Thanks guys

2quilt... I hope to god it's gone out of the house because they always seem to turn up in my bedroom otherwise!! Usually my housemates would get rid of it but they've all said it's so big they didn't want to touch it.... uuuuugggh.... but thank you for the reassuring post, it helped a little! I know spiders roam... im just dreading their mating season... more of them!

Cypher - They think it lives under the washing machine so I've sprayed fly killer under there. I know trying to kill it is not nice, but it's trespassing in my house! Nobody's seen it since, so here's to hoping...

Claire...cheers for the advice... I am going to try to tackle spiders myself...You're right, it would help if I could tackle them myself then I wouldn't need to rely on someone being in the house who is willing to help me. But I cannot get close to them. The best I might be able to do and have done before is throw a book at it, or spray it with fly killer. But that would be a good start I suppose.

Sounds like you are similar to me! I have refrained from using a hoover before for fear of it crawling out again. But I will try that as a last resort...though the hoover may have to live in the garden after for a while!

Using a glass.... have tried that before and I managed to get the glass over it but couldn't bring myself to slide paper under... I can't look at them easily, see... and when they move I freak!

But I know I need to try to confront this phobia more, so I can at least deal with spiders as it seriously affects my life. I nearly moved out last year because we had an influx of spiders with the summer rain... I sat up from 2am waiting for the university to open at 9am on the day of an exam because I had seen a spider in the toilet and I couldn't it use with it in there...! I swore if I saw another spider, I'd move out... luckily it's been 10 months since I've seen one though so I've managed to stay here. People often laugh at my phobia's... this is the only 'common, reasonable' one I have but it's the worst... but I have some strange other phobias. I think people don't realise I'm serious...! So it doesn't help when at first people are like "oooh look I have a spider"... but they soon realise Im serious... though I am ashamed to admit such extreme reaction, I have before, when cornered with my phobia, reacted with violence...

For now, I have reloaded my defences in my room... ant killer around the skirting boards, a deterrent spray on windows, holes and door frame, an infrared 'siren' that apparently irritates them so they don't come near, a plug in 'fumigator' that lets off a chemical, a spider catcher by my bed (but the suction isn't strong enough for anything more than a money spider), and every room I enter I do a spider check before I walk in... at worst I have a small bomb thing (it's not a bomb but it's called that) and if I use that I have to stay out of my room for 12 hours and kills any insect or bug alive in the room... but it covers the room in dust so I don't use that unless it's an emergency.

So I feel a little safer now.

Cactus jack... I wish I was like you in regards to spiders... we don't get many poisenous spiders here... if any...