All About Spider Webs

When you have a spider problem in your home, one of the first indicators is often the webs you are seeing around. Not every spider builds a web to catch their prey. Many are hunting spiders which stalk their prey instead, but all spiders spin silk and will use it in a variety of ways to help them get around and find the next meal. Anytime you see a spider web, this is some of the interesting science behind it.

How Spider Webs Enable Spiders to be a Nuisance in Your Home

Spider’s silk-making capabilities make them the engineers of the pest world. Almost every spider produces more than 7 types of silk and is able to choose the right one for each purpose. These are some other facts about spider webs and spider silk that can help explain their behavior in your house:

• Spider Silk is Strong – In certain ways, spider silk is stronger than steel. Of course you cannot easily slice through steel with a broom (or worse, your body), but spider silk has a far higher tensile strength than steel. Tensile strength is an object’s ability to bend without breaking. With its elastic capabilities, a spiderweb has one of the highest tensile strengths per square inch of any material. While this doesn’t mean that it will survive you walking through it, the strength of a spiderweb is uniquely suited to stop the motion of bugs flying at full speed without the web suffering extensive damage.
• Spider Silk Isn’t Only for Webs – Spiders can use their silk in a number of ways. They will often use it to wrap up prey after they have caught it and they will wrap their egg sacks in silk to shelter them until they hatch. Spiders can also use their silk as a towline, a connection point to walls and furniture as they travel around, and even as a parachute.
• A Sticky Material Helps Webs Catch Prey – In addition to silk, spiders excrete a sticky substance that they will coat their silk with as they are constructing their web. This is often what prevents bugs from getting free of the web and can hold them until the spider gets there. The stickiness is strongest when first applied, but will fade over the hours so that a spider web that was constructed a while ago will be less deadly to insects and then one that was just made.

24 Hour Pest Control can get rid of spiders in NYC homes and businesses. We identify why spiders are coming in and apply powerful treatments to remove them. Call today to get more information and schedule a visit.