Arachnophobia, or the fear of spiders, is one of the most common phobias, and if you experience anxiety at the sight of eight-legged interlopers in your home, you may be interested in spider control. However, are these fears unfounded? Is it actually beneficial to have spiders in your home? If so, does this mean that you shouldn’t take action against them?

The truth is less straightforward than the questions would suggest. Spiders are not as dangerous as many people believe them to be, and they do provide some significant benefits. Nevertheless, having them in your home can be a problem that only spider removal may solve.

What Benefits Do Spiders Offer?

The main benefit of spiders is that they help keep the insect population under control. In a year, a single spider can eat up to 2,000 insects. Depending on the species, a single female spider can lay approximately 400 eggs at a time. Assuming that all the young spiders survive, which they usually don’t, that means 800,000 fewer insects in the world per year from one spider hatching, and some species of spiders reproduce several times throughout the year.

Spiders feed on insects such as mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, and fleas that can spread diseases to humans and pets. Many of the insect species that spiders eat feed on food crops. Without spiders to keep them in check, these insects could eat all the crops before they were ready to harvest, resulting in a worldwide famine.

Very few spider species in North America have venom that is harmful to humans. Furthermore, harmless spiders, such as cellar spiders, sometimes kill and eat the venomous spiders, such as the black widow, meaning that there is less chance that you could receive a spider bite that could harm you.

Why Is Spider Prevention in Homes Nevertheless a Good Idea?

Humans and spiders get along better when the latter live primarily outdoors. If you have significant numbers of spiders sharing your living space, they can cause problems for you.

For example, while most spiders are not venomous enough to do serious harm to humans, most species can still bite. Spider bites can cause irritation and pain. Most spiders only bite when they feel threatened, but because spiders like to live in poorly lit areas, you may come in contact with one and receive a bite before you realize it is even there. Spider bites can be irritating and painful. A break in the skin could provide a route for bacterial infection, especially if you tear the skin further by scratching the site of the bite.

All spiders have the capability to produce silk, and about half of them use it to spin webs for catching prey. Spider webs are sticky so that insects can get trapped in them. The stickiness also makes it unpleasant when you come in contact with the webs and difficult to remove them from your home. Nevertheless, most people try to remove them because they can make a house look unkempt and neglected.

In many cases, the spiders are only a symptom of a much bigger problem. Spiders eat insects, so if you are noticing many spiders around your house, you may have an infestation of insects as well. You may need pest control to address both the spider problem and the underlying insect infestation that facilitated it.

Why Should You Turn to Truly Nolen for Spider Control?

Getting rid of the spiders may only deal with part of the problem. If there is an underlying insect infestation that goes unaddressed, spider removal can allow insect pests to get out of control. Our process involves resolving the underlying infestation first. Then we work to prevent the spiders in your home from reproducing and use exclusion to prevent new spiders from getting inside. Learn about our spider prevention techniques in more detail.