4 Surprising Facts About Spider Web Removal at Home

While you’re thorough cleaning, it’s likely that you’ve unintentionally removed a cobweb from the corner of the ceiling. And it’s understandable why: spider webs don’t exactly enhance the aesthetics of your house. Your careless swipe is unlikely to have any repercussions for you, but it may have repercussions for the spider that put forth the effort to construct it (and relies on it for a habitat).

We chatted with Rod Crawford, an arachnology specialist at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum, to discover more about the ins and outs of dealing with spider webs in the house. Spiders, spider webs, and the best approach to deal with them both in your house are covered in this insider’s guide.

Although they are referred to as “cobwebs,” there are many distinct forms of spider webs.
The very first thing you should know is that not all spider webs are truly cobwebs, as some people believe. Spiders spin a variety of distinct sorts of webs, each with its unique set of characteristics. Depending on where you live, you can have various sorts of house spiders that build different kinds of webs – he estimates that there are roughly 30 distinct varieties of house spiders that the majority of Americans might come across.

For example, Crawford describes cobwebs as having a seeming random collection of threads running all over the place with no rhyme or reason to the uninitiated observer. Rather of being sheets of silk, funnel webs are solid sheets of silk that resemble a somewhat soiled thin piece of cloth with a tunnel in one corner where the spider may hide.

 Sheet webs are similar in appearance to funnel webs, except that the spider is suspended from the bottom rather than from the corner. These sorts of spiders may take many weeks to complete. As a result, it’s extremely crucial to be attentive while dismantling a spider web; otherwise, the spiders will continue to reside in your home, except this time they’ll be working on a new one.

If the web is dusty, it indicates that the spiders have long since vanished.
As a general rule of thumb, take a close look at the web before taking any steps to demolish it. “If the web gets dusty, the spiders won’t be able to utilize it, and they’ll have to go,” Crawford explains. “If the web seems to be nice and clean, with little to no dust on the surface, you may be displacing a spider or at the very least causing a difficulty for it.”

If the web is bright and pristine, and you’re tempted to destroy it (for good), you may transfer the spider first and hope that it will choose a less visible place to create its future home.

Spiders may be moved and encouraged to build a web in a different location.

At the end of the day, spiders pick the sites of their webs depending on their ability to get the food they need to live. “However, if the spider itself is relocated, they will very certainly attempt to construct a new web,” Crawford explains.

The key is to relocate the spider to a less-inconvenient indoor location, with one exception: spiders that build cob, funnel, or sheet webs must live indoors in order to survive; however, spiders that build orb webs (the complex geometric kind) are not actually house spiders; they have most likely entered your home by accident. Those who choose to go outdoors may do so.

At the end of the day, try to treat your spider pals as if they are your housemates.
You and your own conscience are responsible for what you do with spider webs and the spiders that reside in them. Crawford presently lives in an apartment, but in his previous home, he would often leave webs alone provided they were high enough that he didn’t have to worry about his cats stepping on the webs. According to him, he would instead relocate the spider to a different area of the building.

However, no matter how hard you try, remember that there isn’t really a method to completely remove spiders from your home. Unfortunately, unless you live in an apartment that is elevated above the ground level, you should get used to spiders hiding in places you can see and places you can’t. “A large number of spiders reside in small locations, such as cracks in walls or floors, or crawl spaces,” Crawford explains. Even if you cannot see them, they will be present nevertheless.