Two General Classifications of Spiders

Most of us don't pay close attention to how spiders behave. We often are inhibited by the precedence of fear and disgust that's why we take less pleasure in getting to know these 8-legged creatures. While this is true and undeniable, there are also things we all need to know about them in order to fully understand their nature. Knowing them fully doesn't only warrant us of extra additional knowledge about things, but it can also give us an idea on how to effectively deal with them without fail. That is the most important part in dealing with pest like spiders; to know more about them and use this collective information against them so that we won't have to be bothered by them anymore in the near future.

For beginners, we could start by getting to know the two general classifications of spiders that we often find in our homes. Actually, we can generalize them into two types: one is the kind of spider that hunts or often called wandering spiders, and the other one is the kind of spider that builds webs. These two distinctions basically pertain to how they approach their prey. Although, all spider species are able to produce spider silk and threads, some of them don't necessarily use them to capture their prey. Wandering spiders would often take their time walking on the ground or prowling in the trees in search for meal. While orb weaving spiders take their time hanging in their webs until a prey ensnares itself on the sticky structure. Typically, wandering spiders are relatively larger than web-building spiders naturally because they would have to really in their brute strength to fight their way in rendering their prey. They also usually have keener eyesight for better detection of their food while on the other hand, web-building spider are often weaker or even blind in their visual capabilities.

These are the two general classifications of spiders. Below we will be further identifying which type of spider belongs to what classification so that you will be able to identify them as well whenever they are present inside your household. It is important that you get to know them so that you may be able to know what type of control method you are going to use or what type of approach will you do to effectively deal with them. Often there are certain specific methods of approach depending on what classification of spider you are dealing with.

Hunting Spiders Members

1. Jumping Spiders

(c) quepid.org

Perhaps the most common type and regularly seen hunting spider member is the jumping spider. We do really see them all around most of the time whether indoor or outdoor. We may say that they have probably infiltrated all levels of human territories and perhaps they are also the most prevalent and numerous species of spiders in the planet. These athletically agile spiders are often found most active at day time. They are usually found in window ceils, verandas, balconies, ceilings, walls and all other areas of the house which are usually exposed to sunlight. They frequent this type of places because they instinctively know that the light of the sun will enable them to see their prey clearly and thus giving them leverage in easily capturing their prey. Jumping spiders are generally small spiders. They range from 1/5 to 1/2 of an inch long and usually they are dark colored and compact looking arthropods.

2. Wolf Spiders

(c) magickcanoe.com

This type of spiders is larger than most species of spiders in the planet. They are normally found outdoors but often found as well indoors in certain occasions. These spiders are prowlers and are usually seen on the ground, lurking behind on rocks stalking for any passer-by prey. But their hunting grounds are not only limited to that as they are also found in varieties of hunting locations such as meadows, grassy fields, bogs and swamps. They usually come out of their hideouts when the temperature is warm. They find this environmental temperament as an ideal season to go on hunting.


3. Fishing Spiders

(c) bugguide.net

Fishing spiders or dock spiders are literally into fishing. As their name would imply, they are usually found in wet to watery places like ponds, swamps, streams, and water inlets that have vegetations nearby. They are rarely seen indoors but whenever an opportunity arises they may pay a visit. Fishing spiders are dubbed to be the largest spider species in the upper Midwest areas, ranging from an inch to an inch and a half long. However if they do spread their legs, they could reach as much as four inches in length.






Web-Building Spiders Members

1. Comb Footed Spiders

(c) brisbaneinsects.com

Commonly known as the cobweb spiders, this type of spiders is generally found indoors and are usually the ones considered as pests by humans. They are thought to be so because they cause terrible nuisance to a house's maintenance with all their orb webs scattered all around the house. They can be also found outdoors, but most of the time they are indoors because they are instinctively aware that wherever sunlight is unable to reach, mosquitoes and other small insects thrive. These medium sized (1/8 to 3/8 inch) long spiders spend most of the day waiting for little insects to get entrapped in their webs.


2. Orb Spiders

(c) dhh.louisiana.gov

This type of spiders requires larger coverage for their web entrapment thus they would need a larger and much more open space to build their orb webs. That's why they are not usually found indoors but are naturally found in outdoor areas like the lawn or the garden, wherein they could catch their type of prey and be able to build their full span webs. These iridescently colored spiders are relatively large species of spiders and would generally take-on species of insects relatively large as well in contrast to their own size.



3. Grass Spiders

(c) entomology.wisc.edu

Grass spiders of course are naturally found outdoors. But like all spiders, they can still be found wandering in certain occasions inside the house. These spiders are moderately sized range from 1/2 to 3/4 inch long.

Outdoor Spider Control

Your spider friends may often be found both indoors and outdoors and you would really have to do something about them before you end up having a houseful of cobwebs and spider mess. Control has to be implemented in any way necessary for they may not cause physical damage to your homes but they could very well ruin a good home fashion statement and designing and you really don't want that kind of thing from happening to your beloved house. As much as possible you would want your house to stay as pretty as it was when it got built and spiders can really make that house of yours look old.

But first of all, you would have to understand why there are certain spiders found indoors and why other type of spiders are commonly found only outside of the house. If you get to know the reasons why they are found inhabiting in two different locations, you will come to understand how their biological responses work and hopefully you will be able to know how to approach the idea of controlling them. You have to understand that there are certain conditions or circumstances that dictates a spider or spiders where to dwell in a given period of time. It's your job to figure that out.

In this article we will be discussing what are the reasons behind the disparity of spider locations within a household, a discussion on the difference between indoor and outdoor spiders and how to control them given the specific spider and their location.

Implementation of Residential Spider Control

Spiders have always been cold blooded creatures, except those hairy few which are considered as mammals to some extent. That's why when the weather is warm they are usually found lurking inside the house for they won't be able to tolerate the warm weather conditions outside. But it doesn't necessarily go that they are absolutely not found inside the house during other weathers. It's just that it becomes high time for them to be lurking inside the house if it's summer or fall seasons. Usually they take this time of the year to look for hibernating wards inside human dwellings.

The implementation of spider control methods and approaches can prove to be quite a challenging task. You have to understand that it is almost improbable to fully eradicate the spiders that dwell inside the house and therefore you have to accept that there will always be still some of them left even after you have executed a full blown spider control method. Think about it, a spider could lay hundreds to thousands of eggs in a single sitting. If you happen to live in a house nearby a susceptible spider habitat like rivers, lakes or rainforests, you can therefore expect that there will be a lot of spider visitors in your home. Therefore, you may have to employ more potent measures in dealing with this situation. Most likely your house will become the house of many different species of spiders and that would be inclusive of the most dangerous ones.

One thing you have to understand in all of these is that you would have to foster a sense of acceptance on spiders at the end of the day, knowing that you can't really get rid of all of them. That would be the only time you will have peace of mind when it comes to dealing with them. One way to develop that sense of acceptance is to acknowledge their important roles to the environment. Their beneficial nature is also the foundation of many of the other species role to the entire ecosystem making them very important proponents to the environment. If ever, fostering a level of tolerance to spiders may just not be possible, you may take other options of approaches in dealing with them by using non-chemical based methods that will not have lethal aftermaths on spiders.

Outdoor Spider Control Approaches

You are very well aware that one way or the other you would have to reduce the population of spiders that inhabit your house. You may opt to begin with the usage of conventional, non-chemical based methods in dealing with them. These means are more manual in nature but they are nevertheless still very effective in reducing the spider presence inside your home. Although, it would require extra amount of time and effort but it will surely still deliver the kind of quality output you would want at the end of the day.

1. Sanitation is a very important aspect to a pest-free household. If your house is clean and free from all the things that are prone to pest infestations, then you can be assured that even spiders will not thread anywhere near your house. You may start doing that by removing stockpiles of woods or twigs or any other forms of debris that may become suitable dwelling places for spiders. Usually these kinds of places are the ones regularly inhabited by black widows which happen to be one of the most venomous spiders in the world. If you don't want to fall victim of a widow's bite, then you must get rid of those kinds of piles in your house. The same thing applies to office establishments.

2. Grasses, vines, weeds, and shrubs are among the most favorite organic places that spiders dwell. Spiders like the cool environment that these organic entities give therefore they find them as suitable breeding areas. If you don't want spiders to breed more of their species, you have to make it a point that you prevent grasses and shrubs from growing into more bushy proportions. Always cut them short and maintain them all throughout.

3. Remove webs as much as you can as they can be broods to thousands of spider eggs that may hatch anytime soon. You may call this approach as population control wherein you halt the proliferation of spider inhabitants inside your house. You may do that by knocking webs with broomsticks or water sprays.

Indoor Spider Control

Perhaps the most annoying part of having a pest spider infestation within your territory is when they have infiltrated the interiors of your home. More than half the time you are able to tolerate spiders' presence outside of your home whether be it in your lawn or garden. You seem to perceive that scenario to be probably okay. However, it is a different story if spiders are present inside your house, with all the cobwebs everywhere and sometimes, they come down to you from the ceiling crawling on your hair or on your face while you are asleep. Just the thought of it grosses you out to fear. It becomes an even worse scenario if we are talking about people who are apparently arachnophobic. Imagine how will they be able to handle such sort of situation? Therefore, there is indeed a need for a homeowner to know the ways on how to keep those spiders from getting inside their priced abode.

A way to know how to deal with spiders that thrive in the interiors is to know the indoor spider control approaches. In contrast to outdoor spider approaches, this spider control approach deals with the spiders that are already inside the house. The main purpose is to get rid of them. However, to become more efficient and effective in getting rid of spiders for good, you have to compound this approach with the preventative aspects of outdoor spider control. These two approaches would have to go hand in hand in order to successfully combat spider infestations. You may go through the previous article if you wish to have review on how to keep spiders away from your outdoor territories and to prevent them from invading your internal home.

Indoor Spider Control

Indoor spider controls are still manual approaches in dealing with spiders just like the outdoor approaches. But this would require you to pay more close attention to the interior parts of your territories. Physical areas of the house which can be a possible entrance to spiders for them to get inside your house or possible reasons why spiders would deliberately choose to be inside your house, i.e. food resources, unsanitary conditions. You have to make sure that you eliminate all these possible reasons so that you can be ascertained of a pest spider free environment.

Despite being manual in nature, you may also opt to use some tolerable insecticide to assist your indoor spider control approaches. However, you would have to make sure that you are using the kind of insecticides that are legally prescribed. There are these types of insecticides that lead to environmental risks and harms and they happen to be prohibited by the law to be used for residential and commercial purposes. In order to avoid purchasing the wrong insecticides, make it a point to always read first through the instructions in the labels and also, research firsthand on what are the type of insecticides that happen to be prohibited from usage.

Routine house cleaning is also important when you are controlling spiders that thrive indoors. If you happen to notice a thriving, persistent spider population inside your home, this may indicate that there is another insect population inside your home that serves as a food resource to the spiders.

In order to quell the presence of these food resources, you must:

1. Get rid of all the stockpiles of paper trashes out of your house. This can be a pile unused scratch papers, cartons and boxes and all other clutters. These can serve as homes to many mosquitoes and small insects which can also be in turn become a food source to spiders. If there are a lot of insects inhabiting those areas, it will serve as an invitation to spiders to get inside your home. Never allow this kind of thing from happening. Get rid of the garbage properly and make sure noting stockpiles anywhere inside your home.

2. Cracks and seams in walls, ceilings, floor corners and doors can always become passages for not only spiders but as well as other food insects for spiders into your house. Make it a point that you seal off these openings once and for all to prevent the food sources as well as the spiders themselves in entering your indoor territory. You may do that by using sealing solutions, cements, and etc. It is important that you scout out first and identify which places inside the house have these openings. From then you can now estimate how much sealing solutions you will need for the entire task to be done.

3. Screens may be effective filtering mechanisms for a house against mosquitoes and other insects. But they are useless when they are damaged and ran. Make sure that you regularly check on your house screens to see if they are damaged or not. Immediately replace damage screens with new ones and make sure to reinforce them properly. It would help if you can double your screen layers so that in case the initial layers get damaged, the other one will act as a failsafe.

4. You should have noticed that there are certain kinds of lighting fixtures that are attracting moths and other insects. This is actually empirical in nature as there are actually enticing forms of lights to insects. Make sure that you replace your light bulbs with less attractive lightings so that it will not invite these insects and thus thwart spiders as well. Yellow bulbs are usually less inviting than those fluorescent, mercury and sodium vapour bulbs.

5. Use vacuum or brooms to sweep off the webbings on your ceiling, wall and floor corners, window ceils and doors. This can hold egg sacs which will eventually become the next breed of spider inhabitants in your home. Remove them as you see them. Look for them wherever they could possibly be.

6. Lastly, check on what type of insects are most common inside your house so that you will know how to deal with them and to prevent spiders from turning them as food sources. You may be able to know this by checking on the webbings and see which insects are usually being caught.

General Spider Management

I suppose there are only two generally way that would sum up the entire idea of pest control approach, even with spider control. One approach would be the use of preventive, non-chemical based methods and the other would be the chemical based. Both of them are effective and efficient in dealing with spider pests but more than half the time only one of them would fit to one's preferences on pest control methods. Sometimes, the preferences are governed by some set of rules and regulations as there are certain restrictions on some methods of approach in dealing with pest spiders. For example, there are some chemical based spider control pesticides that are not allowed in some states because they could serious detriment to the surrounding environment once it is used. Such considerations should be carefully and thoughtfully underscored to ensure that you will not have to go through any legal ramifications and sanctions in the near future.

But before we move on discussing about these pest spider control methods, there is an important thing that must be impressed to the reader of this article. The idea here is only to control them and not eradicate them. One must understand that supposedly, spiders are ought to be encouraged to exist in the environment because of their natural purposes that serve crucial importance to the ecological balance. Your task then is to maintain their numbers that they don't go out of hand and cause setbacks to your properties. At some point even, using pesticides to deal with spiders are no longer necessary, as they will on their own remove themselves from human territories. What you are actually doing when executing a pest spider control method is that you are controlling their population. And I suppose the best approach is to naturally get rid of their food sources by implementing sanitation inside your house. That way you wouldn't even have to kill them whenever necessary.

Prevention and Organic Pest Control Methods

Spiders are often small creatures and would conveniently fit in through small openings. Seams and small cracks are ideal passages for spiders to get inside your property. It would be wise to seal off these openings to prevent any further spider incursions. Another way for spiders to infiltrate inside your house is through vessels firewoods, plants, boxes, cartons and crates which are often transported inside-out of your house. In order to prevent spiders' transportation through these vessels, make sure that any of the items are checked and cleaned first before they are carried inside your home. That way you will prevent the spiders from attaching themselves through these items and infiltrating your home. Regular routine chores also help a lot in controlling spiders in your house. Usually spiders like to lurk and thrive in dirty secluded places and you have to make sure that such places don't exist inside your house. Vacuuming is always a very effective way to deal with spiders as their soft bodies could never be able to withstand the suction pressure. And also, clean off cobwebs as you see them. Dusty old cobwebs are potentially no longer in use by any spider.

If you are to take care of individual spiders, you may be able to do so placing a jar on them. Not the other end though cause it would squish them. Place a piece of paper beneath the jar so that they will be sealed within the jar and you can then just throw them away for good. Make sure you throw them away from your house otherwise, they will just probably find their way back in.

Screens could also help a lot in keeping spiders away from entering your house. Not only does it deter spiders from getting in but as well as other insects that spiders would have for food. If there's no food source to find inside your house, spiders will find no interest in thriving in your place. Make sure that the screens that you will use are those that are tight and have very small openings to ensure no insects will ever get through. You also have to regularly check on the screens to make sure there are no damages or ran on it.

Chemical Control

Usually, pesticides are of no use to quelling spider infestations unless you can visible spiders and spray it on them. That's the only time that spider pesticides could actually work. Fumigating type of pesticides is usually prohibited as they could often lead to serious health hazards and environmental risks due to unintentional absorption. There have been many occasions when a spider remains unaffected by any spider pesticide treatments. A spider may just walk on and over a treated area without getting killed even if the treatment has just been implemented a few hours ago. It means, it can only take effect on the spider if the pesticide is directly sprayed on the spider itself. The residuals of the spray have little or no effect at all to its target.

There are also certain chemical treatments that contain amorphous silica gel and also pyrethrins that deal with spider problems. However, complex chemicals such as these ought not to be used by amateur hands. Hence it would require professional assistance to have them applied effectively, and even with a professional's hands there are still necessary precautions that have to be done initially to ensure that the implementation of the chemical is safe. The chemical works as a corrosive element that imbues itself with the dust and air and once it comes in contact with the spider; the spider's exoskeleton will react to it, causing it to dry out and would eventually kill the spider at some point. The process is somehow like dehydration wherein the organism is deprived of its water components. Usually, these treatments are placed on seams and cracks wherein spiders are most likely to go through. So that by the time they get in the house, they wouldn't have much time anymore to live.