What To Do About Spiders In Your Elizabethtown Basement
There are many things you would not like to find in your Elizabethtown basement, things such as a leaky pipe, a broken furnace, or one of your pets swimming in three feet of water. Another thing you wouldn’t want to find is a spider. If spiders are common in your home, you already know what we are talking about. You have walked face-first through their webs, discovered them behind boxes, and possibly even screamed once or twice when they caught you off guard. Regardless of your experience with spiders, we are here today to help you give them the boot.
What Spiders Are Common To Elizabethtown?
Elizabethtown is home to a large variety of spiders. Most are harmless, and only a couple pose any serious risks to your health. To start, here are a few harmless spiders you might find around your home.
Wolf Spiders
Wolf spiders can grow to be 35mm long, are light to dark brown, and have contrasting spots or stripes across their bodies.
Fishing Spiders
Fishing spiders can grow to be 26mm in length, are brown in color, and have contrasting patterns across their bodies.
Jumping Spiders
Deemed by many to be the cutest spiders due to their large eyes, jumping spiders are about the size of a dime and are grey, black, or sometimes brightly colored.
Crab Spiders
Crab spiders are typically either bright white or vivid neon green, but they can be brown or tan and are roughly the size of a nickel when their legs are stretched out.
Yellow Sac Spiders
Yellow sac spiders can grow to be anywhere from 7-10mm long and are tan with a yellow abdomen.
Cellar Spiders
Cellar spiders, also referred to as daddy-long-legs, are light tan or grey in color, have very slender legs, and are about the size of a half-dollar.
Orb Weavers
Orb weavers can be anywhere from 10 to 20mm long, are tan to dark brown in color, and can have colorful patterns around their bodies.
The two spiders you have to be concerned about around Elizabethtown are brown recluse and black widows. Of the two, black widows are the easiest to identify with their black bodies and distinct red hourglass figure on the bottom of their abdomen. Brown recluse, on the other hand, are often difficult to identify, mainly due to their many similarities to other common house spiders such as wolf and fishing spiders. The one thing you can use to tell them apart is the darker backward violin-shaped mark placed right behind their head.
If bitten by either one of these spiders, seek out medical attention immediately. The faster you can get treatments, the less likely you will be to experience lasting medical problems associated with their venom. The good news is that although it is possible, with the proper treatment, death from one of these spider bites is extremely rare.
Prevention Tips For Spiders
To keep spiders out of your Elizabethtown home, you must do two things. First, seal your home so they have a harder time getting inside. Second, reduce attractants, not just for spiders but also for the other insects they invade to hunt. To do this, here are some prevention tips our experts recommend.
- Make sure your window and door screens are in good condition.
- Use a caulking gun to seal gaps and cracks around the exterior of your home.
- Install door sweeps under all exterior doors.
- Check weather stripping and make sure it is in good order.
- Clean up food and water messes as they occur around your home.
- Store leftover foods inside sealable containers.
- Address moisture problems around your home such as high humidity, broken gutters, or leaky piping/fixtures.
- Clean up after your pets after they are done eating and drinking.
Finally, if you are looking for the absolute best way to keep spiders out of your Elizabethtown home, we offer detailed spider control solutions here at Action Pest Control. With just one visit, we can treat for any and all pests causing you trouble and set up a long-lasting barrier to making sure that both spiders and the pests they invade to hunt stay out.
Reach out to us today to schedule an appointment for your Elizabethtown home.