Does Cinnamon really repel spiders?

[Royalty]

I heard that spiders HATE the scent of cinnamon....but also have read that they can't smell.
I was wondering if anyone had more education of this? I want to make some natural pinecones scented with real hand ground cinnamon, but I do not want to make my spiders feel uncomfortable. I do primarily have tarantulas but I have a few true spiders as well.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

@HooahArmy might know, although I don’t know why it would work to repel-them. if they can’t smell.

 

[viper69]

Google

 

[8 legged]

I don't think the smell is the problem, but rather the dehydrating effect of cinnamon...
The two are unlikely to meet in the wild, but if your apartment smells of cinnamon over Christmas, the eight-legged friend won't care...

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

@HooahArmy might know, although I don’t know why it would work to repel-them. if they can’t smell.

Of course they can smell, or at least in their own spidery way. The tarsi and metatarsi possess chemoreceptive setae which pick up molecules in the air which act as a combination of taste and smell. They are even present around the mouth providing for something akin to taste. How do you think male tarantulas find females? The same setae detecting the pheromones from female silk at a distance are the same ones responsible for determining what is good to eat and what substances to avoid. I'm not sure anyone has tried presenting cinnamon specifically to a tarantula to find out if it would actively avoid it, but it would make for a cool experiment.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

I heard that spiders HATE the scent of cinnamon....but also have read that they can't smell.
I was wondering if anyone had more education of this? I want to make some natural pinecones scented with real hand ground cinnamon, but I do not want to make my spiders feel uncomfortable. I do primarily have tarantulas but I have a few true spiders as well.

Don't put the scented pinecones in the T's enclosures. Don't have them anywhere close to your T's. Don't eat a bunch of cinnamon toast and then handle your tarantulas without washing your hands, (shouldn't handle period).

When in doubt follow that. I'm pretty sure you're not doing any of that to begin with.

 

[spideyspinneret78]

I remember reading somewhere that cinnamon has insecticidal properties and can be toxic to some animals ( I don't know about arachnids specifically though).

 

[DustyD]

Anecdotal information about no ill effect of cinnamon in fairly close proximity:

One time I found a single “sugar” ant munching on a piece of superworm one of my T’s had discarded in its enclosure. Only ant that I saw in the whole room (and it was inside an enclosure) but I feared an invasion.

Someone recommended putting cinnamon around as a barrier. I placed a line of cinnamon about 4 -5 inches outside the enclosures. I can’t say if it worked as a deterrent as I had also strategically placed ant motels on the floor about 6 feet away and below the tarantulas. I did not see any other ants.

But the cinnamon did not seem to affect my T’s.

 

[HooahArmy]

Now availible in scratch-n'-sniff... It's HooahArmy!

Thank you very much for the hail, ladies and gentlemen. Let's look at this topic! I too have heard that cinnamon repels all sorts of creepy crawlies and critters like mice, but the question really is how. While a mouse my sneeze and turn its nose up, it's true that spiders don't 'smell' like mice do. However, most animals don't like contact with cinnamon due to the reason why people gorging spoonfuls during the Cinnamon Challenge might want to spit it out.
Cinnamon is a spicy monster for a reason. It's filled with aromatic volatile (can go airborne) compounds that animals find irritating whether they have mucous membranes or not. When on the skin or a soft part of the body, cinnamon is a known and powerful irritant. It feels worse for animals with mucous membranse, but I can imagine it feeling nasty as well for an insect who breathes it in through body pores orbook lungs, or gets it in their mouth.
Second, cinnamon is a fine and very annoying powder. Anyone who has experinced mayhem during baking might know that the powder is next to microscopic and gets darn near everywhere. Eating a spoonful can quite literally choke you. Insect bodies may be hard with their exoskeletons, but they also have a special secreted oil that keeps them clean and protected. Cinnamon is miscible in oil, meaning that it can and will stick to oily things. So now at the moment, imagine yourself as a spider walking along... then you step a foot in some powdered monstrosity. It gets on your toes. Its fine enough to even get on and between your setae. It feels downright awful, and when you go nibble it off, it might taste like Hades' armpit.
That, ladies and gentlmen, is the power of cinnamon on an insect. It is irritating, clingy, and difficult to clean off. We can't confirm that it bothers insects with smell, but we can know for certain that it's a very enduring powder that can stick to their bodies. Insects don't like walking over substances that cling or bother their bodies, so cinnamon likely poses more of a mechanical barrier--the insect needs to touch it to feel the grief. The stank side however, might prove more of a repellent for critters with mucous membranes and noses.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Sooooo I should stop taking cinnamon baths before my big dates

 

[HooahArmy]

Sooooo I should stop taking cinnamon baths before my big dates

It depends on your amount of cinnamon. If it's just about right that you smell like a snickerdoodle, go for it. But if you're basting in the stuff, you might want to cut back. LOL.


Sometimes, I add a tiny pinch of cinnamon to vanilla lotion to smell like a cookie. I also like a tad in salve for stiff knees.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

I'm trying that, I want to smell like a cookie

 

[DustyD]

I heard that if you say HooahArmy three times HooahArmy appears beside you offering amazing information.

 

[HooahArmy]

I heard that if you say HooahArmy three times HooahArmy appears beside you offering amazing information.

Other ways to summon HooahArmy:
1. Rub two MRE crackers together.
2. Use bad grammar.
3. Ask any question about African coups, the African Sahel, or Chinese and Russian Disinformation in Africa.