Last time we left off at telling some stories about spiders.

Childhood Experiences

I was ten years old and had just gone to bed and laying there I felt a “tickle” on my leg. I thought it was just an itch, so I brushed my leg off under the covers. When I felt it again and did the same. When it happened a third time, I felt I needed to examine the situation more in depth so I through back the covers. To my horror, there was a GIANT spider in my bed!!! You can bet that I pulled my covers back, every single night, from then on for a thorough inspection!

Another memorable experience came from my childhood as well. My mom made pickles every year and guess whose job it was to retrieve the old mason jars! You guessed it. And where did we store the jars? In the crawl space of course!

We lived in a tri-level house that had a fairly tall crawl space a kid could “walk” around in if he crouched. This was the handy place my mom stored these old, empty jars.  I accessed the area through a small door in the garage and I hated going in there. There were spider webs and it was dark, but I found my way around with a treble light I plugged into the garage outlet. I never would have imagined that years later I would be going into crawl spaces much tighter and dirtier thousands of times as a career choice!!  That was my introduction to crawl spaces and seeing where spiders love to hang out!

Skipping Ahead

Quite a few years, I had recently purchased my first house. It was a small 700 square foot house in North Tacoma. I’d been in the pest control industry for a few years now and was very used to seeing and dealing with spiders on a regular basis – just not inside my own home!

I was sitting in my living room watching TV when I caught something moving out of the corner of my eye. It didn’t scare me, but I must say it startled me. My first thought was that it was a mouse! But when I got up to get a clear look, I saw a GIANT house spider scurrying across the carpet. I’m not kidding! That’s how big this thing was!

Coming to an Understanding

Being in the pest control industry for so long, I have come to know the importance and relevance of spiders. I have also come to know the tolerance, and lack thereof, to spiders INSIDE folks’ homes and the levels of arachnophobia behaviors. It is not wrong to fear spiders nor is it wrong to want to have no part of them within the comforts of your own home. Spiders are beneficial creatures feeding upon many unwanted pests in our environment and have a very important role in the balance of nature.

As pest control experts, our job is to keep your home comfortable and free of spiders. This does not mean we are out to make spiders extinct nor kill off all of the orb weaver/garden spiders around the outside environment which are maintaining the natural balance. We have all had the unpleasant experience of walking face-first through an orb weavers web. While it is a little nasty, and uncomfortable, it is not a reason to spray gallons and gallons of pesticides around your yard, trees, shrubs, flowers, etc. in an attempt to extinguish everything that moves! This will only serve to pollute your environment unnecessarily and endanger other insect species that have every right, and importance, to exist.

Keeping unwanted spiders out of your home is a reasonable request that is easily accomplished through professional means. A maintenance spray will ensure that they will be kept out, while other beneficial insects and environments remain healthy and rightfully unfazed. This is the true meaning of integrated pest management.

Your Turn

There are many more stories and experiences with spiders that I’ve had, but those are the ones that really stick out. I think it would be fun to get some of your stories as well.  Please send your stories for us to share with everyone! Drop us a line here or send us a message on Facebook.

and when you go to bed tonight remember to……………….”SLEEP TIGHT AND DON’T LET THE BED BUGS BITE”.