I just came back from a 3 week holiday, and waking up the first morning back, I discovered several bites in several places on my body, with more appearing throughout the day. I have allergic reactions to almost all bug bites, and bugs usually love me, so I wasn't overly concerned.

I've now seen 2 fairly large spiders in my flat in the last 24 hours. In the 9 months I've lived in this flat, that brings up my total spider sightings to about 5. So quite a big leap.

What are my options for bug control?

1) Does the landlord spray for bugs? Do I have a right to ask?
2) If I want to get my own exterminator in here, do I need permission beforehand? Or can do arrange this on my own?

Also, not sure if this matters, but the whole building is going through renovations of the bathrooms, and my personal flat is still in the process of this renovation. They had the walls gutted and all that, so I'm not all that surprised if spiders had become dislodged from their homes and have now made new ones that are more visible to me. The second spider I found was in the brand new shower.

Please help!

Over reaction or what? - even if you are allergic.

Pretty high chance, it aint spiders chewing at you - leave them be - their webs will catch the mossies, that it might be.

If you really don't want to co-habitate with them, then use an empty jam jar and a piece of card.

If not, it could well be bed bugs (they love warm and humid - must have been sexing it up whilst you've not been there) - a good going over your mattress with a steam cleaner and/or strong vacuum cleaner.

If you so worried about bugs, then you've got the wrong username.

Thanks for your suggestion that it could be bed bugs. I've already thought of that, and am working on treating that as well.

That being said, I'm looking for answers on extermination for the spiders, in addition to whatever is causing the bug bites, if it is not the spiders causing them.

This is my home, and I choose to live in an environment that I'm comfortable in. Meaning, as bug free as possible, which is why I'm asking this forum for advice. If you can't provide helpful advice to my need, then I kindly ask that you not post to this thread.

A couple spiders doesn`t sound like a plague, and I also don`t think it could be them that bit you. Does rather sound like bed-bugs - they are very sneaky. You never see them, or feel them - they travel on the bedlinen and just lean down and bite you!

And they are very tiny, flat, and fast!

If you ask at a Droggery for a good spray for them, (I have seen sprays for disinfecting for insects/hygiene purposes, like in hospitals) do your mattresses, all the bed, in all the cracks and crevises, check behind pictures, all furniture. And wash all the linen and duvets in not less than 60c.

So, spray, then vacuum, while all the linen gets washed.

In winter when it snows and temps get below freezing - it`s a good idea to put your mattress and duvet outside to freeze, that will kill off any eggs or whatever.

If you have any fluffy dolls ..........wash them too, or freeze them.

Good luck, and maybe others have better solutions for you to try.

No it isn't. You moved in in December? Only a very few house spiders make it through the winter. Baby spiders will have hatched in march/april. Just now - August - is when they're more active, so you're more likely to see them. It's possible they've been dislodged by the work, but it's more likely they're simply your resident spiders.

House spiders do not suck blood and do not bite humans unless roughly handled. Even then, they have a hard time breaking human skin.

I can appreciate you might not like spiders - I used to be an arachnophobe myself - but the other responders are correct. Spiders in your house will reduce the number of biting insects.

I rarely get bitten but in the past two nights I've had one mosquito bite and one horsefly. It's simply due to the weather conditions - they're breeding like mad.

Before going to the expense of professional bug control, I recommend getting some insect repellant vapourises from Migros. Plug one in near your bed. If you still get bitten, then you may have an infestation problem.

I repeat. The source of your bites is not the spiders. Also, no exterminator will prevent you from seeing the occasional (and 9 is occasional) house spider. The clue is in the name: house spider.

I know your original post was about spiders, but I wanted to throw in a quick note in case you also discover you have a bedbug problem. If you travel a lot, it is a good idea to keep your suitcase off all floors and beds when travelling. When you get home, wash all your clothes, worn or not. And vacuum your suitcase before putting it away.

Good luck with the spiders. We get them occasionally here, but they seem happy living in the drainage pans for our houseplants and just eat other bugs. The only time they get squashed is when they run out into the middle of the room to scare me.

You would have thought that after all this time of getting squished when spotted, spiders would have evolved invisibility.

Pharmacies, drug stores, larger supermarkets etc. sell anti-spider sprays but as other users have already mentioned, fighting spiders is most easily done by simply relocating them.

In any case, be careful not to poison yourself if you apply any insect repellents in your apartment.

You most likely have bed-bugs.
Unless it's the Swiss version of mosquitos ("Schnaken", "Steckmücken"), of course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito

Bedbugs are extremely difficult to exterminate - and the spiders won't help.
Their natural enemies are cockroaches, BTW.
Insects have been inhabitating this planet for hundreds of millions of years and have survived every natural (and man-made) disaster. They will still be here when we have long disappeared from the surface of this planet.