Why Are There So Many Spiders In My West Palm Beach Home?

Mating Season

If you're seeing spiders, it may not be due to a new infestation. The spiders you're seeing could have been in your home for a while and their need to mate has brought them out into the open.

Interior Food

Most of the time, spiders that get into your home stay hidden. It is only when they start making webs, or making appearances, that you realize you have a spider infestation. One thing that can bring spiders out of hiding is the availability of food. If you've recently had trouble with fruit flies, fungus gnats, house flies, or some other insect pest, that could have been the catalyst.

Exterior Food

Insects are a strong attractant for spiders. The more insect activity you have around your Lake Worth home, the more spiders you're going to have, and the more spiders you have around your home, the more likely it will be that spiders will get in. So, what can you do about insects?

Here are a few tips:

• Make sure your trash receptacles are free of strong odors and that they have covers. Exposed garbage draws flies.
• Consider the lighting around your home. White light attracts insects. In areas where you don't need lights on, you can simply keep them off at night. In areas where they must be on, you may consider replacing them with yellow lights, which are less attractive.
• Address moisture problems. If you have clogged gutters, gutter breaks, leaking pipes, or some other moisture issues, this is a strong attractant for both insects and spiders. This is a compounding problem.

Letting Webs Stay

Another reason Lake Worth homes can have a lot of spiders around their exteriors, and spider visitations on the insides, is that homeowners don't deal with webs when they see them. A web that has an egg sac has the potential to add hundreds of new spiders to the population around a home. It is wise to remove and dispose of webs when you see them.

Holes

If you have spiders in your home, it stands to reason that spiders are able to find a way inside. That means your exterior has vulnerabilities. One of the most common entry points for spiders is areas of wood rot caused by moisture issues. Since some spiders are attracted to humid and damp environments, a rotted hole in a piece of wood could provide a way inside. It is tricky to seal rotted wood holes because they can be in places that are not visible, such as underneath your siding.

Other Entry Points

While rotted wood is certainly the most common entry point for spiders, they are far from the only way spiders get inside. Here are a few more to consider:

• A missing or damaged door sweep can allow a spider to crawl right under and exterior door.
• A gap in your weatherstripping can allow a spider in. Gaps can form over time due to weathering, age, and misalignment of your doors.
• A gap around a water main is a superhighway for spiders. When pipes are installed into man-made structures, the holes must be larger than the pipes. If the gap around a pipe is not sealed, or the seal is damaged, spiders can get in.
• Damaged screens or gaps around the frames of screens can allow spiders to get in—well, a little bit. If you don't have a damaged window pane or window frame, spiders will have to wait to get all the way in. A common entry is in the screens on sliding glass doors.