Spiders in Kansas City
Spiders in Kansas City Spiders in Kansas City
Spiders in Kansas City are a mere annoyance and cause fear to many people. Spiders in Kansas City generate a lot of calls to pest control companies in Kansas City due to fear of being bitten. Most insect bites that people get are blamed on the spider, which may or may not be the case. Scottish legend tells of King Robert the Bruce, whose observations of a spider inspired him to persevere, going on to conquer the English. In Native American culture, it was a spider that brought fire to the Cherokee people.
Spiders, like insects, belong to the phylum Arthropoda (jointed appendages), but they are in the class Arachnida, which includes the orders Acari (ticks and mites). Their closest living relative is thought to be that of the marine horseshoe crab. Spiders are found in all environments and wherever there are other arthropods to prey on.
Nearly all spiders use venom to incapacitate their prey. Two spiders here in Kansas and Missouri have a poison that can inflict pain and necrosis of the tissue. The black widow bite in humans can go unnoticed at first bite but can cause several days of pain, muscle spasms, and abdominal cramping. Deaths are rare from the black widow bite, and antivenins are available in emergencies. The brown recluse bite causes death to the tissue at the site of the bite. While these may not cause systemic effects like the black widow toxins, the wounds produced may take weeks or months to heal, and infection is a severe risk.
Two other spiders we get calls for here at ZipZap Bed Bug KC in Kansas and Missouri are the wolf spider and the cellar spider. Wolf spiders are active hunters like the brown recluse but do not have the same toxic venom that the brown recluse does. They can be small to very large here and prey on other insects as well as small vertebrates. Most people are terrified of the wolf spider due to its size and appearance. The cellar spider is a web-building spider and uses its web to capture prey. This is the spider we see in most houses we service here in Kansas and Missouri. The cellar spider can get quite large but will generally keep to itself. The webs the cellar spider makes is what prompts a call to our office typically due to the unsightliness of the webs that buildup in the corners of our homes.
Management
Most spider problems are a lighting problem. The security lights left on around your home in the evenings attracts insects to your home, and spiders eat other insects. The lights inside your home will also attract insects to your home due to windows not covered by blinds or curtains. Leaf litter around your home should be cleaned up as well as excess foliage. Items stacked under a deck or around your home could harborage insects as well as spiders. Overgrown plants should be trimmed away from the home, and periodic outdoor treatments of a properly labeled insecticide should be applied around your home. Entry points into the home like windows, doors, and under the lip of your siding should also be treated with a properly labeled chemistry. Call ZipZap Bed Bug KC today to schedule your outside perimeter treatment to keep insects and spider from coming in and also to keep them away from your home.