If you are a homeowner living anywhere in the UK, this is for you: save your used tea bags for next week as a simple way to deter spiders. Placing specific varieties of used tea bags throughout the home may help to keep spiders out as mating season sends hundreds of thousands of male arachnids hunting for mates indoors.
A 2018 study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology found that two out of three spider species tested actively avoided areas sprayed with peppermint oil, keeping clear about 75 per cent of the time. From late August through mid-October is the mating season for spiders, with September usually seeing the most sightings. Male spiders abandon their webs and enter homes looking for potential mates. As temperatures drop and rain disrupts their outdoor habitats, both spiders and the insects they prey on drift to the warmth and dryness of British homes. So, if you don’t want uninvited eight-legged visitors in your house this month, hold on to your used tea bags! Please note that only certain varieties work. The scents you pay extra pounds for may be exactly what helps keep spiders away. Think peppermint, citrus, eucalyptus, tea tree, and lavender. So the peppermint tea bag you use to soothe yourself may deter the spiders. Ordinary black or green tea, however, does nothing. Without the potent aromatic oils baked into speciality varieties, standard teabags are merely damp leaves to a spider.
Don’t worry, there is no five-step process to this hack. The only thing you need to do is ensure that used peppermint, tea tree, or lavender tea bags cool completely before placing them. Tuck them into the corners of your rooms, along skirting boards, beneath sinks, on windowsills, or behind furniture – anywhere spiders might enter or hide. But there is a catch. The essential oils evaporate quickly, so the repellent effect may fade within days. You will have to replace your tea bags every three to four days to maintain an effective barrier.
They are the giant house spiders (up to 7.5 centimetres, with long legs that make them look larger than they are) and smaller domestic varieties like money spiders and cellar spiders. They won’t eradicate spiders already living in the home, but they can establish a perimeter that discourages new arrivals. If you want a rather stronger alternative, try to brew a concentrated peppermint tea and let it cool. Then spray this liquid directly along skirting boards, door frames, and windowsills. This method covers more ground; however, you will have to repeat this frequently for it to stay potent. You can also place cedar blocks, cinnamon sticks, or crushed garlic to discourage spiders. The monoterpenoids in essential oils are natural repellents for many insects and spiders. Spiders typically avoid crossing such strong chemical barriers, which are also powerful irritants for them. The male spiders showing up in September are mostly harmless. Bites from these spiders are rare. These usual visitors in British homes prefer fleeing to fighting. They don’t necessarily pose a threat and are only acting on their biological drives. Most people, though, want them gone. Not all of us want eight-legged creatures hanging around in our kitchens and bedrooms. So what happens when you place the used tea bags? Everything relies on how they sense the world. They don’t have noses, so they don’t sniff. Instead, they have thousands of microscopic sensory hairs called wall-pore sensilla that cover their legs. These structures are so sensitive that they can detect pheromones in even low concentrations. Males use these leg sensors to track down females from extraordinary distances, picking up chemical signals that humans can’t perceive. The peppermint’s sharp and strong scent reaches these sensilla and overwhelms them, essentially scrambling the spider’s ability to orient itself. The effect is disorienting enough to send spiders scurrying elsewhere. If you are someone particular about avoiding chemical pesticides, these essential-oil tea bags are a rather non-toxic alternative. Sealing the cracks in your home and removing clutter may help in the long term. Spiders without food or shelter have little reason to linger. So, this September, hold on to your used peppermint tea bags. Looking for trusted parenting advice? Follow TOI Parenting Circle on Instagram for expert guidance, relatable stories, and practical tips delivered every day.
