Demonstration How To Build a Flamethrower - YouTube


A guy in Seattle did that to kill a spider. He burnt his house down.


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## jloucks (Mar 10, 2013)

Yea, frogs and chemicals are a notorious bad combo. We have the free range gecko issue at our house. Gecko poop everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Spiders everywhere too, so I am not sure geckos eat spiders. At least, not the gecko/spider combo I have. Maybe the gecks don't like the web zones?

I have found vacuuming to be the best bet. I got a little dewalt battery powered shop vac. It works great.


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## Wusserton (Feb 21, 2014)

If you use the peppermint lemon oil method it probably wouldnt be so bad if you did the hallway outside the door to your frog room and than hit around the exterior window too, from the outside and than vaccum the room out really good too 

This morning I woke up, peaked in one of my tanks and a tiny house spider was weaving a web, I sprayed the hell out of it with water and hand scooped its web out, this evening no web no sign of spider ...it was so small that if it dropped to the floor one of my ever hungry vittatus probably snatched it up lol

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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