*** IF YOU ARE SCARED OF SPIDERS I ADVISE AGAINST READING THIS THREAD***
Dear all,
I have a bit of an issue that I would like some advice on please.
My wife and I are still new at this and, although we seem to be handling all manner of problems as they come up, there is one that has us a bit stumped. Our place is set against the New Zealand bush and contains all manner of insects, including spiders. Unlike our Australian cousins across the ocean, we are lucky in NZ and don't have very many poisonous spiders (the few that are poisonous are very rare and hardly seen). We also don't have snakes in NZ, or any major preditors, so hey... it could be worse right?
The problem is, when we do get spiders they are... a little bit bigger than people are used to.
After getting some horrified reactions, we added a warning to our listing in the best way we could think of, added it to our guest book, and started telling people at check-in of the dangers of leaving the windows open. But honestly, people are STILL surprised when they find a spider and seem to approach it with genuine terror! Each time this happens, we feel a bit guilty. I don't want guests to feel horrified, but... I can't change it. It's hot here right now and people want to leave windows open. When they do that, spiders come in... simple as that.
I know we're not responsible for the insects of New Zealand... and there is no point laying awake a night worring if guests are going to find any... but I just wonder if we should be doing something else?
Here is the warning we have on our listing, which we also include in our guest book:
◉ Trees, bees, birds and more! ◉
Please note that the cottage is located in the forest and is surrounded by trees, nature and natural wildlife. There are flowers, birds, bees and insects in the forest. This can mean a small amount of pollen or insects may enter the cottage during your stay. This is very rare, however it can happen if windows are left open for long periods. If finding a spider would bother you, or if you are severly allergic to pollen or bees, we recommend you reconsider your stay with us. Although we are meticulous and thorough, we cannot promise the space will be entirely free of these things. Living in New Zealand is both wild and beautiful so we accept these small things as part of the wonderful life we have.
How does that sound? I thought it sounded ok. The problem is that I don't know if this is a warning is suitably proportionate to the "size" of the spiders I'm talking about here. I also don't think there is any way to illustrate this without sharing a picture.... I hate to do it, but I'm going to post a link to one that our guests caught and photographed... we caught another this morning about 2/3 the size of this one, but still very large. I dunno, they just seem to get fat and healthy in our bush... Bundle the cat likes to eat them (weirdo). These certainly aren't the biggest NZ has either, they can be dinner plate or toilet seat sized up in Auckland, so frankly I'd take Wellington spiders any day...
Link to picture of our average spider invader:
https://spiderid.com/picture/52075/
Feel free to not follow the above link and just give me general advice based on whatever size of insect you imagine would bother you. Bear in mind, most of our guests are not New Zealanders, they are British, European, American, Chinese.... etc. Actually, I've lost track of the countries...
~ Ben