Hello again,

Some interesting ideas, but i am afraid most of them are not practical for this particular problem. The car is parked in a non grass area, so snakes cant be used for example. Also, snakes would present another problem which is not good either.
And as to chemicals, if they wash away too easily then they have to be applied too often.

The oven glove idea is cute, but i am not sure i want to put a cover on the mirror. That would mean it could come off with a strong wind. However, i may have to think about that some more. If it comes down to that i may have to try it. I guess you meant a stretch glove? A plastic glove might work i guess, although it has to be taken off an put back on after every car use.

I do know this is not unique to this car and location too as i have read about other people having the same problem in other parts of the country. Strange though, this is the worst place i've ever lived for this kind of problem. Other places i have lived had little or no occurrences. I think it may have something to do with the large pine trees in the next yard, which are very close to the car, say about 15 feet away.
There is no grass on either side of the car though, just driveway, and on the drivers side there is the next door driveway with a 4 inch high brick divider. So that's strange too, but the tree branches come out close to the car vertically. They used to actually hang over the car before they were trimmed last year.

 

I am beginning to get the felling that simple, non-electronic solutions won't work for you. If you are open at all to non-electronic, simple remedies, among my suggested solutions was an insecticide.

The class of insecticide that I use to fight carpenter bees -- synthetic pyrethrins -- was mentioned by tcmtech. They are also quite active against spiders. Specifically, I use deltamethrin (common brand: Delta Dust), that is a powder and very long lasting even on the weather-exposed wood of a house (like a year or more). I use that as a spot treatment for any new holes I can reach.

For treating the whole house, I use lambda-cyhalothrin (common brand: Demand CS). The "CS" means it is microencapsulated, which makes it a whole lot more pleasant to apply as a water spray. It lasts about 6 weeks on the house and carries me from mid-April when the bees arrive to June when my buddies the mason wasps appear. I do not think you need the sprayable version.

I would recommend simply a little Delta Dust or its generic equivalent behind the glass in the mirror case.

John

 

Kill it with fire!

 

Make peace treaty. They might be on their website right now, conspiring.

Actually......just wait. They won't be there long.

 

I am beginning to get the felling that simple, non-electronic solutions won't work for you. If you are open at all to non-electronic, simple remedies, among my suggested solutions was an insecticide.

The class of insecticide that I use to fight carpenter bees -- synthetic pyrethrins -- was mentioned by tcmtech. They are also quite active against spiders. Specifically, I use deltamethrin (common brand: Delta Dust), that is a powder and very long lasting even on the weather-exposed wood of a house (like a year or more). I use that as a spot treatment for any new holes I can reach.

For treating the whole house, I use lambda-cyhalothrin (common brand: Demand CS). The "CS" means it is microencapsulated, which makes it a whole lot more pleasant to apply as a water spray. It lasts about 6 weeks on the house and carries me from mid-April when the bees arrive to June when my buddies the mason wasps appear. I do not think you need the sprayable version.

I would recommend simply a little Delta Dust or its generic equivalent behind the glass in the mirror case.

John

Hi John,

Ok i'll have to look into that. I hope it's not too expensive
Someone else suggested that citrus brand spider repellent (not a killer) but i had a feeling that would just wash off to easily with the first rain or even morning dew.
I was hoping to solve this completely, but it's a very strange problem, in part because i dont have total control over what goes on out there. So i have to do something like that i guess.
I wonder if they would be attracted to light, like normal bugs. But then again that would just attract more of them, unless it was somewhere NOT on the car maybe. I'll put it on someone else's car (ha ha).


On the slightly comical side, a flame shooter that shoots a blast at the mirror when it detects movement (ha ha ha).

LATER:
Ok just checked, it's about 20 bucks (USD) for one pound but with shipping it might be as much as 28 dollars so im not sure about this. If i knew it was going to last for the whole summer or maybe three weeks at a time i might invest, but because of the unusual application location im not sure. Rain gets to the mirror on a regular basis, so im sure it would wash away.
Please keep in mind that the WHOLE mirror needs something, not just the inside where the rotation mechanism is located. It's like cup shape with the open end pointed toward the driver, and the mirror mounted right at the mouth of the opening.
However, the insects make webs that attach to the top, bottom and sides, and if allowed even on the mirror itself (although more rare on the glass).
When i greased it for the first time, i forgot to do the very bottom of the mirror, and guess where they made a web? Yup, from the bottom of the mirror to the door! Funny they dont mind the grease as long as they are not walking on it.
That also gives me an idea though. Maybe the grease, which is long lasting, may work as a medium for some insecticide.
Even the grease washes off, but it takes a good four weeks maybe more. Maybe i should just grease up the whole thing and see what happens

 

If you know anybody with a log home East of the Mississippi, there is a good likelihood they have Delta Dust or its equivalent. I could squirt some in an envelope and send it to you ... on second thought that might not be a good idea.

John Deere Landscape (caters to professional lawncare) carries the brand name stuff. Your local dealer might give you that test squirt. It doesn't take much.

DDT is grease would be very effective. Get you in jail too.

John

 

Spiders are extremely sensitive to vibrations so if you were to epoxy a (or several) mobile phone vibrating motor(s) to the inside of the mirror casing and build a little circuit to drive it for a few seconds every minute or so when the car is parked it may be enough to deter the creatures from setting up home there.

 

If you know anybody with a log home East of the Mississippi, there is a good likelihood they have Delta Dust or its equivalent. I could squirt some in an envelope and send it to you ... on second thought that might not be a good idea.

John Deere Landscape (caters to professional lawncare) carries the brand name stuff. Your local dealer might give you that test squirt. It doesn't take much.

DDT is grease would be very effective. Get you in jail too.

John

Hi,

Yeah i dont want to use anything too dangerous either.

 

Spiders are extremely sensitive to vibrations so if you were to epoxy a (or several) mobile phone vibrating motor(s) to the inside of the mirror casing and build a little circuit to drive it for a few seconds every minute or so when the car is parked it may be enough to deter the creatures from setting up home there.

Hi,

Yes that's an interesting idea, and might work because they sense vibrations to know if there is any prey in the web. Might be worth a try. That would be electronic too so it should last a long time.
Thanks for the idea.