Spiders in Your Home
Fall has fully settled in, longer nights and shorter days, turning colors and falling leaves, and spider webs glistening in the morning dew. Spider webs! They are everywhere this time of year, around doorways, windows, along the path out to your car in the morning, everywhere you turn your house is covered with spider webs. They look cool… kind of, but to a home owner, they can become messy reminders that they have a problem to address.
To be sure, spiders are…beneficial. Not only that, spiders are amazing. Spiders easily and gracefully build huge, intricate nests in a matter of minutes. These webs made of sticky, silk like material catch the prey the spider needs to survive and in a small way help to reduce the pest population, but since spiders can go days, even months, without a meal the amount of benefit the spiders bring may be minimal. A caveat to this is for those who find themselves living along a lakefront, here spiders are very helpful in controlling the thousands of gnats that fly around in the mid and late afternoons.
But for most of us, spiders are a nuisance. For some of us, they are a reminder of fear. And while many of us don’t mind spiders outside of our home, we have very little tolerance for spiders in our bedrooms.
Why do I Have So Many Spiders
It seems like every season people are surprised by the number of spiders around their homes. The truth of the matter is that they have had a large amount of spiders around all spring and summer. It’s just that now that the seasons are winding down, the spiders are reaching their maturity. They are larger, more noticeable, as they spin their webs and hunt their prey.
How and Why are Spiders Inside?
Most spiders live out of doors, in their natural environment. There they have the most natural way of finding food, moisture, and protection. But the outside world is not always so perfect. Many spiders find their way indoors to find a more stable environment. Crawl spaces beneath homes provide a great environment of relatively stable conditions and other pests to eat along the way. Cellars and basements provide the same cool environment where spiders seem to thrive. A second reason spiders come inside is to search for a mate. In the fall, mature spiders roam looking for mates, even species we usually think of as confined to their webs will be on the prowl.
What is the Danger?
While most spiders are not aggressive, there are some whose venom can be quite problematic. The Brown Recluse, the Hobo, and the infamous Black Widow are among these, but fortunately for those of us in the greater Bellevue area, there are not known populations of these spiders. Hobo spiders are in pockets, but for the most part have been driven out by the wolf spider and larger house spider.
The bigger problem with spiders indoors is that we roll over on them in our sleep, we inadvertently put them on with our clothes when getting dressed, or …they just plain scare us.
What is a Homeowner to Do?
In the greater Bellevue area homeowners are facing a real pest problem and are turning to pest control companies to help keep their spider infestations to a minimum.
It all begins with inspection. Is there something on your property that may not be breeding spiders but increases the amount of other pests, spider food that is increasing the spider pressure on your home? Are there environmental & changes that can decrease the pressure? Can moisture be eliminated? Are there places that need to be caulked and screened? For the outside, a professional treatment is necessary. Trained professionals know how identify conditions on your property and what to do to rectify the situation. Additionally, it is likely necessary to deliver the appropriate control material in the right amounts to reduce your spider population without allowing residual pesticides to end up in the water supply. Given the dense foliage found around the Puget Sound Area and the amount of streams, rivers, and lakes around the Bellevue area, homeowners are fighting an uphill battle, but with help from a professional pest control company, we can keep the spiders to a minimum, outside, and spooky fun for Halloween.