A Useful Spider-Prevention Guide For St Charles Homeowners 

Spiders in St Charles have a unique ability. They can make rational people act irrationally. Perhaps you know the feeling of seeing a spider and jumping out of your skin. Have you ever looked down and found a spider sitting on your foot? Have you ever opened a box from the attic and found a big, fat, hairy spider looking up at you? Here's one that will make your skin crawl: have you ever shined a light on your lawn in the pitch dark? If so, you may know the creepy feeling of watching hundreds of tiny eyes looking back at you. Wolf spiders have a light-reflecting tissue on their eyes called tapetum lucidum. Since wolf spider hatchlings can emerge at more than a hundred at a time, you can have lots of these tiny spiders in your yard and not know it. Are you disturbed yet? That is not our goal. We're not looking to increase your fear of spiders. We want to remind you of what you already know. Spiders are creepy. Do you agree? If yes, then you'll love this helpful spider-prevention guide for your St Charles home. For pest control in Illinois, turn to Pest Control Consultants.

Characteristics Of A Spider 

Let's start by considering your foe. Spider control in St Charles begins with understanding how spiders behave and what attracts spiders. Here are a few characteristics that pertain to spider prevention.

• Some spiders create webs. The spiders that do this will prefer to do so on dusty or dirty surfaces. A clean surface is resistant to the establishment of webs.
• Spiders don't like to have their work destroyed. If you remove a spider web, you will send a signal to the spider that it is not welcome on or inside your home.
• Most spiders prefer moist conditions. They need moisture to stay hydrated and will drink droplets of water to quench their thirst. They also like moist conditions because moist habitats attract their food sources, namely bugs.
• Spiders aren't attracted to unsanitary conditions, but you will likely find spiders creating webs near trash receptacles. You can probably guess why. Spiders eat flies, and flies are attracted to unsanitary conditions.
• Spiders create webs near light fixtures. Light attracts insects, so spiders can get a quick meal by making a web near a light source. But they'll also create webs in a light socket with no bulb. They may do this to capture insects that get into gaps and holes, or they may be attracted to the holes themselves.
• Many spider species love holes, gaps, cracks, and dark voids. These spiders can get into your attic spaces and hide inside storage boxes.
• Spiders love stacked wood, brush piles, and other sources of wood. You can probably guess where we are going with this; spiders love these things because spiders eat the insects and other invertebrates that are attracted to wood (for instance, carpenter ants, centipedes, and silverfish).

Now that you know more about what you're up against, we need to focus on another topic that may seem loosely related to spider prevention but is actually quite relevant. 

Most Spiders Bite; Some Bites Are More Dangerous Than Others 

All types of spiders have venom and fangs. As you're likely aware, not all spiders bite, but most do, and some present a health concern. It is a good idea to be familiar with spiders and their bites.

We have two medically important spiders in our St Charles service area: black widow spiders and brown recluse spiders. The venom of a widow spider can cause serious medical symptoms, and recluse spiders have venom with necrotic properties. When considering the hard work of spider prevention, you need to know that you're doing more than preventing creepy spiders from alarming you. You're guarding your family against dangerous spider bites. 

Six Eco-Friendly Spider-Prevention Tips For Around The House 

Let's use what we've discussed so far and look at six great ways to deal with outdoor spiders and spiders in your house. These tips counteract the natural behavior patterns of spiders.

1. Remove spider webs: When you remove spider webs and clean off dirty surfaces, you deter spiders from creating webs, but there is another benefit. A spider web can have an egg sac on it. One egg sac can contain 300 spiders. Removing those baby spiders will significantly reduce the spider population around or inside your home.
2. Address moisture: Since moisture attracts spiders and their prey, you can reduce spider activity by keeping things dry. On the outside of your home, clean and repair gutters, remove weeds and unwanted grass from your landscaping and water your plants in the early morning. On the inside of your home, fix leaking faucets and showerheads, repair pipes, and install dehumidifiers.
3. Clean and sanitize: If you don't want spiders or flies near your home, and we assume you don't, it is essential to manage your trash properly. Make sure you get your trash receptacles to the curb weekly and deodorize your containers if they start to have a bad smell.
4. Address light: It is nice to have exterior lighting, but that lighting can work against you when maintaining a pest-free home. Keep exterior lights turned off where it is not a security concern, particularly near entryways. Do you have lights you prefer to keep on? No worries. Consider replacing white lights with yellow lights; insects can't detect yellow lights.
5. Remove holes and cracks: Some spiders climb inside holes, cracks, gaps, and other entry points you offer them. What is the solution? Don't offer spots to spiders. The tools for sealing potential entry points are a caulking gun or a can of foam spray. If you want things to look pretty, use a caulking gun. Use cans of expanding foam as a cheap fix for concealed holes. Expanding foam can quickly ruin curb appeal; it's also hard to get off your skin.
6. Remove hiding places: Before spiders get inside, they hang out in hiding places near your home. Remove the hiding places to reduce spider activity and potential entry. Removing hiding places will also deter dangerous spiders, like the black widow spider and the brown widow spider, which don't prefer to be inside. Stacked wood, dead branches, and other organic debris should be your priority.

It's a lot of work to deter spiders with natural methods, but it is well worth putting in the hard work. Natural methods are gentle on the environment and offer long-lasting results. 

The Most Effective Spider Control With Professional Pest Control 

Professional pest control is the best way to get control of spider problems. It can be applied on top of your own pest maintenance or give you essential protection where there is currently none. When you contact us at Pest Control Consultants, here are a few facts you should know:

• We use eco-friendly solutions. After your routine treatments, you don't have to worry about your kids or pets roaming around in treated areas.
• We target the source of spider problems and use natural methods to reduce spider populations. Our technicians use spider web-removal tools to remove spider webs and spider egg sacs, even in hard-to-reach locations, and we wipe down key areas to deter spiders from establishing webs.
• We apply a black wall treatment to address spider activity in this crucial zone.
• We apply a perimeter protective barrier that makes it hard for spiders to live near your home or find their way to the inside.
• We apply exclusions that create a physical barrier. If spiders can't get inside, they won't. These exclusions provide long-term spider deterrence and value to your home.
• We apply indoor spider control measures when needed and can perform interior treatments to repel spiders and insects. These treatment methods work to make the interior of your home a spider-free zone, as it should be.
• We don't neglect your garage space. Many spiders prefer getting into garages because they're often dusty or dirty. We provide a complete garage treatment that will make your garage unsuitable for spider habitation.

If you've had it with creepy spiders surprising you, we get it. Spiders are more than a little bit disturbing. Don't worry; the friendly and knowledgeable service team at Pest Control Consultants knows how to gain control of spiders. If you're in St Charles, you're in our service area. Reach out to us today for a free inspection or to schedule a service visit. We'll look at your spider problem, listen to your concerns, and guide you toward the best solution for your specific needs and budget. 

You're in good hands with Pest Control Consultants. We are a locally owned and family-operated business emphasizing environmentally-conscious home pest control. We're not a faceless corporation that sends technicians into the area; we live here. We care about St Charles and are familiar with your pest issues because we grew up in Illinois. We know what you're dealing with and how Illinois spiders behave. We've dealt with these pests all our lives. Connect with us today for immediate assistance. We can help.