Struggling With Spiders? What Are Your Best Pest Control Options?
Posted on: 5 June 2017
Although spiders can serve a noble purpose -- ridding your home and lawn of pesky insects like mosquitoes, ants, and beetles -- they can also be a nuisance in and of themselves, especially when they leave thickly-spun webs behind. If you'd like to reduce your home's spider population without using heavy-duty pesticides and poisons, prevention is often the name of the game. There are also some less-toxic ways to kill any spiders that may be left behind after you've put these prevention methods in place. Read on to learn more about some of the most effective prevention and treatment methods for a variety of common spiders.
Spider Prevention
Most spiders are attracted to dark, moist places without much exposure to wind. This makes dead trees, piles of old leaves and brush, dark corners of a damp basement, and even piles of old brush the perfect habitats for a variety of spider types. Spiders are often especially attracted to clutter or debris next to your home's foundation, and may sneak their way inside through tiny cracks -- since moisture-laden debris next to your foundation can cause a host of other issues, removing it is an imperative first step toward ridding your home of spiders.
By eliminating these indoor and outdoor habitats, you'll encourage your resident spiders to nest and reproduce elsewhere. You'll also want to eradicate as many spiderwebs as you can; these webs, even once they're no longer being used by their weaver, can send a signal to other spiders that your property is a prime hunting ground.
Spiders that don't tend to spin webs, like wolf spiders, can also hide in small holes they use to trap prey. If you have a basement or crawl space beneath your home, it may be worth a thorough inspection with a flashlight to see whether any of these habitats exist. Because of their size and reflectiveness of their eyes, wolf spiders can be fairly easy to detect by shining a bright light.
After implementing some of these prevention methods, you should quickly begin to notice a decline in the number of spiders in your home and yard.
Spider Treatment
If prevention and habitat eradication haven't been enough to fully eliminate your spider issue, or if you have an older home or farmhouse with a number of ideal hiding spots for these small arachnids, you may need to turn to some stronger treatment options. Fortunately, there are some targeted treatment methods that can keep spiders away without risking harm to your children or pets.
By applying an insecticide powder around the foundation of your home and in any dark or hidden areas (like under decks and porches), you'll be able to stop spiders in their tracks. These insecticides can interrupt the spider life cycle, killing eggs and limiting spiders' reproductive abilities so that they quickly die out. Because these spider-specific insecticides are designed to cause reproductive damage, not instant death, they're generally considered safe for application in areas where kids or pets may play.
Another option, especially for those whose spiders seem to prefer the comfort of the indoors, is glue traps. These traps can help you keep an eye on the spider population in your home and make adjustments to your prevention and extermination regimens if you begin to notice an uptick in the number of traps you're emptying.
Whether you have arachnophobia or just don't like the idea of a wolf spider jumping out at you from beneath a pile of wet laundry, employing a full-spectrum spider eradication plan that involves both environmental changes and chemical (or glue-based) warfare should make your home a more peaceful place. Talk to a company that specializes in spider control, like Godfather's Exterminating, Inc.
Share