How to Avoid Black Widow Spiders in Residential areas?
Black widow spiders are one of the approximately 3,000 spider species identified. In fact, numerous species of the genus Latrodectus, or “widow” spider, are restricted to specific geographic areas.
Black widow spiders like dark, dry environments in which to weave their webs. They’re drawn to milder temperatures in the winter, which typically drives them indoors. Black widows prefer to live outside in protected areas, such as beneath decks, heaps of stones, firewood stacks, as well as inside old tree stumps. In this blog, we are going to see how to avoid black widow spiders in residential areas.
How to Avoid Black Widow Spiders?
If homemade black widow killers don’t work, there are lots of store-bought black widow killers available.
- Basements and attics
- Garages and Crawlspaces
- Insect traps
- Insecticides and pesticides
- Keep outdoor illumination to a minimum
- Web-building locations should be removed
Basements and Attics
Apply a homemade pest control spray or make use of a pharmacy insecticide or pesticide regulations to any areas of your basement or attic where you’ve observed or suspect black widows are living. Any webs you notice should be vacuumed.
After you’ve identified black widows during the day, head downstairs (or upstairs to your attic) at nighttime to apply your spider killers. Because black widows are also most active after sunset, you’ll have a better chance of catching one.
Garages and Crawlspaces
Spiders are drawn indoors by cold weather and drought, which is why you may notice an increase in black widows in the garage and crawlspaces throughout the winter Vacuum window frames, nooks, and underneath furniture frequently with black widow killers.
The simplest approach to keep spiders out is to seal points of entrance. Install door sweeps, caulk around windows, and replace screens. Look for ground-level openings that can be caulked or otherwise sealed.
Insect traps
Because spiders eat other bugs, removing drain flies, butterflies, grasshoppers, and earwigs reduce the food supply for spiders. Setting out traps for these pests will automatically minimize the chances of a black widow spider building her web nearby.
Insecticides and pesticides
Black widow pesticides are available as dusting or liquid insecticides. Dust is suitable for areas where humans are unlikely to enter, such as basements, crawl spaces, and windowsills. Other regions, such as well-known webs, are well-suited to liquids. Insecticides will kill any existing spiders while also preventing new ones from appearing.
Egg sacs are best targeted using oil-based pesticides like pyrethrin. When you find an egg sac, liberally apply the pyrethrin, coating both surfaces as much as possible. Black widows will be killed by the insecticide, and others will be discouraged from entering your home, garage, or attic.
Keep outdoor illumination to a minimum
Keep outside lights turned off to keep all the types of moths and flies away from a black widow’s food supply. Switching from incandescent to yellow or sodium vapour lamps, which are less attractive to flying nocturnal insects, is another alternative.
Web-building locations should be removed
Black widow spiders love to weave webs in stacks of firewood, so get rid of such spider hiding places. Tallgrass can also be used as a platform for web development, so keep it trimmed. Garden bags & compost heaps should be secured tightly. This eliminates a prospective food supply as well as a potential web-building location.
These are the few practices to keep widow spiders out of your home. If these DIY methods do not work for you, you should seek a professional pest control service.