Hollywood has a long history of monster movies featuring giant bugs and insects.
Starship Troopers, Them, and The Wasp Woman are just a few of those Tinseltown jewels. 1977's Kingdom of the Spiders features William Shatner battling carnivorous spiders. But as we all know, Hollywood bases their fiction on real events... as in this story from this week's Sacramento Press.
"Spiders, long a favored subject of sci-fi movies and horror novels, seem to provoke an especially strong yuck factor in humans. Although we know on an intellectual level that they have many beneficial purposes in the eco-system, including eating other insect pests, most of us don’t want them in our kids’ bedrooms.
Now that warm weather has arrived, spiders are proliferating outdoors and often making their way into our homes."
The story points out that various spiders usually hang out in different California regions. A deadly spider, brown recluse, resides in the Southern United States but not generally in California. There's some comment in the piece about spiders being transported via moving vans into Los Angeles. A cousin of the brown recluse, the South American native Loxosceles laeta, has been spotted in Los Angeles County.
What can you do about spiders?It is important to keep areas around your home (and office) free of clutter and debris. Get rid of the clutter and you'll gain control over a spider population because they reside in the mess. Remove the items, boxes, papers, clothing on floor. Seal up cracks and crevices and clean the corners where spiders may get in. Periodically move materials and furniture and vacuum garages, basements and living spaces. Keep debris, firewood, construction materials and stones outside your home. By following these suggestions and turning to the appropriate pest control experts when necessary will not only keep you organized, but will create a healthy home for you and your family.
There is more help on the internet, just Google "spider control" and you'll find additional resources.
Do you have any spider control regime tips or stories to share with our readers? Let us know.
"We are Moving!" image above courtesy Worth 1000