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Spider is the common name for about 34,000 species including spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks. Spiders have eight walking legs, anterior appendages bearing fangs and poison glands, specialized reproductive organs, and commonly make extensive use of the silk that they spin. Most are less than .4 inches long.

Spiders are generally loners. If large populations are in evidence, insects are also present as the only food source for the spiders. They generally have a life span of one to two years and produce one generation of spider lings per year and have anywhere from 50 to 200 in a generation.

Most spiders are active at night. Common hiding places are behind draperies inside a house and around windows, debris, and leaf buildup on the exterior of a house.

Spiders digest their prey outside the body and then suck the resulting fluid. The bite of some large spiders can be painful, but most species are too small to break human skin, and only a few are dangerous to humans. These are mainly the black widow and the brown recluse.

Spider silk is a fibrous protein that is secreted as a fluid and forms a polymer, on being stretched, that is much stronger than steel and further resists breakage by its elasticity. A single spider can spin several kinds of silk. Spiders use silk to form draglines to find their way around or catch themselves, make cocoons for eggs, wrap up captured insects, catch small fish, make parachute threads to ride, make nests and chambers to line burrows, and make insect traps (spider webs). Silk from spiders has been used for cross hairs of optical instruments.

Black Widow Spider
The Black Widow Spider though found chiefly in the tropics and southern United States, can be found as far north as Canada. It spins an irregular web in fields. The body of the female is about .5 inches long and is jet black with an hourglass-shaped red mark on the underside of the abdomen. Males are only about half as long and have four pairs of red dots along the sides of the abdomen. Males are rarely seen and are harmless. The female's bite is poisonous to humans and sometimes fatal. It causes local pain and swelling, nausea, and difficulty breathing. The venom, a neurotoxin, generally affects children more severely than adults. The spider is not aggressive, however, and bites humans only defensively.

Brown Recluse Spider
The Brown Recluse Spider is found mainly in the central and southern United States. Except for the black widow, it is the only U.S. spider family whose bite can be dangerous to humans. The spider is about .4 inches long with six eyes and is a brownish color. It spins a sheet web that may be found in secluded areas among rocks or in houses. The bite causes a long-lasting sore that involves tissue death and severe reactions to it may become life-threatening. This spider may live over 10 years.

Control of Spiders
The first step in control is to institute sanatation techniques such as vacuuming webs and sweeping with a broom around the windows and eaves.

The primary cause of an infestation of spiders is the presence of insects as a food source. Therefore, finding and eliminating the insect food source is essential.

Barrier techniques such as caulking crevices in the windows, doors and utility access can also be done.

Insecticides can also be used to create a chemical barrier.

Ticks
Ticks are blood-sucking arthropods that rely on various small and large animals, such as field mice, rabbits and deer as food sources. However, other warm-blooded animals such as dogs, cats and humans may also provide a food source.

Ticks are more closely related to spiders than to insects. They have a one-year life cycle that requires feeding on the blood of animals. Their mouthparts are specifically designed for sucking blood and holding on to the host at the same time.

The pest status of ticks is based primarily on their potential to spread disease to people and pets, but their blood-sucking habits and presence are equally unwelcome.

Preventative Measures & Control of Ticks
People should use insect repellent on their boots and pants and clothing.

Reduce small animal population around home by keeping grass cut short and eliminating the shrub vegetation that provides food and protection for mice and rabbits. However, deer populations are not easily controlled.

There are insecticides available for house perimeter and wide-area tick control which can be a practical way of reducing the population.

Lyme Disease
Ticks are the main vector for transmission of Lyme Disease of whcih 12,000 to 16,000 cases are reported in the U.S. yearly. Symptoms include spreading rash, fever, flu-like symptoms and aches.

There are 3 stages to the disease:
1) Expanding rash 3-30 days after a bite.
2) Complications or disorders of the heart or nervous system.
3) Intermittent arthritis symptoms which occur months to years after disease onset.

Oral medications can destroy the disease causing spirochetes in the blood. However, the spirochete may persist in the brain and reappear 5-10 years later. Therefore some experts advise intravenous treatment rather than oral medications.

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