Alcohol does kill spiders, but it might take a long time to do so, and it’s not the best quick solution for killing spiders immediately.
Alcohol has toxic effects on an animal’s body, just like it does on a human body. It highly affects the nervous system, making the animal drowsy, unable to move, loss of consciousness, respiratory failure, and eventually organ failure and death.
If you’re looking for a quick solution for killing spiders, then alcohol might not be the best solution in the world.
It will take some time for a spider’s body to ingest the alcohol, so it might take a few minutes to even a few hours for the alcohol to start taking effect, but it can disable a spider in just a few minutes.

Important Note: This is general information for entertainment purposes only. If you have been bitten, seek professional medical attention immediately. Always have professionals identify and manage your pest control needs.
Can Alcohol Kill Spiders?
Animals have been widely used in studies involving alcohol. The research of alcohol and the effects of alcohol is still developing, and many studies involve animals, so we know that alcohol is toxic to animals as well, and has the potential to kill animals, including spiders.
Alcohol toxicity is actually quite common with pets as well as other animals. Alcohol enhances dopamine and serotonin release, but there are other several negative effects connected to alcohol ingestion for animals, including:
- Highly affected ability to function
- Lowered cognitive capabilities
- Organ damage
- Inability to move
- Depression, coma, seizures
- Death
As with humans, excessive intake of alcohol can lead to death in animals, including spiders. It will start affecting organs like the liver, stomach, and heart, which will eventually give in to the higher and higher levels of toxicity that are brought in by the alcohol. The same will also happen to spiders, which is why alcohol is lethal to spiders.
Through research, scientists have found that on average, it will take around an hour after ingestion of alcohol for the effects to take place. This is the main reason that alcohol might not be the best and quickest solution for killing spiders – it will kill a spider, but it won’t do it as quickly as some other alternatives.
Can Spiders get Drunk?
A study published in 2006 analyzed the effects of alcohol on the orb-weaving spiders and their ability to create webs. The study found that spiders were unable to create even webs anymore and that the webs they created were asymmetrical, full of holes, and not as well developed as normally.
What does this tell us?
It shows us that alcohol has profound effects on the cognitive and physical functional abilities of the spider, as much as it does on a human being. Alcohol impacts a spider’s nervous system, which makes it unable to move properly, create webs, and survive comfortably.
But this was done with relatively small doses of alcohol. What happens when we try it with larger doses of alcohol?
Alcohol is highly toxic to animals, so in larger doses, alcohol can be potentially lethal for a spider. At first, it would start affecting a spider’s ability to move, but soon, it would affect its internal organs until the organs would eventually fail. Higher doses of alcohol are thus lethal for spiders as well.
The only problem with alcohol as a repellent and insecticide is that it will take longer to start taking effect than some other means of natural pest control. It might take anywhere between an hour to several hours for the lethal doses to start kicking in, so the death of the spider might not occur immediately, but a few hours down the line.
If you’re looking for a faster way of killing spiders, then you might want to use an alternative method of pest control.
How to Kill a Spider with Alcohol?
To kill a spider with alcohol, you will have several different ways of doing it:
- Spray the alcohol directly onto a spider
- By using a cloth and applying the alcohol this way
- Placing the spider into the alcohol after catching it
Perhaps the most convenient way of killing a spider with alcohol is by catching it first and then placing it into a bowl of alcohol.
This will drown the spider and disable it, although the problem with this method is that it might be a bit difficult to catch the spider in the first place.
Spraying alcohol is probably the easiest way of killing a spider, but it might not be the most environmentally friendly.
When you spray alcohol such as ethanol, it might leave stains on walls and it will also leave a smell when you spray it – even though it is very quick and highly effective.
Lastly, you can do it by using a cloth and applying the alcohol onto the cloth and then trying to catch the spider with a cloth with alcohol on it. This might not kill the spider right away, but it might make it unconscious, helping you to kill the spider later on much easier.
Will Alcohol Kill Spider Mites?
Yes, alcohol is also very effective for killing spider mites. The best way of doing this is by rubbing alcohol onto a cloth and then cleaning leaves with this cloth. This will effectively remove the spider mites from a leaf and kill them.
You must note, though, that this method will not destroy the eggs of spider mites. To do that, you might want to try other methods.
Just like for spiders, alcohol is also toxic for spider mites. It will incapacitate them quickly and disable them, making it easier for you to remove them from leaves and other surfaces where spider mites might start collecting.
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Conclusion
To conclude, using alcohol to kill spiders can be effective, but it might not be the fastest solution in the world. That’s because it might take several hours for the alcohol to completely kill off the spider, although it is a highly natural way of killing a spider if you have the patience to do so and to catch the spider before drowning it in alcohol.

I am the founder and owner of Fauna Facts. My mission is to write valuable and entertaining information about animals and pets for my audience. I hope you enjoy the site!