Hobo spiders can throw a wrench in your Richmond pest control efforts. These spiders used to be considered one of the United States’ most dangerous spiders. However, more recent research has shown that hobo spiders aren’t actually all that dangerous. Still, that doesn’t mean you want a house full of them. The good news is there are plenty of measures you can take to ensure that doesn’t happen.
How To Identify A Hobo Spider
Hobo spiders are among the most common spiders in Virginia. That means your chances of seeing them around your property are pretty high. At first glance, you might mistake a hobo spider for a wolf spider because they’re long-legged and hairy like a wolf spider. However, hobo spiders are browner in color than wolf spiders, though their abdomens remain gray. Hobo spiders are also a bit less hairy than wolf spiders, and they have mottled yellow markings that wolf spiders do not.
Natural Spider Deterrents To Use In Richmond
Hobo spiders might not be dangerous, but if you’re scared of spiders, that probably won’t matter to you a whole lot. The good news is there are plenty of ways to keep them out of your Richmond house. The best way to deal with hobo spiders, and indeed all types of spiders that can infest your home, is to keep their prey out of it.
All spiders mainly come into your home seeking the things they prey upon. Hobo spiders eat all kinds of insects and arthropods. They may even prey on other spiders! Since they’re not attracted to anything else in your house, keeping pests like roaches, silverfish, and more away from your property is the single biggest natural prevention method to keep these spiders away.
Other natural ways to keep spiders at bay include:
- Sweeping away cobwebs whenever you find them.
- Decluttering to reduce spider hiding spots.
- Sealing off potential spider entryways.
Generally making your home a more hostile place for spiders than outside can encourage them to move on to easier pickings.
Where Hobo Spiders Can Be Hiding
Hobo spiders hunt by weaving funnel webs in which they conceal themselves to ambush prey. Roaches and other insects unlucky enough to find themselves in the web send vibrations through the silk fibers telling the spider to pounce. Since these spiders weave webs to catch crawling prey, you’re unlikely to find them hanging around on the ceiling. Hobo spiders can climb, but they prefer to stay lower to the ground.
That means you will find them lurking in dark and damp places where their favorite prey likes to scurry. Basements and crawlspaces are popular hobo spider spots. They also like to hang out in crevices and tight, dark areas that make it easy for them to conceal themselves. If you leave shoes lying around for long periods of time, hobo spiders might even set up shop in there! That’s why decluttering is so vital to keeping hobo spiders out of your house. The more clutter you have – especially if it’s clutter on the ground – the more places hobo spiders have to hide.
Hobo Spider Professional Control Services
If you’re finding your best efforts aren’t keeping creepy hobo spiders or the prey that attracts them at bay, give us a call here at Allied Termite and Pest Control. Our spider control experts can help you not just shoo the eight-legged home invaders off your property but the six-legged ones that are attracting them. So give us a call or visit our contact page to schedule your service today!