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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsHave to Go Down to the Cellar! I don't want too.
It's an 1884 dirt cellar and there are spiders and their webs down there. I once even found a dead rat. I normally try to stay out of it as much as possible but the furnace company is coming for the annual maintenance. As a courtesy I usually try to clean out around the furnace so they don't have to walk into a web.
I know Daddy Long Legs in NY State aren't poisonous spiders, I know I am lucky to have a house with a furnace in it, but it seriously creeps me out.
When I was younger my Mom used to tell my sister and I if we didn't behave she'd throw us to the monster down there. Okay so as a grown-up I know there's no monster but that's how creepy it is.
Arkansas Granny
(31,514 posts)Someone once asked me if I had checked something under the crawlspace at my house. I said: "Are you crazy?!? There are spiders down there that have been waiting for years for me to poke my head in there so they can fall into my hair!"
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)I hate the thoughts of any kind of insect getting into my hair.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)If you have or can bring in good lighting, drop cord or clamp on or even a couple lamps, it'll make it easier for you to avoid webs and easier for the service folks, too.
And spiders don't like light, so I think that'll help!
woodsprite
(11,910 posts)Give those spideys a chance to move out or hide before you have to spend time down there.
I couldn't figure out why my hubby kept the basement light on in his work area. It's because, as much as he gets on my case of being afraid of spiders, he doesn't want any in his work area. We have wolf spiders in our basement. No fun at all! Needless to say, our basement is one big pit of stuff I've kinda written off, because I won't go down and get it unless I have to. If I do, I carry something that I can squash those suckers with.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)There is some lighting down there but not much. I can bring down some more. I have a few LED lanterns that I bought in case of power outages I could use.
I never knew they were so sensitive to light.
DebJ
(7,699 posts)who I babysat in their home for four days, and had the 4 year old climb into bed with me every morning,
have head lice. I had noticed my grandson scratching his head but I thought I'd not rinsed out his shampoo
good enough.
Waiting to call the doctor for myself. Yuck. It's been 25 years since I've faced this.
Response to Liberalynn (Reply #2)
DebJ This message was self-deleted by its author.
antiquie
(4,299 posts)Hold it upside down and lead with it.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)charlie and algernon
(13,447 posts)NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)And they are NASTAY!!!
pipi_k
(21,020 posts)When I was a kid we owned, and lived in, an old two family home with a dirt cellar and attic space.
In the cellar was the coal furnace, and the fuse box. I loved going down there. Mainly because of the smell of the dirt.
OTOH, in the winter my mom would hang laundry in the attic. I would often go up there with her, but found it really creepy. Mostly because there was a small poster type picture of a snarling grizzly bear with its mouth open and fangs bared. I swear its eyes used to follow me around. Sometimes I would lie awake at night waiting to hear footsteps from the attic above...
DawgHouse
(4,019 posts)Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)I wouldn't be surprised if one of those was down there.
I wish I could bring the puppy dog to protect me but the stairs are a deterrent. My last dog Maxie would always stand guard at the door and whine until I came back up.
DawgHouse
(4,019 posts)I remember reading once that they also have penises and spiders do not.
Anyway, I used to have go to the cellar with grandmother when tornadoes were in the area in Oklahoma. I would just about rather face the tornado than the cellar!
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)antiquie
(4,299 posts)there is also a daddy longlegs-spider which dwells in cellars.
This information provided because you made me look (thanks).
Daddy Long Legs Myth
Spider anatomy
Is a Daddy Longlegs a Spider, or Not?
DawgHouse
(4,019 posts)Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)It's funny because when the occasional one makes its way upstairs in the house I am not afraid of them. When they are down there though in the dark, cramped space, hanging out on the low ceiling, I want to scream and run.
mnhtnbb
(31,382 posts)They've been hanging out on our deck the last couple of weeks. He's about the size of a quarter.
Do NOT want him in my hair!
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DavidG_WI
(245 posts)mnhtnbb
(31,382 posts)sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)We have a big one on the breezeway between the house and garage and the kids and I have been following her exploits.
As long as they don't touch me I don't bother them. I'll even try to live-catch the creepy little buggers and let them go outside if I can.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)I don't blame you for not wanting one in your hair. It's pretty creepy looking.
marzipanni
(6,011 posts)5/6 dirt crawl bend-forward-and-try-to-walk space, 1/6 concrete SRO cellar. With cobwebs galore.
The already dessicated rat in the far reaches I saw last year is no longer there. I guess Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, knew how to take care of it; it turned back to dust. (My back was achy after bending over and "walking" when I first saw it, so I put off going back with dog-doo tongs and a bag to collect it. )
Our neighbor has a friendly little tabby cat who likes to slip down our cellar stairs near the back door when the dog isn't watching, then jumps up on to the water heater and climbs on up into the wall space where she found a napping spot in the recess of the walls above built-in cabinets. Sometimes she comes up the cellar stairs festooned with cobwebs dangling from her whiskers.
I never minded the daddy long-legs spiders, but then one time I saw a black widow hanging from a joist.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)marzipanni
(6,011 posts)Every fall when it started to get cold, a mouse or roof (small) rat or two seemed to find their way into the attic or cellar and I'd set a Havahart trap. Since the kitty started spending some time hanging out two years ago, ,no more rodents!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,669 posts)It's not because of spiders, though. Spiders don't bother me that much. It's just that it's dark and creepy and leads into a crawl space that probably has monsters in it. Also the stairs are horrible, you have to duck under some pipes.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)the hardest part to deal with. The stairs here aren't the greatest either. Their not rickety but just steep and hard to navigate.
DavidG_WI
(245 posts)Oddly I am comforted. When I was little my parents used to let the barn cats sleep in the cellar in the winter. I still didn't like to go down there but at least if I heard a noise from down there I could comfort myself by saying "it's just the cats."
DavidG_WI
(245 posts)it will be your demise!
Throd
(7,208 posts)My house isn't very old (1989) but when I first bought it and went down there I was amazed that nobody had ever taken advantage of all the available space.
I have since put in an art studio, a bar, and am currently building a recording studio down there with a small performance stage.
Have fun with it! Give the spiders names!
DamnYankeeInHouston
(1,365 posts)"Oh Shit!" "Oh Fuck!" and "Goddam!"
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)pipi_k
(21,020 posts)Boris...
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)The people I baby sat for when I was a teenager had their basement set up with a comfy couch, a nice stereo system, and a little library. The laundry was down there so they could sit there and entertain themselves while waiting for their wash to finish without having to go back upstairs.
In my next house that will be the plan. My sister and I inherited what was left of my great grandparents small farm even though it hasn't been farmed by us since my Dad bought it from his Mom. We have just rented the land to other farmers. As we are both in our fifties we are thinking the plan will be in the next couple of years to sell all but a few acres and put up two separate new smaller ranch houses using the profit from the sale to fund at least one, and the sale of my sister's house to at least partially fund the other. We would drive each other nuts if we had to live together on a regular basis even though we are close.
Though I have lived in the current house all my life, and am proud of the heritage, I am looking forward to the change. Over the years the town has moved the road closer and closer to the house, the area has changed from rural to suburban with way too much traffic, and because the slope of the road was changed the drainage isn't great, so the sump pumps run almost constantly. The new house will be built as far back from the road as possible without having to pay extra to run the power lines.
It's just getting to be too much for me even with the help of my sister to cope with the upkeep of this house.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)Tom Kitten
(7,343 posts)you're not alone in thinking cellars and basements can be real creepy places...so remember, Whenever you feel afraid, Just hold your head erect, And sing this happy tune, And no one will suspect!
Hey, daddy-o
I don't wanna go down to the basement
There's somethin' down there
I don't wanna go
Hey, Romeo
There's somethin' down there
I don't wanna go down to the basement!
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)WhiteAndNerdy
(365 posts)when I was a kid, I used to worry about encountering vampires in the basement at night.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)It could have been a Vampire Bat!
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)I left all the lights on down there last night as suggested and thankfully didn't encounter any spiders. I just knocked down the webs as quickly as possible and ran back up the stairs. The rest is up to the furnace dude or dudette.