What To Do If A Tarantula Wanders Into Your Home

Watching a tarantula scurry along the floor can make anyone's flesh crawl unless you enjoy keeping exotic pets. These spiders are big — not Hollywood movie-level big — but enough to fit your coffee mug with their nearly 11-inch-long legs attached to a 4.75-inch hairy frame. Luckily, if you're looking for ways to get rid of spiders after you've come face-to-face with these eight-eyed creatures, you only need a critter catcher or a vacuum to kick them out of your home. But if they're one too many, you can spray them with an insecticide or seek professional help.

However, the real deal lies in not making mistakes that attract spiders to your home and permanently keeping them out. To do so, caulk their entry points, clean up all messy spots, and fix leaky areas to deprive tarantulas of their favorite lurking places. This should prevent the off chance of you being bitten or sprayed by their venomous hairs that sting and cause inflammation but are generally non-poisonous, as per a StatPearls article.

Unlike their spider brethren, tarantulas shun spinning aerial webs, instead choosing to burrow underground and stay there for their entire lives. But you may chance upon them during the summer and fall seasons when the male spiders are busy looking for mates or, rarely, foraging for food at night. Under such circumstances, you can sweep them into a disposable bag or capture them with a spider catcher. Another option is to trap the creepy crawlies in a container, slide a sheet below to keep them in place and dispose of them when outside.

However, watch out for their agitated pose, wherein they stand baring their fangs and raising their front legs to avoid being bitten. That said, consider pushing out the massive spiders with any handy tool if crawling on the wall or near a window. But if you'd rather kill them, spread adhesive spider traps or wettable powders in their harbor areas to trap them on the glue. Alternatively, use a Bifenthrin or Cypermethrin-containing insecticide to drive out tarantulas from their nesting sites. To prevent the spray from splitting the egg sac, vacuum their hiding spots. And if all else fails, call in a pest exterminator to nip the problem in the bud.

Removing wandering tarantulas once isn't sufficient to permanently exterminate their presence. In other words, you must take steps to seal away all entry pathways, gaps, and openings that they use to enter your abode. This means putting up screens on windows and closing any door spaces. To prevent uninvited houseguests from crashing through the windowsills, lawn owners should regularly prune their tufts and flora, remove old garden structures like sheds and logs, and clear out debris so the critters are left without suitable burrow building spaces.

To deal with the occasional foragers roaming about in search of juicy meals, obstruct the food chain by dimming the lights at night. After all, little or no lighting keeps the spider's prey away, forcing it to foray elsewhere. Dusting and vacuuming around crawl spaces and corners is essential, too. Apply insecticide powder as a precautionary measure around lurking spots, such as in attics, garages, basements, cabinets, and underneath boxes. Finally, don't forget to keep your home moisture-free by fixing water leakages and wiping down wet areas, like under sinks and bathtubs.