There’s nothing worse than waking up in the morning—or in the middle of a sleepless night—to discover one or more tiny spiders in bed with you. While you might let it go the first time, bedroom spiders probably aren’t something you want to grow accustomed to seeing.
Contrary to popular belief, spider bites are rarely lethal. But, that doesn’t mean they’re pleasant. Although there are only two varieties of venomous spiders in the United States, they’re unlikely to bite humans unless they’re provoked—a spider won’t crawl into your bed just to bite you.
So, how do you keep spiders out of your bed while you’re sleeping?
In this article, we’ll explore seven options for how to keep spiders away while sleeping and discuss why each trick really works to repel spiders from your home.
The best part—if you’re looking to discover how to keep spiders away naturally, our list is 100% natural, and you won’t need to purchase (or use) any pesticides that could harm your family or your pets.
Let’s get down to business and start with the most important tip of all: making sure your home is a tightly-sealed fortress.
1. Seal, Seal, Seal!
If you’re here to learn how to keep spiders away from your bedroom—or your entire home—the most important tip in this list is making sure that windows, doors, and roof soffit vents are well-sealed to keep critters out.
One of the most important functions of your home—besides housing you, of course—is keeping the inside in and the outside out. During construction, builders use a variety of seals to make this happen, but these seals won’t last a lifetime.
So, you’ll have to keep a watchful eye out for vulnerabilities and touch up (or replace) the following seals throughout your tenure in your home:
- Window seals
- There are two types of windows in your home: windows that open, and permanently stationary windows.
- For windows that open, window seals usually line your windows where the bottom of a window meets the metal, vinyl, or wood frame.
- Window seals are often made of foam or folded vinyl with a sticky backing. This sticky adhesive can degrade over time, but you can pick up a fresh roll of window seal at your local hardware store.
- For all windows, the frame will be sealed from the elements using caulk or silicone sealant. As this sealant starts to degrade, you should peel it off and replace it.
- Door seals
- Doors can be affixed with the same foam or folded vinyl seals as windows, and this should be replaced once it starts to degrade.
- If you notice light or a draft entering under your door, pick up a door sweep from your local hardware store. These are usually adhesive and provide a barrier against insects and outside air.
- Vent and soffit seals
- If you have any vents—in your soffits or on your roof—outside of your home, these are usually sealed with caulk, silicone sealant, or expanding foam insulation.
- Check these exterior seals regularly. Since they’re outside, they’re even more prone to degradation from the elements.
- Soffit vents are small, screened openings on your soffits to allow airflow into and out of your attic space. The screen keeps pests and critters out, but screens should be replaced when they develop holes.
- Garage doors
- Garage doors often have a large pad at the base of the door where it meets the ground.
- Keep a watchful eye on this pad, and make sure that you can’t see light or feel moving air through it regularly, replacing it when needed.
While the rest of the tips on this list will certainly help keep spiders away, maintaining seals is a surefire way to encourage optimal pest control.
2. Use Spider-Deterring Scents
Spiders, like humans, are repelled by some scents, and we can use this to our advantage when learning how to keep spiders away. Luckily, you won’t have to start an endlessly-boiling pot of cabbage or concoct a foot odor spray—spiders are often repelled by the sweet scent of peppermint.
There are a few ways you can use peppermint to deter spiders:
- Fill a spray bottle with clean water and a few drops of peppermint essential oil. Spray it throughout your home, or anywhere you’ve seen spiders in the past.
- Place a drop of peppermint essential oil in corners, behind furniture, and around door and window frames.
- Light peppermint-scented candles throughout your home (you can even make your own!).
- Dry numerous leaves from a peppermint plant, combine the dried leaves with rice, and pour some of the mixture into an old sock or breathable cloth pouch to create homemade sachets.
When battling spiders in bedroom areas, don’t underestimate the power of peppermint!
3. Plant Spider-Repelling Plants Outside
Essential oils and scented candles aren’t the only ways to use scents to your advantage.
Peppermint plants are attractive and pleasantly pungent, and planting them outside of your home or on your balcony can deter spiders while giving you fresh green foliage and an endless supply of peppermint tea leaves.
For best results, plant peppermint either in the ground or in pots around the outside of your home, but if you’re not trying to start a full-blown peppermint farm, you can stick to planting them under windows and on both sides of a door frame.
You can even bring a few potted peppermint plants inside for added effects.
4. Keep Late-Night Snacks in the Kitchen
We’ve all been guilty of eating in bed at some point. Whether it’s crushing crackers into chicken noodle soup when we’re sick, crunching on popcorn during a scary movie, or housing pizza after a breakup, even the neatest of neat freaks can find themselves chowing down in the bedroom.
But, food creates crumbs, and crumbs attract pests—spiders included. Despite mostly subsisting on insects, spiders are attracted to food droppings, and they also know that their prey will flock to the tasty morsels you leave behind on your pillowcase after a late-night snack.
To keep spiders (and their insect prey) out of your bedroom, stick to eating in the kitchen.
5. Start Dusting
Not only can spiders create cobwebs in corners or behind furniture, but they also flock to existing dust bunnies and crevices that haven’t been cleaned in a while.
Spiders seek refuge in dusty places for the same reasons that they create them:
- Cobwebs and dust bunnies provide shelter and a safe place for egg-laying.
- Insects often fly into these dusty areas and get stuck, giving spiders an easy meal.
- Cobwebs and dust bunnies can obscure spiders from view, protecting them from the wandering eyes of predators.
Unfortunately, to get rid of spiders in bedroom areas, you’ll have to do a little dusting. Arachnid intruders will still make cobwebs, but removing existing potential habitats will make spiders easy to see, scoop up, and relocate outside if they manage to break into your home.
While you’re dusting, focus on dust’s favorite places—behind and under furniture, around light fixtures, in the backs of cabinets, and corners both high and low.
6. Turn Off Outdoor Lights
If you’ve discovered a spider in your home, you’ve likely Googled every possible spider question—”Do LED lights attract spiders?”—under the sun to try to eradicate spiders in bedroom areas.
Spiders do, in fact, stake out well-lit areas near light fixtures, both indoors and outdoors. Why? Just like insects find their way into cobwebs and dusty corners, getting stuck and becoming a spider’s dinner, insects are attracted to light, especially at night.
Insects are particularly susceptible to vision impairment, and bright lights at night can disturb their navigational functions. With impaired sight and a confused internal map, they flock to light, where they expect to be able to see more easily.
Spiders aren’t attracted to the light—they’re attracted to the insects that are. So, to keep spiders away from your home in general, turn off outdoor lights before you go to sleep.
7. Don’t Forget About the Attic
Just like dusting, cleaning the attic is another dreaded tip when learning how to keep spiders out of your room. Every tip above applies to attic spaces, so crawl up into the dreaded depths of moth-eaten Halloween costumes and family photos you always promise to organize and make sure to:
- Check the seals around ducts and vents, repairing and replacing them when needed
- Use peppermint spray or essential oils around the perimeter
- Sweep up any traces of crumbs or debris
- Be generous with the duster
- Make sure that attic lights are turned off at night
Sneaking into the attic is an excellent way for spiders to infiltrate your home, so take precautions to keep them out just like you would throughout the rest of your house.
Sleep Through the Night without a Spider in Sight
If you came to this article to learn how to keep spiders away while sleeping, our tips will leave your home sparkling clean and spider-free in no time.
Minding the seals that protect your home from the elements, using scents to your advantage (inside and out), keeping food out of the bedroom, dusting, turning off outdoor lights at night, and giving your attic some TLC will evict your arachnid roommates and get you back to peaceful sleep in no time.
While spiders are unlikely to harm you, keeping them where they belong—outside—will give you peace of mind and more restful sleep.
