Spiders
Basically, spiders may be found in almost any building in the country, including homes and offices. Some of the places where spiders are commonly found include closets, basements, dark crevices, ceilings and corners of the house. Spiders are easy to spot, with an un-segmented body and eight legs. They are well renowned for producing silk, which they use to build webs and trap prey. While this is a feature associated with the spiders, not all the spiders spin webs. Additionally, the different types of spiders use different modes of feeding. In their feeding, the majority of spider species trap insects with their webs, wrap the prey with more silk and inject it with venom to immobilize it. Once immobilized, the spider injects the prey with a pre-digestive liquid before sucking out the nutrients.
Spider Species Found in Canada
Fishing Spiders
This species is somewhat similar to the wolf spiders. However, their eye pattern is a bit different. They are primarily found near waterfronts and cottages. The fishing spiders are foragers and carry their egg sac below their heads. The adult spider can reach a width of three inches.
Wolf Spiders
These are brown in colour and mainly found on beaches, gardens, floor, woodlands and grasslands. Rather than waiting for the prey to be trapped by their webs, this species of the spiders hunt for their prey. The spiders tend to get inside homes in the fall as they search for their prey.
House Spiders
This species of spiders vary in colour, ranging from black to dirty white. As the name suggests, they are commonly found in houses, spinning their webs in the dark corners. The main distinguishing characteristic of these spiders is their pair of legs, which is about three times the body length of the spider.
Cellar Spiders
Also referred to as the skull spiders or the daddy long legs, the cellar spiders are well known for their long legs, measuring about six times their entire body length. They spin their webs in cool, damp places and corners of callers. The female spiders tend to have longer legs, as compared to the female ones, spanning up to a length of seven centimetres. In rare cases, the cellar spiders may be confused for the harvestman. However, the harvestman does not have two distinct body parts and they lack the silk-producing glands found in spiders.
Black Widow Spiders
Though a bit rare, the black widow spiders are predominant in the southern parts of the country. They are particularly common in the secluded locations, such as sheds and garages. When disturbed, this spider species will flee. They are easy to notice, with a shiny black colour and red marks under at the bottom side of their bodies.
Other distinctive characteristics of these spiders are:
- Four leg pairs
- Two main body parts, a fused head and thorax and the abdomen
- More active at night
- Mainly found in the secluded areas with minimal disturbances
- Some use webs to trap prey, while others are passive hunters in that they ambush their prey
- The majority of them live for up to two seasons
- The females lay between two dozen and hundreds of eggs.
To many house owners in the country, spiders are a nuisance; they make the walls appear dirty and unappealing. Regardless of the spider type you are dealing with, AMG Extermination has the ideal solutions to control them.
