The Best Way To Keep Spiders Out Of Your San Mateo Home

Our homes are our refuge. After a long day at the office, running errands, battling traffic, and negotiating crowds, we finally turn into our neighborhoods. As we turn into our driveway, drive into the garage, and as the garage door closes behind us, there is a sense of relief. We walk into our homes, kick off our shoes, change into comfortable clothes, and plop onto our favorite chairs, feeling we can finally relax. 

The sense of unwinding from a long day can quickly vanish when a spider runs across the floor in front of you. Suddenly, you jump up, whip off your slipper, and pummel the creature leading to its quick demise. You walk into the kitchen, basking in your victory, only to see another spider lurking in the corner. Later, you go into the garage to work on a project or get an item and see spider webs in the upper corners or near the floor by the garage door. 

If you notice spiders in the corners, along the baseboards, or webs in the corners, you need the San Mateo pest control team from Pacific Pest Management because something is happening in your home. For almost 20 years, we have removed spiders from homes and gotten to the root of the problem. Our highly-trained service professionals have experience in pest control of all types and use up-to-date technology and products to ensure effective solutions to pest control problems. 

Characteristics Of Common Spiders

There are many California spider species, and they differ in size, color, and habitat, but despite the variations, they share these basic similarities:

• Nocturnal: Except for the jumping spider, spiders hunt prey and build webs at night.  
• Meat eaters: Spiders are carnivores that consume insects they capture or chase down. 
• Moisture seekers: Spiders build nests in damp areas or live around water sources. 
• Not aggressive: Spiders are not confrontational unless attacked or if protecting eggs; they avoid humans when possible
• Like darkness: Spiders prefer to nest in dark corners in undisturbed areas of the house.

There is variation between various spiders species. Some spiders, like the orb weaver spiders, build large, complex webs, but black widows and brown recluse spiders create irregular, messy webs. Orb weaver spiders create webs in areas with strong air currents, whereas black widow spiders build their homes close to the ground. Some spiders, like wolf spiders, do not construct homes but rather hunt down their prey. Contrary to popular opinion, not all spiders build snares, but some use their webs as a retreat. 

Many people confuse spiders with insects, but there are many differences between spiders and insects. Starting with the body, you will notice that spiders have two parts: the first section is the cephalothorax, and the back part is the abdomen, but insects have three parts (head, thorax, abdomen). Another obvious distinction is the number of legs; spiders have four pairs of jointed legs, but insects have only three pairs of segmented legs. Unlike insects, spiders do not have wings or a pair of antennae. 

A similarity between spiders and insects is the eyes. Spiders and insects have fixed compound eyes; hunting spiders tend to have eight eyes arranged in rows, and although they have many lenses, most spiders have poor vision. Although an encounter with a spider may feel like a sting, spiders do not possess a stinger in the abdomen like bees, wasps, and other stinging insects. Both spiders and insects can bite, but only insects sting. Conversely, insects do not have spinnerets and cannot create webs. 

Although we may take solace in that California house spiders are not aggressive and do not fly, we still do not want them in our homes. Pacific Pest Management removes all types of spiders from San Mateo homes. 

Some Spider's Bites Are Worse Than Others

During our nearly two decades of pest control experience in the San Mateo area, we have noticed three spider species causing concern for residents: black widow spiders, brown recluse spiders, and orb weaver spiders. 

There is a difference between the bites of these three spider types in California. The orb weaver spider is part of the third-largest spider family worldwide. Although there is tremendous variation between the various spiders in this group, all create large, circular webs. Orb weaver spiders rarely interact with humans, much less bite people. However, if threatened with no way to escape, they will bite as a last resort, but the result is nowhere near the same as a black widow or brown recluse spider. At worse, a bite from an orb weaver will cause slight pain, minimal swelling, and perhaps brief numbness at the wound site. You don't need to worry about orb weavers, but please exercise caution when dealing with the other two spiders. 

Fortunately, nature has given us warning signs regarding the two dangerous spiders in California in the form of body markings. Black widow spiders have shiny black bodies with two reddish-orange triangles that appear as an hourglass on the underside of their abdomen. Like all spiders, black widow spiders are not aggressive, but they will bite if threatened, squeeze, or when protecting an egg sac. A bite from a black widow often results in immediate pain, fever, nausea, sweating, and increased blood pressure; these symptoms usually disappear within one to three days. Although fatalities are rare, seek immediate medical treatment if a black widow bites you. 

Brown recluse spiders are the other venomous spider in California, and they have a light to dark brown body with a violin-like marking on their back. Unlike a bite from a black widow, you may not experience immediate pain or a reaction for six to eight hours after the encounter. A small blister and swelling eventually appear at the wound site with symptoms of restlessness, difficulty sleeping, and fever. The venom brown recluse spiders inject attacks tissue creating an ulcer at the bite site. If left untreated, the ulcer can create an opening from the surface to the bone. Seek immediate medical help if a brown recluse bites you, and take the spider to medical professionals. 

Pacific Pest Management will protect you from spiders and their bites by removing spiders from your San Mateo home. 

Effective Spider Prevention Tips For Your Home

The outdoors is the natural habitat for spiders. Black widow spiders and brown recluse spiders typically live in or near rocks, woodpiles, hollow tree stumps, junk piles, or underneath decks. Orb weaver spiders are in gardens, grasslands, and tree branches. Spiders benefit the ecosystem by eating flies, cockroaches, mosquitos, moths, and fleas, which are generally abundant around your San Mateo home. 

Spiders go wherever they find prey. So, keeping spiders out of your house begins with reducing attractants for insects and eliminating entry points into your home. These tips will deter insects from entering your home, reduce the insect population around your house, and prevent a future infestation of spiders:

1. Seal cracks in the foundation, along the roof line, around window and door frames, and between incoming pipes and wires into the home.
2. Cover the attic, crawl space, chimney, and basement vents with screens.  
3. Prune shrubs and trees away from the house to prevent spiders and insects from using them as a bridge to the roof and attic. 
4. Repair holes in window and door screens.
5. Install door sweeps under all exterior doors. 
6. Replace incandescent outdoor lights with a bug or LED lights to minimize insect attraction.
7. Move firewood piles 20 feet from the house and elevate them. 
8. Eliminate excess stones, wood scraps, leaf piles, and other debris from the lawn.
9. Remove unused cardboard boxes, old magazines, clothing piles, and other debris from the garage and attic.
10. Keep indoor and outdoor garbage containers closed.

Maintaining a clean and dry lawn and limiting outdoor light usage at night will deter insects from gathering around your San Mateo home, and if insects don't come around, neither will spiders. When you schedule an inspection from Pacific Pest Management, your technician will review your property to determine additional entry points and attractions for spiders and insects that are specific to your property. 

Professional Pest Control Makes For The Best Spider Control

The previous tips will help prevent future spider infestations, but if spiders are already inside your house, you need help from Pacific Pest Management. As a professional pest control company, we have certified technicians that can identify attractants, entry points, hot spots, and the spider species infesting your house. 

Based upon our findings combined with decades of pest control experience, we will create a custom plan to treat your location using environmentally safe and effective treatments that kill existing spiders and their eggs. We will also create a barrier around your house to deter future spider and insect invasions. 

Spiders in your house may put your family at risk for bites that, in some cases, can be serious. Additionally, their presence indicates a potential insect problem, and some insects spread disease through droppings, saliva, and bites. For these and other reasons, when you see spiders in your San Mateo house, you need to get rid of spiders by using Pacific Pest Management. Contact us today to learn more and request your free estimate.