How to Prevent Black Widow Spider Bites

Taking measures to prevent black widow spider bites is the first step in coping with their unwanted presence. Use these practical tips to modify your daily life and routine to safeguard yourself from painful and poisonous black widow spider bites.

Instructions

• 1

  Keep all your clothes in tightly-sealed plastic containers. If you prefer to hang your clothes, place them in bags that can be zippered shut.

• 2

  Shake clothing and footwear before dressing. Black window spiders, like brown recluse spiders, may find unused clothing perfect to hide in.

• 3

  Dress in long-sleeve shirts, gloves and pants before moving or handling cardboard boxes, firewood, lumber and rocks. Piles of these items are especially attractive to black widow spiders.

• 4

  Use gloves when working outdoors. Black widow spiders are more comfortable in outdoor than indoor environments and piles of wood and debris can often harbor black widow spiders.

• 5

  Enter solitary, outdoor buildings and crawl spaces cautiously and dressed in clothes that cover your entire body. Black widow spiders like to build homes in places that remain largely undisturbed. Outhouses, garages and tool sheds are places where black widow spiders often choose to reside and spin their webs.

• 6

  Exercise caution when reaching into warm, dark places both indoors and outdoors. Trash cans and attics can be especially hospitable to black widow spiders.

• 7

  Clean the inside and outside of your home regularly. Cleaning disturbs environments, and black widow spiders prefer to live in spaces that are left undisturbed. Rearrange your furniture after you clean.

• 8

  Position sticky traps near windows, doors, cracks, crevices and other possible spider entryways. Check the sticky traps for black widow spiders regularly and dispose of any spider trapped.