Tiny White Spiders – All You Need to Know
As insects go, most species of spiders are relatively harmless, seeking only to devour other insects and avoid contact with humans as much as possible. If you have spied Tiny White Spiders in your home, they are most likely house spiders (also called comb-footed or cobweb spiders), which are the most commonly found indoors. Understanding these spiders can help you cope with their presence and, if necessary, remove them from your home.
The tiny house spider generally grows to be about 1/4 to 1/2 inches long. From a distance and in bright light, the spiders will appear white, but upon closer inspection, you will find that they are light brown or grey, with markings on their backs. These spiders produce webs with thick silk threads in order to catch other insects or food. Only one type of house spider, Latrodectus, is dangerous to humans. It uses nerve venom to kill its prey, and if it bites a human, the bites can be painful and cause temporary numbness.
What are the Tiny White Spiders?
The Tiny White Spiders are known as house spiders and in general, they are a beneficial species.
You are most likely to find them in woodpiles and outdoor buildings where they help to control the population of insects such as mosquitoes and flies around your home. The spiders are most likely to move indoors in late summer and early fall when the insect population begins to die off as cooler weather approaches. The spiders themselves will seek a warm place to spend the winter. They avoid humans and will run if confronted; you are most likely to find them in quiet areas in which you don’t spend a lot of time, such as the corners of unfinished basements or attics.
Are the Tiny White Spiders harmful?
Spiders are amazing creatures; they have 8 legs and more than 45,000 different species. Although all the spiders have venom, only some spiders have venom that is strong enough to kill humans. There are many Tiny White Spiders out there and all of them are venomous but most of them do not have enough venom to kill a human. On the other hand, a white widow spider can easily kill you.
Even though their venom is powerful enough to kill foes almost three times their size, they are not a danger to humans. Larger female specimens are capable of giving a sharp bite like a bee sting, but their fangs are too small and do not contain enough venom to cause any real harm to humans. No tiny spider is dangerous even though they fall in the same species. Baby “White Widow” spiders have the kind of venom that might be medically significant when they grow up but even then, they are not as dangerous as the North American species that are called Black Widow.
Why the Tiny White Spiders aren’t insects?
Spiders belong to a group of animals called arachnids. Scorpions, mites, and ticks also belong to the same family.
Arachnids are creatures with two body segments, eight legs, no wings or antennae, and are not able to chew. Many people think that spiders are insects but they are mistaken since insects have six legs and three main body parts. Most insects have wings. So, spiders are not insects, they are arachnids, and so, are the Tiny White Spiders.
Why is there a white spider in my room?
Some spiders are attracted to moisture, so they take shelter in basements, crawl spaces, and other damp areas inside a home. Other spiders prefer drier environments such as air vents, high upper corners of rooms, and attics. Most common white spiders actually spend their entire lives indoors. White spiders tend to live in quiet, hidden spaces where they can find food and water. Spots that are not fully visible or that have a lot of clutter make it easy for spiders to hide. This is why you will always find white spiders in storage spaces, garages, eaves, sheds, light fixtures, and forested areas.
Spiders can enter buildings through doors, windows, air vents, and any other openings. Any unfilled holes or cracks are possible entrances for spiders into your home. More so, white spiders can get inside buildings in spots where cables, pipes, and plumbing lines are connected if there are any small gaps around the area.
You can reduce the number of places where spiders get inside your home by checking for potential openings and sealing up as many as you can. Another way white spiders can get into your room is by hiding in objects that are brought into your house. Common examples of objects that could contain spiders include; firewood, plants, camping equipment, storage boxes, toys coming in from the yard, and so on.
Check for spiders before carrying in anything that was previously stored outdoors, especially if the item was stored outdoors, especially if the item was kept outside for an extended period. Spiders get inside your house looking to fulfill the same three basic needs; food, water, and shelter.
How do I keep white spiders out of my home?
Chemical applications such as Miss Muffet’s Revenge keep spiders out of your home by creating an invisible barrier that white spiders won’t cross. Spray it around the perimeter of your home in a 12-inch band until the surface is slightly wet. Once the surface is completely dry, go back and clean up any cobwebs. Miss Muffet’s Revenge will continue to keep white spiders out of your home for up to 12 months after application.
If you have white spiders in your home, you can use Miss Muffet’s Revenge as an indoor white spider killer. To apply, spray a 4-inch band along with the interior of your home in areas where spiders are a recurring problem. Clean up any visible cobwebs directly after application. You can also use Miss Muffet’s Revenge to kill white spiders by spraying them directly.
Using Miss Muffet’s Revenge around your home
Unlike many other spider control products, Miss Muffet’s Revenge does not leave behind harsh chemical fumes. The formula allows you to keep white spiders away from your home without dealing with an overpowering scent. Luckily, Miss Muffet’s Revenge is also safe to use on outdoor and indoor surfaces as long as you follow the proper safety precautions. Just keep people and pets away from any area you have applied Miss Muffet’s Revenge until the product has dried completely.
Indoor surfaces where you might see spiders include: stairwells, basements, garages, crawl spaces, closets, storage areas, boxes, under stairs, on windows, door frames, and ceilings. Spiders also hide on outdoor surfaces such as the foundations of buildings, eaves, shutters, window corners, light fixtures, woodpiles, and other debris.
Use Miss Muffet’s Revenge to get rid of white spiders in these common areas in and around your home. Start effectively removing and preventing spiders from entering your home with your first application. Areas that are exposed to the elements may require more frequent applications than areas without weather exposure. Miss Muffet’s Revenge offers total indoor and outdoor spider control and home protection for up to 12 months.
Are White Spiders dangerous?
White spiders are not inherently dangerous to humans. However, spiders and the web they create can be a nuisance. Most white spiders only bite if they are in life-threatening situations. Spider bites from the majority of the common house spiders are not deadly. However, it is a smart idea to keep white spiders out of your home because there are few spiders in North America that can be dangerous to people. These spiders include Eratigena agrestis (hobo spider), Cheiracanthium meildei (yellow sac spider), Herpyllus ecclasiasticus (Eastern Parson spiders), and other non-venomous spiders that can have a painful bite.
The venom from a spider bite can cause moderate discomfort with short-term side effects. You could seek medical attention if your spider bite symptoms worsen over the span of 24 hours. If you have elderly family members, young kids, or pets that are not in good health, it’s best to err on the side of caution and try to keep spiders out of your home at all times. Especially because pets and people who are very young or very old are more susceptible to having a more severe reaction to toxic spider bites.
What do Tiny White Spiders eat?
Tiny White Spiders are obligate hunters and directly attack their prey. Unlike many spiders that create webs and wait for their unsuspecting food to wander in and become trapped, white spiders will stake out a particular location and lie in wait for their food. Once an unsuspecting victim comes by, they will pounce in action, extending their front legs rapidly to snatch and draw their prey closer. Though small, they are aggressive hunters and can take down prey larger than them. They also have very keen eyesight for their size, a trait shared with other species of hunting spiders.
Tiny White Spiders are subsisting on the diet of other pollinating insects, such as bees, flies, butterflies, and wasps. Their venom is particularly toxic to bees. In many cases, they themselves end up playing the role of pollinators, as pollen gets stuck to their leg hairs and it’s transferred from flower to flower. The spiders hang around many different kinds of colored flowers, including daisies, lilies, and sunflowers. They can be agriculturally beneficial as they feed on insects that can damage crops like flies and grasshoppers. They also can actually increase seed production of plants, as they eat insects that can damage plant seeds.
Once they bite, their fangs inject venom into their prey which begins digesting them from the inside out. Even though their venom is powerful enough to kill foes almost three times their size, they are not a danger to humans. Larger female specimens are capable of giving a sharp bite like a bee sting, but their fangs are too small and do not contain enough venom to cause any real harm to humans. At most, they can give a wound about the size of a mosquito bite. Although they do not make webs to capture food, they can still produce silk and will often create strands to anchor themselves to flowers or to wrap themselves in a protective coating.
How the mating season of the White Spiders go?
The mating season of the White Spiders is a relatively unceremonious affair. At the height of summer, male specimens will jump from flower to flower, looking for a receptive mate. During this time, males often fight amongst each other for female attention, resulting in many male specimens with missing legs.
Once finding a mate, they will crawl and hang from the underside of her stomach, where they insert their pedipalps to inseminate the female. The female will then find a cool and dark place to lay her eggs, which she will then guard until they hatch. In some cases, the female will wrap her eggs in a protective cocoon of silk.
White Spiders have been observed to engage in sexual cannibalism, and sometimes an unlucky male may find himself the meal of a larger female after copulation. They typically only resort to eating each other if resources are slim. The probability of males being cannibalized increases with age, most likely because male spiders lose speed and agility with age.
Eggs normally take a few weeks to hatch. The newborn spiders come in at around 5 mm in length and are morphologically similar to adult specimens. They reach full size by mid-winter and go through their last molt into adulthood during May. After that, they leave in search of mating opportunities. Scientists are still not exactly sure of the average lifespan of the White Spiders but it likely varies depending on sex. Males are estimated to live an average of 12 to 18 months and females up to 2 years, but some females can reportedly live up to 6 years in ideal conditions.
What is the appearance of the White Spider like?
Most White Spiders come in at a length of about 7 mm for females, and 3 mm for males.
Females have been observed to reach sizes up to 10 mm in length, though males rarely exceed 5 mm. Like all spiders, they have two main body segments, the cephalothorax, and an abdomen. They have 8 legs splayed out to the side, giving them an appearance and gait similar to that of a crab. In general, the 2 front-most legs are longer than the others.
While they do have a chitinous exoskeleton, they tend to be more flexible, on account of their hunting habits.
