An epsom salt spider repellent using just two ingredients has kept one woman’s home free of spiders for two years, but science suggests the results may vary depending on which essential oil you choose and how you use it.
September is spider mating season. Males start moving around actively in search of mates, which is why you suddenly notice more of them indoors. According to TikTok user @hazcolourfulhome, there is a straightforward way to stop that happening altogether, and she has been using it for the past few years.
The two-ingredient method that stopped spiders in their tracks
The hack is simple. Fill a small net bag with epsom salts, add a few drops of essential oil, tie it up, and place the bags around doorways, corners, behind the toilet and anywhere else spiders might enter or lurk. @hazcolourfulhome sourced her net bags from eBay, used standard cheap epsom salts, and chose essential oils including lemon, mint, eucalyptus and lavender.
‘If you don’t want them in your house then listen up, I’m going to teach you a hack that actually works,’ she said in her TikTok post, as reported by the Liverpool Echo. ‘All you need is epsom salt, some little net bags and essential oil. Now I have tried and tested this hack and I’ve done this for the past few years and I can genuinely say we have had literally none come in.’
The epsom salts are the key structural ingredient: they retain the essential oil rather than dissolving, keeping the scent active in each bag. She was clear that the salt does not need to be expensive. ‘It doesn’t have to be fancy salt, it can be the cheapest epsom salts,’ she said. One practical note: the bags can be oily, so she warned against placing them on wooden surfaces that might be damaged.
She also confirmed her sister tried the same epsom salt spider repellent with equally good results, giving the method at least a second data point beyond her own experience.
What the research says about essential oils and spiders
The science is more mixed than the TikTok testimonials suggest. Lemon oil is a popular choice among essential oil enthusiasts for keeping spiders away, but a study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology found it had no effect on spiders at all, according to Good Housekeeping. That is worth knowing if lemon is your go-to scent.
Peppermint oil has a stronger evidence base. One study showed that exposing recluse spiders to essential oils, including peppermint, for 24 hours resulted in the mortality of many of the spiders, according to Wholesale Botanics. Separately, research covered by Entomology Today found that both chestnut and peppermint oil showed apparent repellent effects on two spider species, with those species avoiding the substances in more than 75 per cent of tests. A third species, however, showed no significant response to either oil.
The takeaway from the research is not that essential oils are useless, but that species and oil type both matter. Good Housekeeping also notes that effectiveness depends on getting the correct concentration, application method, and frequency of reapplication right, which can be difficult to determine without guidance.
How to set up your own epsom salt spider repellent
If you want to try this at home before the mating season peaks, the method is low-cost and low-effort. Pick up a bag of basic epsom salts, a pack of small drawstring net bags, and a bottle of peppermint or eucalyptus essential oil. Fill each bag generously with salt, add several drops of oil, and tie it off. Place them at entry points, corners and anywhere you have spotted spiders before.
@hazcolourfulhome’s advice on placement: ‘I am just petrified so I think more is more in this case. I’ve popped them around the front door, the corners and we haven’t had any for like two years. I also put them behind the toilet, anywhere they may be.’
Given what the research says about reapplication, refresh the essential oil on each bag regularly rather than leaving them untouched all season. Peppermint gives you the best evidence base of the oils available. Lemon, despite its popularity, has at least one study suggesting it may not pull its weight.