What are the Most Common Spiders in Kern County?

One of the worst surprises is to walk into a spider web or see a spider scurry across your kitchen floor. Even though you wish you could stop, the thought of a spider being on your shoulder or leg can keep replaying in your mind, making you feel uneasy in your own home. Knowing what kind of spiders you may encounter in your Kern County home can help you be on the lookout for these common spiders.

How do I know if I have a spider infestation?

For many people, one spider in their home is one too many. But one spider does not indicate an infestation. There are a few additional signs to look for to tell if you have a serious spiders infestation on your hands.

• Shed or molted spider skins: Spiders have to shed their skin in order to grow bigger. If you are finding what looks like dead spiders around your home, you may actually have living, and unfortunately, slightly bigger, spiders creeping around your floors and walls.

• Multiple spider webs: If you are finding spider webs around your light fixtures, behind doors, or across windows, and they quickly reappear after you remove them, you may have an infestation in your home.

• Other bug infestations: Spiders love to eat bugs and they will strategically build their homes in places that have a lot of bugs creeping around. If your home has an insect infestation, spiders will soon start showing up to get on the feast.

Spider bite risks

Most spiders in California are relatively harmless to humans. Spiders like the very common, camouflaging expert Wolf Spider that lives in the dirt, may give you a bite that feels like a bee sting. But you should not have any other adverse reactions to it. Some people with immune compromised conditions may have a worse reaction to a spider bite than others who don’t. In addition to the Wolf Spider, a few other common spiders to take note of in Kern County are:

• Hobo Spider

These brown spiders look very similar to Brown Recluse spiders, except they do not have a violin marking, but rather yellow markings on the abdomen. Also Hobo Spiders are not venomous. However, Hobo spiders can give you a painful bite, even if it isn’t exactly dangerous, so be sure to keep your distance.

• Brown Recluse

Brown Recluse spiders can be tan or dark brown and have a distinguishing marking on their backs in the shape of a violin. While these spiders can deliver a nasty bite, it can go unnoticed because there may not be any pain at first. Most people associate Brown Recluse bites with huge wounds that take months to heal. But this only happens in severe cases and it depends on how much venom the spider injects into the skin.

• Western Black Widow

The other potentially dangerous spider in Kern County besides the Brown Recluse is the famous Black Widow. Black Widow spiders are all black with a red hourglass on the underside of its abdomen. About 2,500 people go to poison control for Black Widow bites each year across the country. While that may seem rare, it is always a good idea to keep a keen eye out for these spiders because one bite can lead to nausea, chills, body aches, and much worse.

If you are ready to rid your Kern County home of all types of spiders, give San Joaquin Pest Control in Visalia a call today.