Spiders: The name strikes fear into the hearts of the many people who suffer from arachnophobia. It’s no different here in Ventura County than it is anywhere else. Spiders can be incredibly frightening. However, they are also much maligned. They can be useful in controlling populations of other pest species, including cockroaches, flies, and beetles. You still don’t want them in your house, though. That’s why you should contact a Ventura County pest control company like Ventura Pest Control as soon as you start seeing webs around your home.
Common Types Of Spiders Found In Ventura County
There are many common household spiders in Ventura County, including:
- Wolf spiders: Wolf spiders are dark brown with lighter brown or yellow markings. Their bodies range in length from ⅜ to 1 ⅜ inches long, with females being larger than males. With their legs extended, they can be up to four inches across, or the size of an adult’s palm. Wolf spiders don’t catch prey in a web; they run down their prey with their strong, spindly legs. They may bite if roughly handled, but are otherwise docile pest eaters.
- Garden spiders: Garden spiders are orb weavers, known for their large, intricate, round webs. They’re black with striking yellow markings, and typically three inches long with their legs extended.
- Huntsman spiders: Huntsman spiders in California are also called crab spiders due to the arrangement of their legs, or banana spiders, thanks to their tendency to appear in shipments of bananas. They’re brown with black and cream markings, and they measure three to five inches across with their legs extended. They’re sometimes mistaken for tarantulas, but they don’t bite and aren’t as hairy.
- Daddy longlegs: Daddy longlegs are also known as cellar spiders due to their preference for spending time in dark, damp, out-of-the-way places. They come in two varieties: long-bodied and short-bodied. Both are about two inches long with their legs extended, though their body length differs by up to ¼ inch.
- Black widow spiders: Black widow spiders are the most dangerous spiders in California. They’re shiny, black, and have red hourglass-shaped markings on their bellies. They’re about the size of a half-dollar with their legs extended, about 1 ½ inches across. They bite when threatened, especially if they’ve recently laid eggs.
Bites from black widows can cause pain, swelling, and redness that can extend to the abdomen, chest, or back; severe abdominal cramping, which may be mistaken for appendicitis; nausea and vomiting; sweating; and muscle tremors. If you believe you’ve been bitten by a black widow spider, seek immediate medical attention.
Spiders Often Follow Pest Prey Into The Home
Spiders follow their food sources wherever they go. If insects or other pests are present in your home, you may wind up with a spider problem, too. Spiders will follow ants, aphids, crickets, earwigs, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, moths, smaller spiders, and wasps into your house. They can enter through cracks and crevices in your foundation, torn window screens, under doors without functioning door sweeps, or even on your produce from the grocery store.
If you need to know how to get rid of spiders, the easiest, most efficient solution is to contact a local pest management company like Ventura Pest Control. We’ve been serving Ventura County since 1959.
Natural Ways To Prevent Spiders In Your Home
Spiders are wonderful when they’re protecting your vegetable garden from pests that could wreak havoc on your hard-earned veggies. However, you don’t want them moving inside any more than you do other pests.
Here are some tips to prevent spiders in your home:
- Trim shrubs, bushes, tree branches, and other vegetation away from your house, eliminating an easy highway into your home.
- Keep your grass mowed low. Eliminate yard debris like piles of brush, fallen leaves, or even garden mulch, where spiders like to harbor.
- Get rid of clutter in your home, especially in storage areas you don’t often access, like your attic or basement.
- Fill in gaps around your windows and doors, and make sure screens and door sweeps are in good repair.
- Clear away any spider webs you find, both inside and outside your home, to deter spiders from hanging around.
- Change your porch lights from regular white bulbs to either yellow or LED bulbs, both of which attract fewer prey insects, bringing fewer spiders out to eat.
To learn how to get rid of spiders in your house, all you have to do is call Ventura Pest Control, and we’ll be out at your convenience to help you.
The Most Effective Spider Control With Professional Pest Control
The best way to get rid of spiders is never to have them in the first place. The second best way is with the help of experienced home pest control companies like Ventura Pest Control. Ventura Pest Control is the largest, oldest, local family-owned full-service pest company in all of Ventura County! The reason for our 62 years of success? We consistently wow our customers with our extraordinarily friendly, professional, and competitively priced services! Contact us today to get your free quote!
Request Your Free Quote
Complete the form below to schedule your service.