Chestnuts repel spiders?

[moonfall]

I saw this on a thread on another message board. Someone recommended chestnuts as a pet-safe way to get rid of spiders. The reason is supposed to be that the oil in fresh chestnuts is toxic to them.

[Brad from Georgia]

Originally Posted by moonfall

I saw this on a thread on another message board. Someone recommended chestnuts as a pet-safe way to get rid of spiders. The reason is supposed to be that the oil in fresh chestnuts is toxic to them.

Chestnuts will kill spiders, but you have to aim carefully.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by Brad from Georgia

Chestnuts will kill spiders, but you have to aim carefully.

[snopes]

For years, people have put conkers around their houses, believing their shininess or smell kept spiders away, but now a group of shoolchildren have proved the theory is false.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE66E3FT20100715

[Floater]

Conkers, aka horse chestnuts, Aesculus hippocastanum are not the same thing as chestnuts.

[TrishDaDish]

Not that this is the be all, end all of explanations ('cause it isn't), but we did chat about it on the old board, back in Aught six. oh, we wuz sillier with answers then, by gummy....

Originally Posted by Floater

Conkers, aka horse chestnuts, Aesculus hippocastanum are not the same thing as chestnuts.

Yup... one repels spider veins and the other spiders. Neither of them is particularly efficacious if you ask me

[Der Induktionator]

Why do so many people want to get rid of spiders anyway? A couple spiders around means they are eating some other bugs for you.

If you have really a lot of them, fix the drafts, and fix whatever it is that they are finding so much to eat of.

[TrishDaDish]

That's why when I see a spider in the house I give it my Law: Look spider, you can stay here and eat all the bugs you want. The second you jump at me/fall on my head, I will squish you. Got that? Cool. Carry on, spider.

[Chloe]

You don't live in brown recluse territory, then, Trish? My policy: if you're a spider, you're going outside. If there's even a chance that you're a brown recluse, you're going outside on a ten foot pole.