Spider Control 101: A Comprehensive Guide For Missouri City Homeowners

Movies entertain many people. Some enjoy romantic movies that make them feel good, others enjoy action flix with heart-pounding, fast-paced moments, and some go to movies to be scared. You've probably encountered a few spiders if you have watched many horror movies or attended a few haunted houses. Perhaps their legs, hairy bodies, multiple eyes, and quick movements are why these arachnids are the focus of many scary entertainment venues. Attending a theatre or haunted house knowing we will encounter spiders is acceptable for many, but it is another issue when they are in our homes.

No one wants to awaken to see spiders running across the bed. We don't want to encounter spider webs when searching the attic or rummaging in the basement. Encountering a hairy spider as it runs alongside baseboards makes many people scream and jump back.

If you have spiders in your home, you need spider control in Missouri City from Modern Pest Control. Our company began when Bill and Ruth Brashier recognized the need for high-quality pest control over 70 years ago in 1952. They named their new venture Modern Pest Control because they determined to use only the latest techniques and state-of-the-art equipment. In addition to eliminating pests from homes, our founders were committed to protecting the environment and educating our clients to prevent future infestations. Thus, we implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) solutions and methods to achieve our goals.

The Texas Department of Agriculture licenses our service management professionals to treat homes and businesses. Furthermore, we are one of only a small percentage of pest control companies in the United States that has earned the coveted QualityPro certification awarded by the Foundation for Professional Pest Management. As a QualityPro Certified company, all our employees are background checked and meet and exceed 18 federal and state standards.

We wrote this article because spider infestations are a problem in many Missouri City homes. Please keep reading to learn why these creatures exist, the problems they cause, and how to stop the current problem and prevent future infestations.

The Role of Spiders In The Ecosystem: Benefits And Drawbacks

Spiders are predators and prey in the exosystem. Spiders benefit the ecosystem by eating mosquitoes, flies, and small invertebrates like millipedes, centipedes, and earthworms. The methods spiders use to capture their prey vary. For example, jumping spiders are one of the types of spiders in Texas that are common in many Missouri City homes. Unlike most spiders, they do not construct nests to capture prey but rather chase down their prey. Most spiders are active at night, but jumping spiders hunt during the day due to their excellent eyesight. When an insect is within 18 inches, a jumping spider can leap 20 times its body length to land on the prey, grab it with its chelicera, and inject venom. Favorite foods for jumping spiders include flies, crickets, cockroaches, mealworms, ants, and beetles.

Wolf spiders are another common invader of Missouri City homes that hunt prey. Unlike the daytime hunting habits of jumping spiders, these hairy, long-legged spiders hide along baseboards and in sheltered places during the day and hunt at night. A wolf spider's diet consists of ants, beetles, earwigs, pillbugs, cockroaches, centipedes, and other spiders.

Also, jumping spiders create webs as retreats for their egg sacs, but wolf spiders use silk to wrap their eggs and build draglines. In other words, they do not build webs as retreats or to capture prey.

Another spider species that invades many Missouri City homes is the crab spider. Crab spiders detect movement and chase their prey, like wolf and jumping spiders. These small-to-medium spiders hunt primarily outdoors in the soil among plants and leaves. Like wolf spiders, they do not construct webs but attach drop lines to vegetation to enable them to climb into a hunting position. Crab spiders eat garden pests, as well as bees and other spiders.

Ground Spiders also hunt prey at night without the use of webs. They use their spinnerets to create silky retreats under stones, leaves, and boards as daytime hideouts. Ground spiders eat a variety of insects and other spiders.

At this point, you may wonder if any Missouri City spiders build webs to capture prey, and the answer is "yes." The orb weaver spider is a Missouri City spider that builds webs to grab prey. These spiders create large, circular nests in tall grasses, gardens, porch corners, and other areas with good airflow. Because they use webs to capture aerial prey, orb weaver spiders consume flies, moths, beetles, wasps, and mosquitoes.

While you are more likely to find an orb weaver web outdoors, you will find house spider webs inside your Missouri City home. These 3/16- to 5/16-inch yellowish-brown invaders create messy webs in doorways and window corners in closets, under furniture, garages, basements, and crawl spaces to capture their victims. They eat carpenter ants, aphids, and other typical spider prey.

Most people think bees are the only pollinators, but spiders benefit the environment because they also pollinate plants. Plants cannot reproduce unless the pollen grains of the male anther transfer to the female stigma in another plant of the same species. Spiders that do not live in their webs, like jumping, wolf, crab, and ground spiders, are the best pollinators. As they travel along the ground hunting prey, pollen grains stick to their bodies, which they transfer to other flowers and pollinate them.

Although it is a downside for spiders, they benefit the environment as prey for birds, bats, and wasps. Blackbirds, bluebirds, and crows capture and consume spiders, particularly baby spiders. Bats also consume spiders, although they are more prone to eat mosquitoes.

One drawback of spiders can occur when an excessive, concentrated spider population leads to an imbalance. Although this may be a problem for our farmers, a spider infestation in Missouri City homes creates anxiety for many due to their quick, often erratic movements, webs, and scary appearance. Fueling the fears are concerns that the spider may be venomous to humans. Black widow and brown recluse spiders are in Texas, but like all spider species, they are not aggressive toward humans and may only bite when threatened.

Spiders are a necessary part of the environment outside our homes, but not inside. Avoid living with anxiety caused by a spider infestation and partner with Modern Pest Control.

Spiders As Pests: Potential Nuisance Factors

Spider webs are the main issue for many people. Walking into webs while hunting for family heirlooms in the attic, reaching for objects on basement shelves, or cleaning underneath furniture is disconcerting for most people, particularly if the webs have carcasses. Unless the orb weaver or house spiders infest your Missouri City home, you will not have a problem with these aerial webs; however, you may encounter ground-level webs with the other species.

You won't find carcasses or struggling insects in jumping spider webs, but you will find egg sacs and discarded skin casts. Jumping spiders build their retreats at ground level in wood floor cracks, drapery folds, and around window and door molding. You are more likely to encounter ground-level webs from crabs and ground spiders outside your home in landscaping and the garden than inside the house. Wolf spiders don't build webs in homes.

When people walk into a web, they immediately assume there is a spider present that will attack and inject them with painful venom. Unless the spider has eggs in the web or you are squishing it, it will not bite and will most likely flee. Most spider bites are not medically threatening. Except for black widow and brown recluse spiders, the worst people experience from a spider bite is brief pain, numbness, and slight swelling at the wound site.

Male black widow spiders seldom bite; the females will bite when they perceive a threat to their egg sacs. Sweating, nausea, and increased blood pressure are symptoms of a black widow spider bite. Pain at the bite site is immediate and may continue for three days.

You may not know if a brown recluse spider bites until six to eight hours later. Fever, restlessness, and sleeping difficulties may accompany the swollen blister that eventually appears at the wound location. Underneath the fluid-filled pustule, the venom from a brown recluse bite kills the underlying tissue, which can leave an ulcer. If untreated, the ulcer can continue to the bone, leaving significant scar tissue. Despite public perception, a black widow or brown recluse bite is not fatal, but seek medical attention to prevent further complications.

Beyond the nuisance of spider webs, the other issue is the psychological angst many people suffer when spiders invade. Spiders inside a home trigger insomnia, anxiety, and fear in many people, and when these conditions persist, many experience depression and high irritability levels.

The best way to get rid of the spiders in the house is to partner with Modern Pest Control. We will remove them so you can relax at home and sleep in peace.

Spider Prevention Tips: Keeping Your Home Spider-Free

Spiders invade homes not because they naturally invade our humble abodes but because they follow their prey into our homes. Spiders eat insects; when a high insect population exists around your structure, you will have spiders. For example, you will have orb weaver and house spider webs under the eaves, door, and window corners, etc., when you have a high concentration of mosquitoes and flies. Ground-dwelling spiders may be in your home due to a cockroach or ant infestation.

The following will prevent spiders in the home by removing incentives for insects to invade your house:

Remove junk, debris, and overgrown vegetation from the yard.
Eliminate items that retain water on your property.
Provide drainage to ditches, puddles, and gutters.
Prune tree branches and shrubs away from the structure.
Relocate firewood 20 feet from the house and elevate it.
Install bug lights or LED lights on the exterior.
Place door sweeps on exterior doors.
Repair holes in window and door screens.
Deweb the house.
Seal foundation and roofline cracks.
Reduce clutter in the basement, attic, and crawlspace.
Fix leaking plumbing fixtures and pipes in the house.
Cover indoor and outdoor garbage containers.

Implementing these suggestions, alongside spider control from Modern Pest Control, will deter spiders and insects from invading your house. The overall message is to maintain a clean, dry interior and exterior.

Professional Spider Control: Expert Solutions For A Web-Free Home

When most people see a spider, they grab a shoe (or get someone else to get one) and end its brief life. However, you probably found this article because spiders reappear in your home despite your best efforts. Since they continue to be a problem, there is a strong possibility that the spiders in your house have egg sacs and the offspring are emerging.

The only way to end the problem is to use spider control near you from Modern Pest Control. We will dispatch a service management professional to your Missouri City home to inspect the property for entry points, attractants, and hot spots. Once we deter the spider species and gather information from our interview with you and the investigation, we will create a targeted strategy to remove spiders from your house.

Our initial spider removal process includes treating the interior and exterior. We will focus on harboring locations (i.e., exterior lights, under eaves, vegetation, etc.) in the garage and perimeter of the home. Our perimeter treatment includes applying product to the yard to create a barrier around the house. This hurdle discourages insects from entering and deters spiders from following them into your home. When you enroll in one of our recurring pest control options, we return each quarter to keep the barrier strong throughout the year.

For spider removal, trust a local, independent pest control company that has protected families from pests for over 70 years. We are a QualityPro Certified company with a team of dedicated, licensed, and highly-trained service management professionals who have the experience and knowledge to end your spider infestation. Contact us today to learn more about our service plan options and schedule your free, no-obligation inspection.

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