Have you ever been startled by the sight of a spider and felt a rush of fear? You’re not the only one. A recent study at City University London found that out of 118 participants, a whopping 75% of them were afraid of spiders.
But spiders do more than make people scream in terror. In fact, they can actually provide benefits to your home and garden. Here’s a closer look at the benefits of spiders and why you don’t always need to be afraid of them.
The Biggest Benefits of House Spiders
When it comes to pest control, spiders are some of nature’s most effective arachnid assassins. Spiders feed on insects and other small arthropods, reducing the population of an array of potential pests such as flies, roaches, and mosquitoes.
Spiders eat various household pests, including the following:
- Flies
- Roaches
- Mosquitoes
- Moths
- Earwigs
- Fleas
Spiders are very effective natural predators that help reduce the population of these potential pests.
The average house spider can eat up to 2,000 insects every year. That might make you think twice before you decide to squish that spider in your bathroom and consider the benefits of spiders!
They Eat Insects That Spread Disease
Mosquitoes can spread malaria, dengue fever, and Zika virus. Fleas are known to transmit diseases like flea-borne typhus or Bartonellosis. And flies can spread typhoid fever and food-borne illnesses such as E. coli and salmonella.
Luckily for us, that little spider in the ceiling corner can help reduce the population of these disease-spreading insects. And in turn, it helps reduce the risk of humans and pets contracting an insect-borne disease.
They Eat Other Spiders
Spiders aren’t just predators of insects – they’re also predators of other spiders. Some spiders will even eat their own kind to survive. This helps reduce the population of predatory and dangerous arachnids such as black widows, brown recluses, and hobo spiders.
The presence of friendly house spiders can help keep dangerous spiders at bay and make your home a safer environment.
They Help Maintain Balance in Your Garden
Spiders are a crucial part of any healthy garden environment. Another of the benefits of spiders is that they hunt certain insects depending on their preferred diet.
This includes everything from katydids and caterpillars to beetles and crickets – all considered nuisance bugs when allowed to thrive in large numbers within gardens or agricultural lands.
Aphids, caterpillars, beetles, and other plant-eating insects can wreak havoc on a garden, destroying plants and flowers. But spiders help maintain balance by eating these pests and preventing the population from getting out of control.
This helps maintain a natural balance in the garden, protecting your plants or crops from being destroyed by hungry bugs, and is one of the major benefits of spiders.
Since they keep unwanted pests in check, your plants are also less likely to have bacterial or fungal diseases, which can also damage your garden.
You’re Not The Only One
It is not just what spiders eat that helps with pest control. Some other benefits of spiders is that researchers believe that even the sight of them may be enough to deter some insect populations by themselves!
Spiders can act as a natural deterrent against potential harmful bug invasions simply through their presence alone. So if you have an overpopulation of insects that are worse than spiders, you might want to reconsider whether you kill spiders in your home.
Plus, They’re Low Maintenance
To put it simply: rather than spending money on chemical concoctions and other manufactured remedies every year for bug abatement, why not let nature work its magic?
Unlike other pest control methods like insecticides and traps, spiders are low maintenance – this can be one of the huge benefits of spiders.
If you can put up with a few spiders in your home or garden, they need very little effort on your part and still provide benefits in the form of insect control.
When You Should (Always) Be Afraid of Spiders
Most spider species are generally considered beneficial to have around. But there are a couple of dangerous spiders you need to learn to identify and avoid.
The two most dangerous spiders in the United States are black widows and brown recluse spiders. Both spiders can cause serious harm if bitten, so it’s best to stay away from them.
If you spot a spider that looks like one of these two species, don’t approach it. Call a professional pest control company to have it removed.
When You Should (Sometimes) Be Afraid of Spiders
Typical house spiders live their entire lives indoors. They won’t bite unless they feel threatened, and the pain from their bites is temporary.
But if you’re concerned about the presence of spiders in your home, even with the benefits of spiders, contact a professional to help identify and remove them safely.
When You Should (Always) Call Pest Control
In general, the only time spiders pose a big threat is if you have an infestation of venomous species or an unusual population of spiders in your home or garden.
Make sure to check for any signs of spider infestations and contact a pest control professional if needed! While these steps and tips will help reduce the likelihood of spiders, there is no guaranteed way to eliminate all risks.
Now You Know the Benefits of Spiders In Your Home
All in all, the benefits of spiders can be beneficial for keeping down your insect populations and maintaining balance in your home or garden. Most of the time, you have no reason to fear them. Take the necessary precautions when dealing with the potential of a dangerous species in your home.
While it might seem counterintuitive, letting those eight-legged creepers roam around your home and backyard provides a great means of maintaining safe levels against garden pests!
So next time you encounter a spider in your house, remember that it’s not there to scare you. It might be helping out more than you think.
We hope this blog post has shown you some of the benefits of spiders, and that spiders aren’t something to be afraid of all the time. They can actually bring benefits, too! To learn more about the benefits of spiders and how to keep yourself safe from dangerous ones, contact your local pest control experts at Pest Management Systems, Inc. for more information.
