Venemous creepy-crawlies and pesticides

[XBebop]

I've lived in Japan for 7 months before, albeit at Saitama University in a very well-maintained apartment building(with beds). I never heard of anyone having a problem with, say, enormous spiders, Mukade, geckos, etc. However, I've been reading some things on the interwebs and it seems as if encounters with some rather venemous or annoying insects/arachnids/lizards is somewhat common. Since I plan on going back to Japan, and likely won't be in as clean and well-maintained a place as Sai-Dai, what can I do to avoid domestic encounters with such creatures? While in Japan the first time I used poisonous food traps for cockroaches, and thus I never had a problem with them. Could I do the same thing to dissuade Mukade or spiders from coming into my apartment?

I remember pesticides being available at large grocery stores, but I never really checked as to what they would kill, specifically.

[Liz Okinawa PA]

You can also check on the apartment you're getting. I have a massive phobia of large bugs, especially cockroaches, and wrote ahead about it, saying I needed to find a place without them. So when apartment hunting, we asked the landlord and looked most at higher-floor apartments in newer buildings.

[farstrider]

There are poisons/pesticides you can buy at large supermarkets and/or home centers that can be used to create a perimeter around your apartment. I used this method with great success (so far) after a ムカデ entered my place via the A/C.