Jumping Spider Control: Protect Your Home or Business
Jumping Spider Facts
- Jumping spiders are ambush predators that pounce on their prey.
- Males perform a mating dance to attract partners.
- These pests are most active in the daytime and warmer months.
What Do Jumping Spiders Look Like
Jumping spiders vary in size, but most are less than an inch long. The pests are usually black or brown with fuzzy bodies and gray, white, or orange markings. Some have iridescent scales that shift colors due to the lighting or a change in your point of view. Like most arachnids, they have eight eyes, but the jumping spider’s large, forward-facing pair allows it to detect movement at a distance. There are over 4,000 different types of jumping spiders in the world. Don’t worry, though. They don’t all live in our area!
How Do Jumping Spiders Get Inside Buildings
Tiny jumping spiders often enter homes and businesses undetected. These arachnids hunt during the day, and they look for prey in gardens and potted plants as well as on trellises or deck railings. You may also find them traveling across home exteriors, where they crawl indoors through foundation crevices or torn window screens.
Jumping spiders take shelter in tree trunks, logs, and piles of rocks in forests across the Mid-Atlantic region. When they hide inside timber, the pests can end up in home improvement stores within piles of lumber or get inside homes when customers purchase bundles of firewood.
Signs of Jumping Spider Infestation
- The easiest way to tell if you have an infestation is by sight. The pests often lurk around windowsills, doorways, and interior walls to hunt for insects attracted by sunlight or lamps.
- If you suddenly notice a large number of jumping spiders in your home or business, think about what do jumping spiders eat. They may have moved in to take advantage of a fly, ant, or other insect infestation in the building.
- Jumping spiders use their silk as safety lines when they leap, but they don’t create webs to catch prey. However, they do make tent-like retreats as protection from rain or cold weather. They’ll also use shelters to molt and hide their egg cases. Spotting these webbed hideouts could indicate an issue.
- After hatching from their eggs, the arachnids go through a series of molts. Be on the lookout for cast-off skins from jumping spiders, which may indicate that multiple pests are present.
Common Questions about Jumping Spiders
Do Jumping Spiders Bite?
Jumping spiders may attack when they feel threatened. Though their bites are not dangerous to humans, they can cause sharp pain as well as itching, swelling, and redness. The symptoms usually don’t last long.
Are Jumping Spiders Poisonous? Are Jumping Spiders Venomous?
As such, jumping spiders are not considered a large danger to humans, especially given that these spiders are more likely to run away from people than attack them. Jumping spiders do possess fangs and produce venom, but the venom is not a medical threat. While they can bite, the jumping spider bite is not poisonous.
How long Do Jumping Spiders Live?
The average jumping spider lifespan is between six months to two years. In captivity, jumping spiders may live up to three years. Female jumping spiders tend to live longer than males.
Prevention Tips
The simplest way to prevent a jumping spider infestation is to repair cracks in foundations, seal gaps around doors and utility wires, and replace torn screens. Keeping residential and commercial spaces clean is also important, as these arachnids eat insects that forage on crumbs in kitchens or dining areas.
If jumping spiders become an issue in your home or business, contact the experts at Western Pest Services for assistance.