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When you wake up, the last thing you want to hear is a loud crash. You also don't want the sound of a family member shrieking in fear. When you hear someone yelling, "Oh my goodness," you go into high-alert mode and immediately rush to the source of the sound because you know something is wrong. Someone screaming "help" or "oh my" every day will cause you to develop anxiety and dread.
If spiders are the reason people scream for help inside the house, the calls for "help" and the "oh my" exclamations will continue. Why? Because most people do not like these eight-legged, hairy arachnids. Something about their quick, sometimes erratic movements causes a visceral reaction in people. Of course, walking into spider webs does not help the situation either.
If spiders have moved into your house, you need pest control services in St. Charles from Pest Control Consultants. For over 30 years, our family-owned company has provided solutions for pest problems throughout the area. Our values-driven service, commitment to training, and involvement in local community organizations have earned us many awards and a reputation as a company you can trust with pest control issues. Although we began as a small mom-and-pop business, we have become one of the largest northern Illinois family-owned pest control companies.
You probably found this article because spiders are inside your St. Charles home, and you are tired of the anxiety they cause your family. If that is the case, keep reading to learn about spiders, the problems they cause, and what you can do to prevent a future infestation and end the current one.
Characteristics Of Common Spiders
Before we examine specific spiders in St. Charles that commonly infest homes, we need to learn general spider characteristics. A spider's body consists of the following:
- Eight segmented legs
- Eight eyes arranged in rows (about 99%)
- Two-part body (cephalothorax and abdomen)
- Spinnerets
Let's examine a few more details about spiders.
Unlike insects, spiders do not have wings, stingers, or antennae; however, they have an exterior skeleton (exoskeleton) that they shed at each growth phase. A spider's head and thorax fuse to form the cephalothorax, and this part of its body contains its chelicerae. The chelicerae are the mouthparts it uses to inject venom into its prey. Also in the cephalothorax are pedipalps, sensory organs that aid in manipulating food.
There are thousands of spider species worldwide, but the types of spiders that affect most homeowners in St. Charles are wolf spiders, brown recluse spiders, and cellar spiders. Wolf spiders are scary-looking arachnids with 3/8 to 1 3/8-inch (female) and 1/4 to 3/4-inch (male) dark brown hairy bodies. They also have pale or yellow markings on their stout, robust bodies. Unlike most spiders that use their webs to capture prey, these quick-moving arachnids hunt at night and chase down their victims. Wolf spiders do not tend to live permanently inside homes but will enter pursuing prey. Inside St. Charles homes, they live near baseboards and underneath furniture.
Cellar spiders come in two models: long-bodied and short-bodied. Both versions have oval-shaped, pale yellowish to light grey bodies and long legs but differ in body size. A long-bodied cellar spider has a 1/4-inch (male) to 5/16-inch (female) body with 1 3/4 to 1 15/16-inch long thin front legs. Short-bodied cellar spiders have a 1/16-inch body with 5/16-inch (female) or 3/8-inch (male) skinny legs. Inside homes, cellar spiders, also known as "daddy longlegs," prefer damp, dark areas in cellars, basements, and crawl spaces.
Probably the most feared spider in St. Charles is the brown recluse spider. Although they only have a 1/4 to 1/2-inch dark brown body, a bite from one of these spiders packs a powerful punch. Many spiders are dark brown, but the darker "violin" marking on their back is an identifier. If you can get close enough, you may also notice that they have only six eyes arranged in three groups of two in a semicircle (unlike most spiders, which have eight eyes). Brown recluse spiders spin irregular, messy webs in dark, warm, secluded, dry locations inside boxes, corners, and seldom-used clothing.
No matter what species of spiders in Illinois are invading your St. Charles house, Pest Control Consultants can remove them so you can rest easy in your home.
Spiders In The Home Can Be Problematic
No one wants spiders inside the house because all spiders are a nuisance. Their erratic, quick movements, combined with their features, create anxiety in many people. Most spiders build webs in doorways, window and door frame corners, closets, attics, and basements, and when someone walks into their traps, it intensifies fearful feelings. Furthermore, there is a constant need to deweb the interior and exterior of the house when spiders invade.
Spiders are not aggressive toward humans because we are not their food type. Arachnids consume cockroaches, ants, mosquitoes, moths, and other insects; some eat other spiders. However, spiders will bite if threatened. A spider may attack when someone squishes it inside seldom-worn clothing or when a person inadvertently reaches into a web full of egg sacs.
Most spider bites cause minor temporary swelling and a bee-like stinging sensation. Treatment involves washing the area with warm, soapy water and applying a topical over-the-counter antibiotic cream to avoid infection. In some cases, an antihistamine may be helpful to counteract itching. However, a wound from a brown recluse is different.
Brown recluse spiders avoid human contact, but if threatened, they will bite. You may feel a stinging sensation shortly after the spider bites, and over the next few hours, pain at the wound site will increase along with possible fever, restlessness, and trouble sleeping. A fluid-filled blister will form at the location; however, what is occurring underneath the blister can be problematic as venom from the brown recluse attacks soft tissue. When the blister sloughs off, there may be an ulcer beneath. If left unchecked, the ulcer can penetrate the bone, creating the possibility for an infection and significant scar tissue to develop.
Pest Control Consultants uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods to protect your family from spiders and spider bites.
Easy And Effective Spider Prevention Tips
Once Pest Control Consultants removes the current spider infestation from your St. Charles home, you don't want them to return in the future. Although spiders live in the yards around our homes, they do not need to be inside our houses.
Implement these tips to prevent spiders in your home:
- Seal foundation and roofline cracks with caulk
- Close any gaps between incoming pipes and wires
- Repair holes in window and door screens
- Install door sweeps on exterior doors
- Prune tree branches and shrubs away from the house
- Relocate firewood piles 20 feet from the structure and elevate them
- Fix leaking pipes and plumbing fixtures
- Provide drainage to direct water away from the home
- Remove debris from the yard
- Replace incandescent lights with LED or bug lights
- Eliminate outdoor items that hold water
Spiders eat insects; when insects find entry points into a home, spiders will follow. These suggestions deter spiders and insects from entering your house St. Charles house. Since insects can detect odors, wipe down cooking and eating surfaces after meals, clean and store dishes, and place foodstuffs in airtight containers. Also, sweep the house regularly and suction out corners and cracks to remove insect eggs and nymphs.
When a Pest Control Consultants technician inspects your St. Charles home for different kinds of spiders, we can provide additional tips customized for your location.
Professional Pest Control Makes The Best Spider Control
Spiders produce egg sacs, and inside each container are many eggs. For example, a typical brown recluse egg sac contains 40 to 50 eggs, and a cellar spider produces three egg sacs with 13 to 60 eggs during its lifetime. Thus, when you notice a few spiders in your house, that is a sign that many more are living inside walls, baseboard and wall cracks, and underneath furniture.
Another reason to use the spider control service from Pest Control Consultants is because a spider infestation sometimes indicates a pest control problem. There may be an abundance of spiders in your home because you have a cockroach, ant, flea, or other infestation.
Because spiders rapidly reproduce in large quantities and since they may indicate another pest problem, you need spider control near you from Pest Control Consultants. We will dispatch a certified technician to inspect your St. Charles property for spider entry points, attractants, and hot spots.
Our initial treatment drives spiders out of hiding and gains control over the existing population. Since there may be many spiders inside protective shells during the first treatment, we follow up 30 to 45 days later to ensure we get the ones that have hatched. Within a few weeks, you will notice a drastic reduction in spiders inside and around your St. Charles house. We apply our environmentally responsible products using Integrated Pest Management techniques to ensure maximum effect with minimal product. Furthermore, the IPM approach focuses on ending the current infestation and working with homeowners to prevent future spider infestations.
Contact Pest Control Consultants today to schedule your free inspection and to learn more about our residential and commercial pest control services in St. Charles.
