Spider Control in Lemon Grove, CA

How spider control works

Spiders follow their food. A house with a lot of spiders usually has a lot of other insects, and reducing those reduces the spiders. That is why spider work and general pest work overlap.

The black widow lives in specific places, and knowing them is most of the safety: under and behind stored items in a garage, in a woodpile, inside a water meter or irrigation valve box, under the lip of outdoor furniture, in the corner of a shed, beneath a deck. Dark, dry, undisturbed and sheltered from wind. The web is not a neat wheel — it is an irregular tangle, and it is strong enough to feel different when brushed.

A dusty tangle in a corner is not the same thing. Cobweb spiders and cellar spiders build in similar places and are harmless.

Removing the shelter is more durable than spraying. Clearing stored clutter off a garage floor, moving a woodpile off the wall, lidding meter boxes and knocking webs down changes the population in a way a spray alone does not.

What the visit involves

A technician works the perimeter and the sheltered spots: garage, shed, eaves, meter and valve boxes, under decks and outdoor furniture, and the woodpile.

Webs and egg sacs get removed physically, because that is what actually reduces the numbers. Then the perimeter treatment, and advice about which stored items are creating the harbourage.

Inside, the work is usually about what the spiders are eating rather than the spiders themselves.

Common questions

How do I know it is a black widow? Glossy black, a body about the size of a large pea, and a red mark on the underside of the abdomen. It sits under its web rather than on top, and it hides when disturbed.

Are brown recluses a problem here? They are not established in California, and most bites blamed on them turn out to be something else.

Do I need treatment for a few webs? Often not. Knocking them down and clearing what they are anchored to may be enough, and that is worth trying first.

Who to call

Call and say where the webs are, whether they are indoors or in a garage or shed, and whether anyone has been bitten. That last answer changes how quickly it needs looking at.