Have you ever heard the saying that a spider is never more than three feet from you? The good news is that according to the Burke Museum, this is a myth. Spiders are unwanted guests in homes because they can be poisonous, build pesky spiderwebs, and lay eggs that can hatch hundreds of baby spiders. Read on to learn about how to prevent and eliminate spiders once and for all from your home.
Most Common Spiders in Pearland, TX
Looking at spiders might make you squeamish, but it’s essential to know how to identify them since some are poisonous. Below are the features of some of the most common spiders in Pearland.
Black Widow
Did you know that a black widow’s venom is 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake’s? Black widow spiders measure 3 – 10 mm long. Their defining characteristics are a red hourglass on their abdomen. The rest of their bodies are black.
Brown Recluse
Brown recluse spiders are also venomous. Their bodies are brown with a black pattern on their back, and adult brown recluses are about the size of a quarter. The only saving grace with the brown recluse is that they don’t actively seek out people to bite.
Tarantula
They might be scary-looking, but tarantulas are non-aggressive spiders. They have large, fuzzy bodies and varying colors from black to brown to tans and oranges. Female tarantulas can live up to 40 years.
Wolf Spider
Here’s some good news—wolf spider bites aren’t poisonous. They grow up to 3 inches and are hairy with a dark brown body. Unlike many spiders, wolf spiders don’t spin webs.
Steps to Get Rid of Spiders
You arrived at this article because you want to learn how to eliminate spiders from your home. By following this six-step integrated pest management process, we guarantee that you’ll see a noticeable difference in how spider-free your house becomes.
Step 1: Seal All Possible Entry Points to Keep Them Out
Regardless of the spider species, you don’t want to create an environment that makes it comfortable for spiders to live in your home.
Possible hiding places of the common house spider include:
- Plants
- Piles of leaves
- Dark areas that you don’t frequently visit such as storage boxes, old tires, and buckets
Make sure you maintain distance between your home and the items listed above. That’s not to say you can’t have plants inside your house but get in the habit of moving around their leaves when you water them to scare off possible spider inhabitants.
You might be wondering how spiders crawl into your house in the first place. Possible spider entry points include:
- Small holes
- Baseboards
- Gaps in windows
- Wall cracks
- Under doors
- Crevices around plumbing
- Cable and pipelines
Step 2: Maintain a Clean House
Once your house is as sealed as you can get it, your next goal is to make your home uninviting to spiders. One of the best ways to get rid of spiders is by keeping your house clean. In particular, vacuuming your floors often is especially effective.
You should also take a long duster and run it across the corners of your walls and ceilings. Once the spiders in your home learn that you keep a well-vacuumed floor, they may try to move to higher ground!
By keeping your house clean, you’ll:
- Offer fewer spaces for spiders to hide
- Eliminate spider food, such as insects
- Displace spiders by taking down their webs
Spiders love to dine on insects, so although you don’t want them in your home, some people don’t mind the presence of spiders outside since they help control pesky critters like mosquitos. According to the World Mosquito Program, more than 1 million people die from mosquito-borne diseases each year.
But enough about the good quality of spiders; let’s continue talking about how to get rid of them.
Step 3: Make Your Basement Unattractive for Spiders
No place houses spiders quite like a basement. Basements are the perfect hiding place for spiders because they love cool, dark spaces and damp environments. They also prefer to hang out in areas where dust and clutter congregate.
Other moisture-friendly areas that spiders love to congregate in are:
- Drains
- Water heaters
- Windows
It might be unpleasant, but to get rid of your spider problem, you’ll need to do a deep basement clean. Vacuum every nook and cranny, donate any clutter you don’t need, and then put some spider prevention methods in place that we’ll be covering in step five.
Step 4: Get Ready for the Spider Season
When it comes to avoiding spiders, prevention is the best policy. Spider season in Pearland, Texas, is from mid-September to early October. You read that right—all those pesky spiders in your home reproduced in only a few weeks out of the year.
During spider season, male spiders actively seek mates. The difference likely won’t matter to you since your home may have more spider activity than usual, but during this time, females tend to stay in their hideout spot, waiting for males to visit them.
You can expect to see baby spiders hatching from their egg sacs at the beginning of spring. On the positive side of things, most baby spiders immediately seek out new territory to set up their web. The even better news is that there are ways to prepare indoors and outdoors for spider season.
Let’s take a look at how you can prepare for spider season.
INDOORS
- Vacuum your house and clean it often
- Move around and clean cardboard boxes, cracks, corners, junk rooms, your basement, garage, and any other spider-loving environment
OUTDOORS
- Keep your yard well-manicured and free of debris
- Keep an eye out for entry points such as outdoor lights, windowsills, and window piles
Step 5: Using Spider Repellent or Non-Toxic Pesticides
Spider repellents help to deter spiders from taking residence in your home. Non-toxic repellents and pesticides are an excellent spider prevention tool, along with keeping your house clean.
There are many different kinds of spider repellents on the market, but the good news is that there are various natural remedies you can try too. Below are some natural DIY materials you can use for getting rid of spiders:
- Essential oils (especially peppermint)
- Vinegar and water solution
- Citrus
- Cedar
- Garlic cloves
- Tomato leaves and cornstarch
When it comes to cedar, if the climate you live in allows for it, you can plant cedar trees in your yard. Otherwise, you can mix all the other items on this list with water and let it sit for a period of time. Then pour your natural spider repellent into a spray bottle and treat areas of your home that are prone to spiders.
Step 6: Hire Pest Control Professionals
Pest control companies are very knowledgeable and can provide effective tips to solve your spider problem. Many companies also offer a guarantee on their services. So, if spiders are still hanging around after they leave, they’ll return to your home at no extra charge.
It’s important to choose well-respected pest professionals in your area. They’ll need to visit every nook and cranny of your home to offer effective pest control services, so checking to make sure they have good reviews is critical.
Methods We Don’t Recommend
There are two types of spider control treatments that we recommend you avoid using. Below is an overview of each.
Poison
If the word alone doesn’t make you squirm, think of your kids and pets. If touched or ingested, spider poison and insecticides can be hazardous to the two and four-footed beings that you love.
Additionally, spider poison often works by the spider consuming poisonous food. The food rarely kills it instantly, so it’ll likely return to its web, only to die later on and leave you with a mess to clean.
Spider Traps
Also called “glue traps,” spider traps aren’t an instrumental technique for eliminating spiders. It isn’t typical for spiders to walk on them, and it doesn’t fix the core issue of developing spider prevention practices. Plus, anyone who doesn’t like looking at spiders will have a hard time picking up the used trap to toss it in the trash!
Conclusion
In 2015, the American Housing Survey gave Houston the title of having the second-highest number of cockroaches in a household. And let’s face it—where there are cockroaches, there are spiders.
Keeping your home clean is one of the best ways to prevent and eliminate pests like spiders (along with mice and other critters). Assuming you clean even the lightest traffic areas of your house on a regular basis, you’ll soon enjoy a nearly spider-free home. If cleaning and DIY remedies still aren’t doing the trick, then consider hiring a professional pest control company to lend you a hand.