Spider Control
Mika E; Broken Bow, NE asks: Please tell me how to get rid of spiders. H ow do I get spider control without hurting my family or my cat and dog?
Dear Mika: Spiders are inside your home because they have been attracted by a food source. Small crawling and flying insects make up much of a spider's diet, so to get rid of spiders you need to do things that stops or, at least, slows down the influx of things the spiders like to eat. Stop the food source and you'll do much towards eliminating your spider population.
On the exterior of the house you can cause spiders to relocate by consistently knocking down the spider webs. The cobweb is the spider's means of surviving. If you keep batting down webs the spiders will need to find better hunting grounds. You can use a broom or purchase a web-duster specifically for the job. Web-dusters can be purchased at most home and garden stores like Lowes and Home Depot.
Outdoor lighting will attract lots of insects upon which spiders thrive. Exterior lighting should be turned off when possible. Also, consider changing the
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Make sure to keep vegetation away from the side of your house. A space of about eighteen inches creates a nice barrier that helps keep insects from jumping off shrubs and walking up the sides of your house to settle in window and door frames. Eliminate dense vegetation along foundation walls using RoundUp. Rake up leaf clutter and grass clippings. Remove as many insect hiding places as possible.
Good, long lasting, low-toxic methods of indoor insect control can be done with boric acid. It's messy and you need to purchase a pesticide duster (which you can do on-line), but boric acid lasts forever as long as it does not get wet or affected by too much humidity. Baby powder also works, but your house will smell like a nursery all the time. The powders act as desiccant which dry the exoskeleton of insects, thus killing them. Again, removing the food source will help reduce spider populations.