HOW AND WHY DO SPIDERS SPIN WEBS?
Finding spider webs in your New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland home?
Nothing will make you break out your secret ninja moves more than walking into a spider’s web! As many people can attest, this can be one of the most goosebump raising things we can encounter in our homes, as spiders in NJ, PA, MD, and DE are known for seeking refuge in our basements, attics and other mostly undisturbed places. Believe it or not, not all spiders spin webs to catch their prey and the spiders that do spin webs don’t do it all the same way. In fact, you can tell what type of spider you have often by looking at the web they have spun.
Spider webs are designed to capture prey (mostly insects) or slow down prey so that the spider has an easier time catching it. Some webs are symmetrical and some are not, but all webs begin with a single thread, which forms the ‘foundation’ for the rest of the structure. Spiders will climb up something (often a tree, but inside your home, they may find a wall or rafter) and release a length of thread into the wind. With luck, the thread will catch on another tree branch or rafter and thus the foundation is created. Depending on what type of spider it is, the web is then crafted, sometimes with spirals and sometimes without an obvious pattern. Once the web is created, the spider often sits in the center of the web, monitoring it for vibrations. If an insect is caught in any part of the web, the spider will feel the motion of the insect through the vibrations of the thread and it will make its way to the vibration source to wrap the insect in silk to store or consume.
Although spiders can be a nuisance inside your home, they can also be beneficial, catching unwanted insects inside your home and making a meal of them. When you begin to encounter numerous spider webs, spider egg sacs and spiders themselves, having spiders inside your home can become less desirable and more frustrating. Repeated encounters with webs and spiders can make a homeowner feel like they are not safe in their own home; even though there are very few poisonous spiders, just the basic house spider can make a homeowner feel anxious, especially when they invade in large numbers. If you have been seeing a few more spiders than usual inside your home, or even just their webs, there are a few things that the local spider control experts at Viking Pest Control recommend you do to prevent spiders in NJ, PA, MD, and DE:
- Reduce the populations of insects inside your home; this can be done by eliminating possible insect entry points (fixing window screens and using weather stripping around doors).
- Install sodium vapor lighting or yellow lights where you currently have white lights around your home’s exterior. Insects are less attracted to yellow lights.
- Remove clutter and store belongings in containers with tight fitting lids. Boxes of unused items and cluttered areas provide excellent harborage for spiders.
- Vacuum up any spiders or webs that you come across inside your home; this can help prevent larger infestations from taking hold in your home.
For more tips on spider control or help with other fall bugs, contact the professionals at Viking Pest Control. Our Home Protection Plans are a year round programs that provide protection for a wide variety of pests. With careful inspection services, helpful preventative measures, and free call backs for covered pests you can feel secure in knowing that Viking Pest Control is the best choice for pest control in NJ, PA, MD and DE.
Call Viking at 800-618-2847 to learn more about spider pest control and extermination services, or get a fast, free quote online today!
