Houston’s Complete Spider Prevention Guide
Houston is a beautiful place to live, with excellent sports teams, delicious food, and fun things to do. However, when you have a home in this fantastic location, spiders will be a nuisance on your property from time to time. There are plenty of different types of spiders that make Houston their home. Getting familiar with the various spider pests you’re sure to encounter is essential. Not all arachnids that invade your yard or home are dangerous or harmful, but they are still a pest.
Keep reading to learn more about what attracts spiders to your Houston home, how to prevent them from entering, and effective pest control methods and solutions. Arachnids might venture into your home because it is climate-controlled, has plenty of food, or some places are undisturbed where they can hide and leave their eggs. No matter what type of spider problem you encounter, the best solution is to contact a Houston pest control company for services.
How to deter spiders? When dealing with spiders in your home or on your property, prevent them naturally by installing barriers and removing elements that make your home attractive to these pests. It would be best if you took advantage of having a dependable pest control service to treat your home during the year. DIY pest control solutions are less effective than the products and solutions that Modern Pest Control uses to protect your home and family.
How Can I Tell What Kind Of Spiders Are In My House?
Many types of arachnids live in the Longhorn state, so how do you know what kind of spiders are in your home in Houston? First, the style and placement of webs and complex egg sacs these creatures leave behind are telltale signs. You may see specific markings on different spiders, which helps distinguish the species.
Don’t panic and avoid interaction with spiders in your home, especially if you aren’t sure if it is harmful. Get familiar with common house spiders and other pests that may wander in from outside. Here are some spiders in Houston:
Black widow: These spiders are 1 1/2 to 1 3/8 inches long, black, and have a red hourglass-shaped mark on their abdomen. Female spiders are larger than males. They create webs close to the ground that look irregular. They keep their eggs in a silken sac. Do not engage this spider, as it is venomous. Please leave it to the professionals if you need black widow spider removal.
Brown recluse: If you see a light or dark brown spider with a violin-like marking, beware. Why do spiders bite? This spider will bite if it feels threatened and likes hiding in basements, closets, and wood piles, and might venture into a shoe or article of clothing. They are venomous and measure 1/4 to 1/2 inches long.
Common house spider: These spiders are smaller than 1 inch. Males are brown and yellow, and females are brown and orange. They are not venomous and rarely bite people if provoked.
Hobo spider: This spider is usually 1 to 1 3/4 inches long, light to medium brown, and has a darker line down its center. Its abdomen has an oblong shape, and females are a little bigger than males. Look for this type of spider in basements, crawl spaces, and dark, damp areas low to the ground.
Jumping spider: If you see a spider with a brilliant color or an iridescent look to its hair, it’s likely a jumping spider. These arachnids may be black, brown, gray, or tan and have compact legs. They measure between 1/8 to 3/4 inches long. You may see them often around windows and doors. This spider produces venom, but its bite is not poisonous or a severe threat to your health.
Orb weaver: These spiders may be gray or reddish-brown and have a triangular abdomen. They may show up more frequently in the summer and fall. Females are much larger than males, ranging between 2 and 6 inches long, compared to 0.5 to 2 inches long of the male size.
Wolf spider: This spider is curious because it doesn’t use webs to catch prey. They are a hunting spider that runs after their prey and stays close to the ground. The female carries its eggs on its back. These spiders may be brown, gray, or black, with dark stripes on their body and long thin legs. Females are 3/8 to 1 3/8 inches, and males are 1/4 to 3/4 inches long.
Yellow sac spider: Take caution if you see this spider because it is venomous. A bite from this pest could cause necrosis at the injury site. This spider measures 1/4 and 3/8 inches long and will enter a home searching for food and warmth. This spider will leave egg sacs in corners, ceilings, blinds, curtains, and around window molding.
Most spiders are shy and will stay away from humans to avoid problems, but they might bite if they feel threatened. The black widow or brown recluse may cause an adverse reaction from their bite, so take caution. If you feel ill or have increasing pain, redness, and swelling at the injury site, seek immediate medical attention.
Arachnids do not spread pathogens like other pests, but venomous spiders may pose a health hazard. If you stumble onto a venomous spider like the black widow or brown recluse, let a professional pest control service like Modern Pest Control handle it.
Thankfully, most house spiders in your Houston home are harmless and will try to avoid interactions with people. However, even harmless spiders can prove a nuisance if too many are in your home, leaving plenty of webs and egg sacs around.
Why You Don’t Want Spiders Hanging Around Your Home
Even if the spiders on your property are hiding in corners or tucked away in spaces you don’t frequent, you still don’t want them hanging around your home. If spiders become comfortable, they may cover your doors and windows with webs, leave eggs throughout your home, and reproduce rapidly.
Inside your home, spiders will find refuge among the clutter. Or, these arachnid pests will head to areas where ants and other bugs congregate, such as a dirty kitchen with crumbs or dirty dishes.
How to keep spiders away? A good plan is to reduce the number of natural food sources for spiders in your yard, like crickets, ants, beetles, moths, and other small insects. Spiders benefit the environment, but if you have an infestation, that’s a problem. When you have many spiders in your home, you probably have many other insect pests infesting your home as well.
Keep your yard well maintained, trim the shrubbery, cut the grass short, and remove debris piles where spiders might hide. Be careful with storing garbage, and don’t overwater your yard. Also, find ways to attract natural predators of spiders to your property to help limit the presence of spiders.
A few spiders now and then can be tolerable. If you see spiders everywhere, you might attract venomous and harmful ones. Regularly scheduled visits from Modern Pest Control to treat your Houston home with a spider control solution is the best safety net.
Five No-Sweat Tips to Prevent Spiders In Your Home
There is always something you can do to help improve your situation if you have spiders on your property. Try these tips to prevent spiders in addition to having pest control services from Modern Pest Control visit your home quarterly or annually:
What repels spiders? Choose a natural solution to repel spiders and clean your home with vinegar. Spiders find vinegar naturally repulsive and may shy away from areas where you use it. Vinegar is an excellent natural cleaner for wiping down kitchens, bathrooms, and places with grease and grime buildup. If you can’t stand the smell of vinegar, follow up with a bit of lemon or soap and water.
Another option is to spritz down areas where spiders are with essential oils spiders hate. Use peppermint oil; however, certain people may find the smell too strong and unappealing. To get the maximum effect of peppermint oil, spray it around corners where spiders like to hide, around the perimeter of doors, windows, and outside your home. Make sure to dilute the peppermint oil with a bit of water and a touch of dish soap and place it in a spray bottle.
Clean your home often and pay attention to corners and hiding places where there may be webs or egg sacs. Use a vacuum to take down webs and remove eggs. Reduce any clutter and anything that may provide a hiding place for spiders.
If you have outdoor lights around your home, put them on a timer or use a motion sensor. You want to try to turn them off at night because light will attract insects that spiders prey upon for food. Close your blind or drapes so indoor lighting doesn’t shine through windows and attract bugs.
Add barriers to your home and focus on sealing cracks and crevices in walls. Add weatherstripping to windows, doors, and air conditioning units. Call Modern Pest Control to treat the exterior of your home where spiders may try to enter.
Remember, it’s not enough to follow prevention steps. Only pest control experts have the most effective solutions and methods to exclude spiders in your home. Use prevention and regularly scheduled spider pest control treatments to keep your home spider-free. Don’t forget to exclude insect pests that attract spiders to your home.
How Do I Get Rid Of Spiders And Their Prey In My Home?
Removing food sources, hiding places, and water is critical if you want the best solution to a spider problem in your home. Spiders are often attracted to dark, damp areas where you may not easily discover them. When you have problems with ants, beetles, moths, and other small insects that spiders feed upon, it’s hard to get spiders to leave.
Keep your home clean and organized. Don’t keep stacks of boxes, newspapers, or clutter in closets, garages, attics, or basements. Take down spider webs in corners and around doorways when dusting. Ensure that screens on doors and windows are in good repair and free of large holes.
If you use a vacuum to clean and remove spiderwebs and egg sacs, discard the contents in the bag afterward immediately. You don’t want to reintroduce spiders to your home and start another infestation accidentally. Pay special attention to corners, doorways, windows, and along the ceiling and baseboards.
Why do I have spiders in my house? Spiders may invade your home by traveling through doors, cracks and holes, vents, and windows. If there are any gaps around plumbing or wiring, these arachnids may get through. Seal off gaps and crevices with caulk. Add barriers like weatherstripping and door sweeps, reducing access to spiders and other insect pests.
Reduce sources of moisture and wipe down kitchens and bathrooms. Fix broken pipes, clean up spills, and run a dehumidifier to dry your space. Never leave food around for long, and promptly remove garbage and keep it away from your home.
Reduce your home’s attractiveness to spiders and their pest prey by doing the following; make sure that a technician from pest control services comes to your home to treat it for spiders. Our technicians at Modern Pest Control will inspect your home for spiders and apply solutions to hard-to-reach areas where spiders congregate. It’s vital to have professional-level spider control solutions for the interior and exterior of your home for effective spider prevention.
How do you get rid of spiders? Forget DIY solutions because they only last for a short time and must be reapplied often. Let our experts at Modern Pest Control focus on treating a spider infestation and making your home in Houston spider-free. Imagine a friendly, dependable pest control technician safely removing spiders from your home and offering prevention tips to fortify your home against future spider visits. Give yourself the peace of mind you deserve and contact Modern Pest Control for a consultation and to learn more about our residential and commercial pest control services in Houston.