Spiders are a bit different than your average pest that tends to get in your home. Most pests come into your home because you are leaving food sources out. Spiders, on the other hand, feed on other pests and insects. Hence, the simple presence of spiders can even be a warning sign that other pests are around. This post covers the top 3 things spiders look for when choosing a home to infest.
All pests need food, shelter, and water, are you providing it for spiders?
A major resource pests, like spiders, look for is moisture. In your home, excess moisture and water sources can come from a lot of places.
Oftentimes, you’ll find spiders hanging out in your bathrooms. Bathrooms typically have a lot of moisture with sinks, tubs, showers, and toilets. There is a lot of opportunity for excess moisture to naturally occur without even considering the possibility of leaks.
Fixing leaky faucets, pipes, and plumbing, should be a major focus when removing excess moisture around your home. Having adequate bathroom ventilation should be a priority as well. When establishing or verifying ventilation, ensure that the moisture is effectively channeled out of the home. Be careful to not just send it up into an attic.
Just a few drops of excess water might not seem like a big deal to you, but that can sustain many spiders especially if they have unlimited access to it.
Excess moisture can also come about through cracks and crevices around your home. Heavy rainfalls and summer thunderstorms can increase humidity levels in your home as well as moisture levels.
Having dehumidifiers around your home and in places like basements where excess moisture tends to gather can also help to reduce pest problems like spiders.
If other pests are attracted to your home, it will also attract spiders as they will have ample food sources.
Having lots of exterior lights can also attract spiders to your home
Similar to excess moisture levels around your home, having a lot of exterior lights can attract a lot of extra insects and pests to your home. Most insects are attracted to light sources in the dark hours of the day.
Well, if you are bringing hundreds of extra insects toward your home, spiders are very likely to follow. Setting up a free, all-you-can-eat buffet for spiders is a sure way to end up getting a few staying in your home.
Spiders often make their webs around high traffic areas for insects. So exterior lights that attract spider food will also bring in spider populations.
Putting lots of exterior lights near your home just makes spider’s food catching job much easier.
Fun Fact: Spiders understand the importance of the right lighting so well, that some spiders have figured out how to hack fireflies. They are able to bite them in a way that causes the firefly to send out bursts of light that attract other fireflies.
Another thing spiders will tend to be drawn to is homes with large exterior windows
Large exterior windows can attract pests like spiders for a few reasons. The first reason is excess light that can leave your home after the sun goes down.
Similar to having excess exterior lights, large exterior windows can cause the same sort of problem by attracting pests with the light escaping your home.
Spiders will build their webs close to these high traffic areas for insects and pests to get access to food sources. Unfortunately, through windows is one of the major access points pests get into your home as well.
Properly sealing windows, broken screens, and gaps under windows can be a way to help reduce the number of pests, like spiders, getting into your home. Larger windows attract more pests and spiders, so with higher numbers of insects, the chances of spiders getting into your home goes up.
In addition to large exterior windows being a light source that attracts pests, it can also be a prime source for heat loss from your home. As temperatures drop and you start to turn the heat on in your home, pests will need to find warmer spots to stay in order to survive.
The excess heat escaping from your large exterior windows can keep pests alive later in the season than they normally could survive. Another reason why you’ll get more pest activity around these windows, which also attracts more spiders.
Some of these spider factors that attract spiders to your home can be minimized, but in many cases, you aren’t going to overhaul the windows and lighting around your home to simply reduce spiders. If your home has one or all of these top 3 factors spiders look for, we recommend having at minimum, a barrier treatment from a pest control service to reduce pest numbers around your home.
A pest control treatment can help reduce the accessible food sources for spiders, and can help keep spiders and other pests away from your home.
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About Rob Greer: Pest Control Expert and Industry Leader
Rob Greer, co-founder of Rove Pest Control, has a deep connection with nature, developed during his upbringing in rural Idaho where he raised horses and cattle. He began his career in pest control in 2001 to support his university studies. After earning a BS in Business Management, Rob, along with Lenny Gray and McKay Bodily, founded Rove Pest Control.
Rob has played a pivotal role in shaping the operational framework of Rove Pest Control, with a focus on personal development for team members, public health awareness, and tailoring services to meet the needs of individuals and communities.
As an Associate Certified Entomologist (ACE) and Subject Matter Expert (SME), Rob has made significant contributions to the pest control industry. He has collaborated on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s UMN Extension certification manual and exam development, the National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual for the EPA, and the Quality Pro Customer Service Credential Task Force. His expertise has also been recognized in his testimony for the pest control industry before the Minnesota state legislature as a State Policy Affairs Representative. Currently, Rob serves as the President of the Minnesota Pest Management Association Board. Learn more about Rob Greer.