The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases published a study entitled "Evaluation of the efficacy of vacuum cleaners for the integrated control of brown spider Loxosceles intermedia"
The results include
A total of 60 male, 60 female, 60 young and 60 just-hatched L. intermedia were vacuumed from Stages 1 to 4, in which all individuals were dead at the end of the vacuuming process (Figure 1B). Most spiders showed leg loss and many of them presented either abdomen damage or had the cephalothorax severed from the abdomen. Even those few individuals without discernible body damage did not resist vacuuming (there was no subsequent recovery of individuals replaced in the pots).
Of course, Loxosceles intermedia is not Tegenaria duellica. Vacuum cleaners in Brazil may differ from those in the UK.
The study also looked at a variety of situations including mortality of spiders which were placed alive in the bag of the vacuum cleaner prior to vacuuming - these all survived - suggesting dust in the bag isn't an effective killer of spiders.
The above study cites
Vetter et al. (20) stated that "vacuuming spiders can be an effective control technique because their soft bodies usually do not survive this process"
VETTER RS., OCONNOR-MARER P., MUSSEN E., ALLEN L., DAANE K., HICKMAN G., SLATER A., PHILLIPS P., HANNA R. Integrated Pest Management in and around the home. Spiders. Pest Notes. California: Univ. Calif. Div. Agric. Nat. Res., PB7442, 2000.
As HTML, as PDF
