If you have heard me speak about indoor pest control, you most likely
have heard me talk about trying to encourage people to not kill spiders
they find in the house. The spiders can help to capture and take care
of other insects that may be a problem in the home, so leaving them in
place is part of a good IPM program. I also often answer the question of
what I do for pest control in my own home. Since hubby and I are both
entomologists, we really don't get too worked up about many things being
in the house. Most things we either leave alone or capture and throw
outside. There are some things that I do squish- flies that drive me
crazy in the kitchen while I'm trying to cook or silverfish that plague
the bathroom (one day the wallpaper will be gone and hopefully with it
the silverfish problem). The fire ants in the yard are also baited for
each spring and fall followed with treating any mounds that pop up with
boiling water.
But spiders....we tend to leave them be. We've had
the spider in the photo hanging out right by the kitchen sink for over a
month now. No, it's not for Halloween decorating purposes (although
that would also be suitable), it's not harming anyone so I leave it
alone and it takes care of any other things that wander along. I have a
window right above my kitchen sink along with a fly light just to the
right of the sink, so it's a great place for a spider web. As you can
see it's captured a beetle for breakfast.
I'm with you. I don't generally kill spiders in the house. You will laugh when I tell you we had company one night and she stamped her foot and said it was a spider. I told here we don't kill spiders. A short time later she looked at me and said " do you kill ants" An ant was walking across the floor. Yes! We do kill ants and scorpions.
ReplyDelete