What is a Garden Spider? Do They Enter Homes?

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In today’s enlightened times, we embrace wildlife in all its forms. Animals and insects are crucial to our ecosystems and sustain our way of living as humans. At the same time, the last thing anybody wants is pests invading their living space, like when there’s a garden spider infestation in your house.

A garden spider or orb weaver spider in Washington State and Oregon has plenty of outdoor habitat options. They shouldn’t need to take up any of your living space. So it only makes sense for you to learn about these particular arthropods and how to protect your home from potential infestations including acquiring pest control services from professionals like Pest Pros when needed.

What is a Garden Spider?

The vast size of the black and yellow garden spider is rivaled by its massive, circular webs that the naked eye can’t miss. Despite their fearsome appearance suggesting they’re from a monster movie, having these particular arthropods in your garden is ideal due to their eating habits.

Here are some other black and yellow garden spider facts:

  • The garden spider is also called the corn spider, writing spider, and banded garden spider. However, the technical name for this arthropod is the orb weaver spider.
  • Females are easily identifiable through their yellow and black abdomens and the red or yellow markings on their eight black legs.
  • When fully grown, the female black and yellow garden spider has a leg span that can reach three inches long from the back.
  • Male garden spiders are smaller and less ornate in appearance, colored a drab brown and a quarter of a female’s size.
  • A female’s massive, two-to-three-feet-wide web gets spun mid-summer when she’s seeking a mate and enough food for egg laying.
  • Males build tinier webs within the female web. These webs are denser and less sophisticated. There can be several male webs within one female web.

Our team at Pest Pros has a vast knowledge about a variety of spiders including garden spiders which allows them to apply the most effective, customized pest control solution.

Garden Spider Vs. Orb Weaver Spider

The orb weaver spider and the garden spider are the same.

More specifically, the orb weaver spider family has a variety of spider body types and traits. Some of their bodies are black and yellow (like garden spiders), or they can be gray, orange, or brown.

Orb weaver spiders weave their prey-catching webs in bushes, gardens, and your home (which we’ll discuss later) and stay nearby to pounce on their future meal. They carry a mostly harmless venom in their bites that may cause red bumps to sprout on your skin. At worst, the resulting blemish will swell mildly and cause minor itching in most cases.

Garden Spider
Orb Weaver Spider

Types of Garden Spiders in the Pacific Northwest

Below, we’ll delve into what type of orb weavers we typically run into in some of our service areas at Pest Pros:

Orb Weaver Spider Washington State

Per the Pacific Science Center, one of the most common types of orb weaver spiders in Washington state are the garden orb weaver. You’ll most often see garden orb weaver spiders in autumn, although they’re around all year.

Seattle and the rest of the Western Region of Washington State are primarily home to the cross orb weaver, known for the white cross decorating its back. Eastern Washington State is typically home to the cat-faced orb weaver, with a trademark “cougar face” on its back.

Orb Weaver Spider Oregon

The typical types of orb weaver spiders in Oregon offer a habitat to be plentiful. A dozen separate orb weavers live across the state, including the cat-faced and cross-orb varieties found in Washington State. Also included in this list are the gray cross spider, trash line orb weaver, banded Argiope, and shamrock orb weaver, to name a few.

Do Garden Spiders Enter Homes?

Yes, Garden Spiders do enter homes.

However, you’re far likelier to find garden spiders on your home’s exterior. After all, they’re more adapted to the outdoors and prefer to spin their webs in high places to catch their flying insect prey.

Garden spiders thrive when they can live in the greenery on your home’s exterior. While these particular arthropods most commonly find habitat in your garden, they’re known to build webs outside of homes or in outdoor sheds and toilets since they’re unheated.

Typically, garden spiders like avoiding areas that are too hot and dry and where prey is plentiful.

The chances to hunt prey dwindle come the colder winter months. During this time, only the strong garden spiders survive after finding a location to partake in diapause, their version of hibernation.

Protection from frost is a garden spider’s top priority during diapause. They often nest in rotten logs and nooks in rocks. Yet, when they can leverage man-made options like an errant pair of garden gloves in a woodpile, they will.

At the same time, orb weavers will find their way into your home to build their webs. Provided your home is rife with tiny airborne insects, they’ll nest around areas with nightlights. However, they’ll also make webs around your home’s exterior on walls, fences, high tree branches, and bushes to store meals.

Are Garden Spiders Dangerous? Will They Threaten You or Your Home?

For the most part, you’ll find that garden spiders are nonaggressive and docile. That said, they will bite if they feel trapped or threatened or they’ve been stepped on. Their bites are similar to bee stings–and as has already been discussed–their bites result in little more than redness, swelling, and mild itching.

Provided you see a black and yellow garden spider in your garden, leave them to their business.

While a garden spider or orb weaver isn’t bound to cause substantial damage to your home, infestations aren’t ideal for any home.

Pest Control For Garden Spiders

The sticking point of the orb weaver spider is in their name–the webs they create against your home.

Sure, unlike a wolf spider or giant house spider, you aren’t likely to deal with a direct encounter or danger within your home–especially since orb weavers are nocturnal. However, orb weavers often have a high level of web production, leaving spider webs visible in corners of your home’s interior and exterior.

While orb weavers are ideal in your garden, you also don’t want your yard overrun with spiderwebs.

Sure, your home likely won’t face any substantial structural damage. But there’s still a matter of your comfort and the cleanliness of your home.

If garden spiders have infested your property, you must act fast. Reach out to Pest Pros for our expert spider control services. We’ll provide a solution ASAP to eliminate the problem now and prevent any further spider issues in the future.

Pest Pros Spider Pest Control Services

Let us tell you a little about ourselves and our spider pest control services at Pest Pros.

When treating your home for a spider infestation, we use material on your first-floor eaves to stop webbing from attaching to your exterior. Additionally, we equip exterior doorways with sticky traps to prevent orb weavers and other spiders from establishing themselves indoors.

From there, we offer suggestions to get rid of your home’s specific harborage points.

Often, we’re asked why we don’t spray for spiders. The answer is simple. Since spiders don’t have hooks but have pads on the end of their legs, there’s less surface for them to absorb pesticides.

Watch our video to learn more about our tried and true spider control process!

Call Pest Pros Today

Pest Pros has a team of reliable, licensed, and battle-tested professionals who know each pest problem is unique. We always provide a tailored, permanent solution to meet each customer’s needs, ensuring your infestation remains a distant memory.

If you need help with your pest control problem, whether Orb Weavers or anything else, contact Pest Pros today or request a free estimate.

How To Get Rid Of House Spiders

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Spiders are our friends, but you don’t need a swarm of these pests crawling around your home. 

Likely you are at this blog because of dealing with an infestation you are eager to get rid of.

Regular house spiders aren’t alone as invaders of your home – they also have a nearby cousin, giant house spiders.

Throughout the article, we’ll discuss issues such as the giant house spider in Oregon and Washington State and the difference between the house spider and the giant house spider. We’ll also answer the question, “are giant house spiders dangerous?” Finally, we’ll discuss what to do if you have signs of an infestation and when to call a professional pest control company like Pest Pros.

Giant House Spiders vs House Spiders: The Difference Between The Two

A regular house spider either sits inside its funnel-like web; it waits for prey to land, then emerges rapidly for a meal, or creates a sticky web cluster for similar results. You’ll find males in your home during the late summer because they’re looking for mating partners. 

So what is a giant house spider?

Giant house spiders are similar in almost every way to their regular-sized counterparts, including behaviors, but are a larger subspecies. They can grow up to 5-inches in leg span and 18mm in body length. Such long legs allow them to move at a 1.2 mph clip – making them one of the quicker spiders around.

Giant House Spider
Common House Spider

Giant House Spider In Washington State

Since Washington State (e.g., the Seattle area) is moist, it’s rich in spiders, including the regular house spider and giant house spider. This also extends to the entire Puget Sound. You’ll find them typically in your basement or garage.

Giant House Spider In Oregon

Since Oregon has similar conditions to Washington State, you’re bound to find them in your basement and garage in the Portland area and Lake Oswego.

How To Identify A Giant House Spider

The giant house spider’s size is its deadest giveaway. 

Adult males have a leg span extending to five inches, while females’ legs can reach two inches. And they’re so large they can fit in your palm.

Color-wise, the giant house spider is primarily beige, brown, and dark orange. The abdomen of this enormous arthropod is gray, brown, and beige, and they don’t seem to have leg bandings.

You’ll see giant house spiders close to the floor since they aren’t the best climbers. However, they’re tenacious enough to reach cabinets and scurry up walls. They’ll also make their way into showers, tubs, cabinets, and dark basement corners.

Another infestation sign is when giant house spiders surround your flower beds, rock piles, logs, and other darkly lit sheltered sites.

Giant House Spider vs Hobo Spider

Hobo Spiders and giant house spiders are frequently confused with one another. 

It’s tricky to differentiate the two spiders, but adult giant house spiders look alarmingly large, while adult hobo spiders are smaller in size.

Giant house spiders prevent hobo spider infestations because they out-compete them for habitat and prey. The giant house spider is known to kill male Hobo Spiders.

Giant House Spider
Hobo Spider

Are Giant House Spiders Dangerous?

No – giant house spiders aren’t dangerous. 

There’s no need to panic if you see one. These large spiders don’t like to bite people since they can’t eat them. A giant house spider will only bite humans if they feel threatened and need to defend themselves.

While they are venomous, the venom only harms people with specific allergies. 

In conclusion, this type of spider might appear menacing, but you aren’t under much threat in their presence. 

Of course, just because giant house spiders won’t do you any direct harm doesn’t mean you want them crawling throughout your home.

Are Giant House Spiders A Threat To My Home?

The truth about most spiders, including giant house spiders, is that they don’t pose a catastrophic threat to your home. 


Giant house spiders are ideal around the home, as they eat other pests like moths, cockroaches, mosquitoes, ants, fleas, and flies. Moreover, they help prevent hobo spider infestations. 

Giant house spiders don’t leave their web during the day, focusing solely on trapping and devouring prey which makes them relatively undemanding houseguests.

However, this convenience factor wears thin when the giant house spider’s numbers start to grow. As helpful as they are, nobody wants pests scurrying around their home.

Factors such as clutter underneath areas such as chairs, furniture, beds, and couches attract giant house spiders. Similarly, an untidy kitchen attracts other pests, which lure in the giant house spiders because they seek other insect prey. 

Long grass, trees, or flowers against the side of your home also attract giant house spiders. A 1.5 ft to 3 ft vegetation-free barrier is ideal but may be difficult to implement around certain homes. Additionally, these spiders love the inside of temperature-controlled homes because of the comfort offered. 

Giant house spiders invade your home by hitching a ride in boxes or other belongings. They could also enter through gaps under doors and wall cracks while chasing prey, finding a mate, or just looking for better shelter.
 If you’re seeing irregularly high numbers of giant house spiders in your home, you’ll need to call a professional pest control company to deal with the issue.

Every pest emergency is unique and requires a specialized approach to eradicate unwanted visitors for good. Contact our pest control professionals at Pest Pros to learn more about our expert pest extermination services in Washington.

How To Prevent Giant House Spiders:

  • Keep your home as clean as possible. Reach every nook and cranny with cleaning products, a vacuum, and a duster. Wipe down counters, vacuum carpets, and mop hard surfaces to eliminate food particles.
  • Switch off your outside lights, so attractive prey for giant house spiders are not drawn to your home.
  • Remove the plants and vegetation from the side of your house so giant house spiders can’t hide in compost and wood piles.
  • Receive frequent inspections from a professional pest control company. This way, you’ll have trusted experts to direct you on any corrective actions. 

Receiving inspections from a company like Pest Pros keeps those numbers to where these spiders are a help and not a hindrance.

How To Get Rid Of Giant House Spiders:

  • Use your vacuum and suck them up.
  • Utilize a sticky trap.
  • Remove your clutter and get rid of their homes.
  •  When needed, use insecticides sparingly.
  • Purchase spider-catching glue traps.

Provided your home is infested with these eight-legged creatures, don’t try to fully DIY the issue. 

Yes, some DIY measures might be helpful. However, not all are safe or good for the environment. Contacting a professional pest control company like Pest Pros will rid you of the problem promptly and permanently.

Contact A Professional Pest Control Company: Pest Pros

At Pest Pros, it’s our core mission to prevent any damage and future infestations from negatively impacting your living environment. 

Our prompt, dedicated pest control technicians are committed to making your home feel like a home again and neutralizing any pest problem. 

Get your life back to normal by calling or contacting us today for your free estimate. You can learn more on our website at www.gopestpros.com. 

Pest Control Cost: How to Budget for the Cost of an Exterminator

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As winter sets in, we stay indoors to protect ourselves from the nasty winds and weather. Turns out, pests do the same thing — seeking refuge in a warm place, which is oftentimes your home. Although homeowners avoid consciously thinking about it during the holiday season, the reality is that winter is an ideal time for pests to infiltrate your home. Pest Pros is here to provide you with options when it comes to setting a budget to prevent unexpected pest control costs and before you start to find signs of unwanted house guests.

Benefits of Professional Pest Control Services

The primary goal of pest control is to create a strategy that will help reduce the number of pests in the home to an acceptable level. An acceptable pest control situation is one that prevents and stops damage caused to the home itself. The overall goal of pest control is prevention, exclusion, and removal. Whether in-home pests are present in abundance or sporadically, take preventative measures to ensure your home’s safety and protection. 

Suppose pests already reside in the house with the proper treatment; in that case, the objective is to decrease the number of insects to an acceptable level. On the other hand, exclusion techniques are strategies implemented to keep the harmful pests entirely out of the home.  

Setting up a pest control budget allows professionals to care for your needs while saving time, money, and preventing potential health issues. These specialists know their habits, breeding grounds, and life cycles. This allows them to make you aware of the openings that have allowed them to intrude in your home and target them for exclusion pest prevention.

Like vital home upkeep tasks such as doing your laundry and dishes, treatment for pest control is ongoing. However, unlike other chores, the frequency depends on the type of critter. During the time it takes to identify the pest, locate its entry point and hiding spots, and selecting the type of pesticide to use, the colony is likely to have continued growth. Not to mention that using the wrong kind of pesticide could have potential consequences on your family’s health.  

To minimize this risk, specialists are well versed in assessing the correct type of product to use. Trained technicians can carefully use controlled pesticides, knowing the proper placement to ensure harmful toxin exposure doesn’t affect you and your loved ones.

Lastly, an exterminator can direct you to the places where these pests live in your home and help you create a game plan to close those entry points and prevent new ones.

Factors Affecting Pest Control Costs

Unfortunately, pest management is not a one-size-fits-all solution. There are numerous factors associated with an exterminator cost. The price is usually determined by: 

  • Size of infestation: If the issue extends beyond one area.  
  • Service type: If given options to combat the problem, some may cost more than others. 
  • Property size: Control and prevention tactics usually center around an area or the perimeter of the home. Pest control cost per square foot may increase depending on the property size.  
  • Frequency: If the treatment plan calls for semi-monthly, monthly, or quarterly visits, the fee per session will cost less than one individual session.  

The last factor determining pest control cost is the type of insects, spiders, rodents, and other wildlife that you’re dealing with, as some critters are more difficult to eradicate than others. Although you may have an idea of the initial measures to take, an exterminator will conduct a thorough inspection and quickly determine what exactly you’re up against. Based on the easiest to most challenging to manage pests, here is a typical pest control price list:

Pest Average Cost Per Visit 
Ants $225 – $435
Bed Bugs $799 – $2,180 
Bees $125 – $750 
Carpet Beetles $175 – $440 
Fleas $155 – $250 
Mice & Rats Starting at $355 
Roaches $225 – $435 
Silverfish $175 – $450 
Spiders $225 – $335 
Termites $700 – $2,800 
Wasps $125 – $650 
Wildlife Call for options

Is Quarterly Pest Control Worth It? Recommended Frequency Based on Your Budget

It’s always better to take preventative measures to protect your home from intruders. Initial visits range between $90 to $350. The exterminator will assess the problem, locate the nest, find their point of entry, and create a plan if necessary. One-time visits for pests such as roaches, bees, wasps, and bedbugs may have an immediate solution. Still, these pesky critters will always try to come back.

Annual – Yearly inspections can be outstanding in ensuring that rodents, termites, or bats haven’t invaded. Still, quarterly pest control inspections effectively prevent infestations from occurring. For context, female mice produce an average of five to six offspring in a month while roaches multiply through laying egg capsules that contain sixteen eggs. 

Monthly – Exterminator costs for monthly or semi-monthly visits can be between $85 to $150 and burden the homeowner’s finances. However, it’s beneficial for apartments, condos, and multifamily units with a persistent pest problem or a large infestation that was recently removed.  

Quarterly – The average quarterly pest control cost is estimated to be between $115 to $300 per visit. In comparison to the damage that under-maintained pest control can cause, it’s a small amount to pay for the comfort of knowing a professional is looking after and treating your home regularly. 

Scheduling quarterly pest control maintenance is great for homeowners seeking preventive measures as unexpected unwanted guests can wreak havoc on the family’s monthly budget. Hiring a professional pest control specialist assures your family, pet, and home’s safety from the overuse and multiple chemicals found in the aisles of the local home improvement store.  Thus, homeowners should expect to create a pest control protection budget between $400–$1000, depending on these factors. 

Contact Pest Pros for a No-Cost Estimate

Allowing professionals to take care of your unwanted pest allows you more time to enjoy yourself with your loved ones. Although the DIY option may seem enticing, it can potentially cause damage to your home and your health. 

Pest Pros understands and wants to be your partner in protecting the investment you made in your home. We serve our community by offering a no-cost pricing estimate, saving you the initial visit cost. We simply deliver what we say we will; that’s our guarantee. 

How to Get Rid of a Bat in the House

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Are you wondering how to get rid of a bat in the house? As nocturnal creatures, bats spend their days hiding out in small crevices and cracks; in nature, these can be found hollow trees and caves, but bats can also find them in and around your home. Because they frequent dark, damp environments, bats are often associated with all things spooky and unpleasant — so when homeowners realize that a bat has found its way into their living space, most aren’t thrilled about it. While they are not usually aggressive, bats are still unwanted house guests that can potentially carry dangerous bacteria and viruses that can be harmful to humans.

Read on to determine if you have a bat problem within your home, as well as solutions a professional would take to remove them and prevent future infestations. Because it can be potentially dangerous to come in contact with these creatures, it is best to let a bat pest control expert handle these, like those at Pest Pros.

Where Might You Find Bats in Your House?

Most bats in North America are a lot smaller than you think. This makes it pretty hard to spot the quick flying mammals but they do have tendencies; bats like warmer temperatures, the dark, and less traffic. For these reasons, here are a few common places to find bats in your house:

  • Attics
  • Within your walls
  • Garages
  • Roofline of your house
  • Sheds and other outdoor structures

Because bats can carry harmful bacteria and viruses, it’s best to hire a professional to go hunting for bats on your property. If you do decide to check for bats without a professional, however, be sure to wear thick gloves and a jacket as they can carry rabies. Bats don’t tend to attack, but they will defend themselves just like most animals.

One good tip when looking for bats is never put your hand somewhere before looking. Bats can be anywhere and can squeeze through small holes. So make sure to point that flashlight before sticking your hand in.

Another tip is to check high before checking low. Bats are more likely to be above you on the ceiling, behind curtains, vent openings, and high shelves. Even with that being said, don’t forget to look down. These nocturnal creatures do in fact crawl and can be found under items on the floor. You might also find bat droppings, called guano, on the floor. Guano looks quite similar to mouse droppings so that would be an indication of bats living in your home. If you do find little pellets, proceed with caution because it could be dangerous to humans and we explain why later.

Multiple bats hanging from indoor ceiling sleeping.
Black bat hanging from wall sleeping.

Steps to Getting Rid of a Bat in Your House

Once a bat infiltrates your home, the strong smell of their urine and droppings can alert other bats of their location and create a larger bat infestation in your home. The best way to prevent a bat colony from setting up camp in your attic or other dark living areas is to implement exclusion pest control measures that can keep them out for good. Bat-proofing a building is the only efficient and permanent way to eliminate bat problems. There are several steps that your pest control professionals will take to get rid of bats in your home for good:

  1. Inspection. Your pest control experts will observe your home to find out where bats are entering and exiting. This allows them to create a strategy for excluding the pests.
  1. Install a one-way exit device. A one-way exit device is installed at all existing entry/exit points currently used by bats. This can be done by using netting or tubes to cover these openings and will allow the bats that have entered your home to find their way out without inviting more pests inside. 
  1. Seal any other gaps or openings in the home that bats can enter through. Bats are unable to create their own entry points into your home. They are, however, able to enter through openings in your home that are as small as ⅜ of an inch. Once all of the current bats are excluded from your home, close all the gaps, even in areas of the home where bats weren’t living previously. 
  1. Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up. Once everything is closed and it seems like your job is done, make sure to clean up, deodorize, and disinfect all of the urine and droppings. Not only does it attract bats from returning, but bat droppings could also contain diseases that are harmful to humans so make sure to get thoroughly clean with professional gear.

Bat Prevention

While bat removal relies primarily on exclusion techniques, there are preventative measures that can be taken to ensure that your home is free of bats by discouraging them from entering in the first place. There are a couple of ethical ways that you can deter bats from entering the premises.

  • Build a bat house. No, not the “Bat Cave” — a bat house. Similar to a treehouse, you can build one or buy one to mount on a pole or tree. A bat house won’t necessarily draw bats out of your house, but it will invite them to stay outside of your home. Plus, there are benefits of having bats in your backyard. 
  • Apply natural bat repellent spray. A popular bat prevention technique is using a natural bat repellent spray. You can find repellents at most hardware stores and although most use natural ingredients, make sure to read the instructions carefully because it could be harmful to people and other animals. 
  • Consider ultrasonic repellent. You can also purchase ultrasonic bat repellents. These devices emit a sound that deters bats and other animals. A majority of products are safe for cats, dogs, and household pets, but be sure to double-check when you are shopping. 

There are a few other solutions that are marketed to consumers as solutions for bat prevention, such as ultrasonic repellent or natural bat repellent, that, put simply, do not work. In fact, because they give homeowners a false sense of security, the use of these repellents ultimately just prolongs the actual solutions, making it more difficult for professionals to regain control of the infestation once they’ve been called. Buyer beware!

Bat Exclusion During Winter

During the wintertime, bats like to hibernate in warm, dark, and safe locations. This makes your home an ideal location for bats to infiltrate for the season and may take a longer time to get rid of them from your home. Oftentimes, they will roost and raise bat pups during this time of year as well. While this is not an ideal situation for homeowners, this is a delicate one that requires a great deal of knowledge and tact to solve due to bats being a necessary part of maintaining environmental balance.

Because bats are an important part of our Pacific Northwestern ecosystem, there are strict laws set in place to protect them. Pest control professionals are aware of the best way to exclude bats from the home in the most permanent, ethical, and legal way, as designated by bat conservationists.

Following these guidelines, winter bat exclusions should be performed only if it can be determined that no bats are hibernating in the building. Bats can stay in hibernation for up to 183 days, so If bats are present and hibernating inside of your home during the winter months, their exclusion must be postponed all the way until springtime arrives.

Bat exclusion must also be postponed if a mother bat is raising bat pups inside of your home. If she is excluded from the residence while her babies are inside, they will be trapped inside of the roost and unable to receive the food and care that is required for survival. The goal of ethical bat exclusion is to maintain a healthy bat population in the area while keeping homeowners’ peace of mind.

How to Get Rid of Bats in the House – Conclusion

As you may have learned by now, bat prevention and removal is a complex task that requires professional gear and expertise. Keep your home and family safe by leaving bat pest control to the experts. With locations in Washington and Oregon, Pest Pros is the regional expert in pest control. Get a no-cost estimate today!

How to Get Rid of Bats — for Good

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Even as bat “exterminators” at Pest Pros, we can’t deny it: there are plenty of positives about bats. They devour insects, support cave ecosystems, and pollinate plants, to name just a few benefits of these sky-dwelling creatures. Really, we could sit here and talk about the virtues of bats all day. Despite their inherent scariness, they’re very intriguing animals.

However, bats could be responsible for curing world hunger, and homeowners still don’t want them buzzing around their property. With this in mind, many homeowners wonder how to get rid of bats permanently. Read on as we examine how to get rid of a bat in the house and outside the home.

Signs You Have a Bat Problem On Your Property

While you might be lucky (or unlucky) enough to see bats roaming around your property, it’s not all that commonplace. Remember that bats are nocturnal creatures and live in hidden nooks, making it tough to get a clear visual. So, sometimes, you’ll need to perform your best Sherlock Holmes impression and put in a bit of detective work.

You’ll therefore need to know the main signs of a bat infestation, which include:

  • Bat droppings (a.k.a. “guano”) on your walls, ledges, and window sills
  • Odor from bat droppings
  • Bats flying around your property at night, whether they’re arriving or leaving
  • Black stains around entry points
  • Chirping and/or rustling noises

Disclaimer: don’t get too concerned if you see a lone bat circling your home — that doesn’t necessarily indicate any infestation. They might live elsewhere and just eat insects in your yard before heading back to a different roosting spot. A strong indication of an infestation is if the sightings are more frequent, combined with the signs listed above.

Bat “Extermination” Isn’t Usually an Option (Nor Should it Be)

Before you do anything to solve your bat problem, you must know your local laws. 

Why is it crucial for you to perform due diligence? Because most states protect bats and make it illegal to exterminate them, which isn’t surprising given how vital these creatures are to the environment. In Washington state, for example, all species of bats are classified as protected wildlife and cannot legally be hunted, trapped, or killed.

With that, the suggestions below will focus on how to get rid of bats without killing them. With that in mind, we also suggest installing a decoy bat house in your yard. This way, your unwanted tenant will have somewhere to roost once you’ve gotten rid of them. 

Now, we understand if you’d wish to not have any bats around your property at all. But hear us out — there’s a method to the madness. First and foremost, the bats will have a place to stay, meaning they won’t be tempted to keep trying to sneak into your house or onto your porch. Furthermore, they’ll eat insects on your property and be “playing on your team,” so to speak.

Here’s one last point we’ll make before moving forward: you need to act fast at the first sign of a bat pest control problem. Otherwise, you’re leaving your property vulnerable to structural damage and the costly repairs that come with it. If you’ve identified a bat infestation on your property, contact Pest Pros for immediate remediation. 

Where Are Bats Commonly Found On Your Property?

As natural habitats continue to get wiped out by urban sprawl, bats more frequently become tenants inside homes as a means of roosting. How are these nifty creatures able to pull off such a feat? 

Well, bats are tiny and can slide through holes and gaps under an inch in width. There’s essentially no crack or crevice too small for a bat seeking out roosting sites, which typically include:

  • Roofs
  • Eaves and soffits
  • Chimneys and dormers
  • Space beneath broken shingles
  • Areas behind gutters
  • Your porch

How To Get Rid of a Bat in the House

Here’s a breakdown on how to get rid of a bat in the house (or many bats in the house):

  • It’s important to know what type of bat you’re dealing with since each kind has its own maternity season. A mother might get barred from your home, leaving its babies behind, who’ll die (and remember, bats are protected, so this isn’t good, never mind the smell it’ll leave behind). Thus, you shouldn’t take action if a bat is in your home during its specific maternity season. 

  • You’ll want to figure out where the bat is entering from so you can strategize. Typically, entry points are chimneys and vents, roof ridge caps, etc.

  • You can get rid of bats with a one-way exit valve placed at their entry point so they can leave the building without coming back in.

There’s a bit more to this process. But we cover this topic in a more comprehensive guide to getting rid of bats from inside your home.

How to Get Rid of Bats On Porch

A bat can find some of its favorite roosting spots on your porch after they’re finished eating a hearty meal of insects and need a place to rest and digest. Porches draw in bats is due to the nearby lights, which attract mosquitoes and other insects. In short, you’re caught between a rock and a hard place unless you want to be swarmed by mosquitos every time you come outside. Fortunately, we can give you a few tips on how to get rid of bats on porch overhangs: 

Wait Until Winter – The first tactic could plainly be waiting for the winter until the bat leaves due to the cold. While some bats are big enough to hibernate INSIDE your home during the winter, your porch won’t offer enough heat.

Mylar Balloon – However, you might not have the patience to wait until winter. You also might not want to chance the bat getting into your home. So, try hanging a helium-filled Mylar balloon near the roosting spot. If the balloons sway or are suspended by aluminum foil, it should repel the bats from your porch. Hanging chimes or mechanical owls can also help if the balloons are too unsightly for your tastes.

Adjust Roosting Surface – Unlike the two above suggestions, this last one is more longer-term as a solution. Specifically, try altering the roosting surface with something like plexiglass to prevent bats from hanging like they can on brick or wood.

Keep in mind that, while these “solutions” can be effective ways of repelling the bats from your porch specifically, it’s common for the bats on your property to take up residence elsewhere instead — possibly even within your home. The only effective way to eradicate a bat infestation is to call in professionals like Pest Pros. 

Getting Rid of Bats in Your Roof

One of your best bets, when a bat gets into your roof, is using mothballs since they smell naphthalene, which the nocturnal sky-dwellers do not like.

You’ll have to replace the mothballs frequently if you want them to do their job and get rid of the bats because the odor fades quickly. Also, note that you’ll need to use an abundance of mothballs to generate a sizable enough smell, which will then seep into your living space.

Lastly, bats don’t like bright lights that much, so consider using Christmas decorations to repel them from your roof area as well.

Getting Rid of Bats in Winter

Now, we’ll first point out that bats are most active in the early fall. 

All the same, you still might need to concern yourself with getting rid of bats in winter. Specifically, big brown bats are sizeable enough to handle winters inside your home. They’ll find the optimal space to hibernate in your walls and attics, staying cozy and protected from the harsher, frigid elements. 

While this might not seem like a huge issue since the bats are supposed to be hibernating and, therefore, sleeping, there’s more to the story. Drastic changes in winter temperatures lead to bats waking up mid-hibernation. They’ll flap around and wreak havoc around your home until they find a more comfortable spot. 

Your best bet for preventing bats from roosting for the winter is covering your entry points. Observe where the bat leaves at dusk, then hang clear plastic sheeting or bird netting over those areas. 

DIY Isn’t an Option: Call Pest Pros to Get Rid of Bats Permanently

Given the protected status of bats and how crafty these pests are, there comes the point where DIY simply won’t do. You’re limited in how much you can do to free your house of bats by the law, and oftentimes, using hardware-store repellents will only prolonge an actual solution and allow the infestation to grow, making it more difficult for the professionals to control once they’ve been called. For the sake of your own sanity, getting into an epic turf battle with bats isn’t always the best idea.

There comes a time when you need to type “bat removal services near me” into the old Google machine to find a professional to handle the situation. For instance, calling Pest Pros to deal with your bat problem will ensure the pests are removed from your home humanely and permanently.

If you have a bat problem that needs to be dealt with promptly and professionally, contact Pest Pros today.

How to Get Rid of Wolf Spiders

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If you live in Washington state, you most likely have a story about being confronted with a big, hairy wolf spider in your home or backyard. Unfortunately, wolf spiders are a common intruder in Pacific Northwestern homes. You might be wondering where these unwelcome house guests come from, and what can be done to keep them outdoors. As temperatures cool down and autumn weather rolls in, wolf spiders in Washington begin to leave the comfort of their grassy habitats to seek cover in the unsecured crevices of your home. Once they infiltrate your residence, they are known to hide among the clutter of your living space, only making themselves known when you unsuspectingly move a box or appliance. 

While they may look as intimidating as their namesake would suggest, the good news is that wolf spiders are mostly harmless to your family. Here is everything that you need to know about how to get rid of wolf spiders in your house, as explained by the experts at Pest Pros.

Wolf Spider Identification

How do you know if the creepy crawly that has made itself at home is a wolf spider? Here are a few things to watch out for:

  • Eye Orientation – Like all spiders, these pests have 8 eyes and 8 long, hairy legs. However, unlike most spiders, wolf spiders have their eyes arranged in 3 rows to better hunt their insect prey. The same sharp vision that they use to find entry points into your home is used to ambush their unsuspecting victims. 
  • Speed – If you’ve stumbled upon a wolf spider in your home, you may have noticed that they scurry away very quickly and are difficult to catch up with and trap. This is because wolf spiders do not create webs to trap their prey, opting to instead use their long and quick legs to pounce onto smaller bugs before they even realize that the spider is there! 
  • Size – While these pests can be found on both coasts of the United States, the size of wolf spiders in Washington can range anywhere from 1 to 4 inches in length. In other areas of the west coast, they can even grow to be a bit longer than 4 inches including their legs. They tend to be more scaled down in size on the east coast. 
  • Eggs on Abdomen – The most distinct feature that sets wolf spiders apart from other arachnids is the fact that mother spiders carry their babies on their abdomen, making wolf spider extermination to be a tricky task to undertake without potentially making the problem even worse.

Are Wolf Spiders Dangerous?

Unlike the more poisonous brown recluse spider, wolf spiders tend to loiter in less secluded and more easily accessible areas of the home. Even so, they tend to be quite shy and avoid humans as much as they can. The main goal of the wolf spider during this time of year is to stay warm and away from the frigid autumn weather, and they do not like to be disturbed. Because of this, they do not often bite unless they have been thoroughly disturbed and are distressed.

While being bitten by a wolf spider is unlikely, it is still something that can happen. When these spiders do bite, their fangs inject a mild venom that is non-lethal to humans. Their bites are powerful enough to kill their prey, but do not have much of an effect on us; on average, we are 500 times larger than the size of a wolf spider’s typical prey. The most common reaction that humans have to a wolf spider bite is swelling and potentially a mild fever. This is not unlike the symptoms of being stung by a wasp.

While wolf spiders are not fatally poisonous to humans, they are still an unpleasant uninvited house guest that can live for about a year. 

How to get rid of wolf spider

How to Get Rid of Wolf Spiders

If a wolf spider has already found its way into your home, the best way to avoid accidentally releasing the hundreds of spider hatchlings that female wolf spiders ferry around is to trap your new uninvited house guest. The worst thing that you can do is allow your arachnophobia to take over and attempt to squish the spider in a panic; this is to be avoided at all costs! Unless you are looking for a few hundred new 8-legged pets, it is best to find a container to put over the spider to escort it out of your home.

The best way to exterminate a wolf spider is to find a way to keep them out of your home in the first place. There are various ways that this can be done by creating physical barriers that disallow entry:

  • Add weather stripping to seal the entryways of your home’s windows and doors.
  • Caulk the cracks and holes that expose your inner and outer walls to the outside.
  • Repair any openings that you find immediately; it won’t take wolf spiders very long to find them once they start looking!
  • Clear all clutter inside of your home where they can comfortably hide. Wolf spiders love their privacy and will take up residence in clutter!
  • Clear debris outside of your home where they can camp out while waiting for an opportunity to slip in. This includes removing mulch and tall vegetation from around your home’s foundation. 

Since wolf spiders prey on insects, another great way to discourage them from sticking around is to reduce the number of small bugs that will be attracted to your residence. This can be done by dimming the lights on the exterior of your home to avoid attracting the small flying insects that they love to snack on. If you have a problem with small bugs infesting your home, solving this first might help solve your wolf spider dilemma as well. 

Your local licensed pest control professionals will be able to offer the best solution to your infestation.

Call Pest Pros for Wolf Spider Extermination

Every pest emergency is unique and requires a specialized approach to eradicate unwanted visitors for good. Contact our pest control professionals at Pest Pros to learn more about our expert pest extermination services in Washington.