Non-web-building spiders are ground spiders that don’t need a web to catch their prey. They actively hunt their prey by running after them or catching them through an ambush. The most common ground spiders of concern to homeowners are white-tail spiders and huntsman, but wolf spiders are also commonly encountered.

Typically, these spiders live outside and come inside by accident, trying to escape the heat or looking for prey.

One of the key behavioural features of these hunting spiders is that they are fast-moving and walk on the tips of their legs. This is important when considering treatments and control methods.

As hunting spiders run on the tips of their legs, they will often walk over a treated surface and pick up very little insecticide. No matter what a pest manager tells you, there is no treatment that will guarantee 100% protection from running spiders.

But we have a few tricks up our sleeve to get pretty close…

Hunting spiders are generally only hanging around your house because there’s plenty of food (prey). If you carry out a pest treatment to eliminate insects and web-building spiders, you remove the prey for hunting spiders. Indeed, black house spiders are actually a favourite prey for white-tail spiders.

Our spider treatments ensure a comprehensive exterior treatment to eliminate insects and web-building spiders and we spray a wide band of insecticide – a metre up the wall and a metre out from the wall – to eliminate prey for hunting spiders and maximise the chance of controlling any spider that walks across the surface.

It is perfectly normal to get one or two hunting spiders in the home over the course of a year, but having several over the course of a few weeks suggests a more specific problem. If you have an “infestation” of white-tail or huntsman spiders, a more in-depth inspection is often required to try and find the source of the problem. In such circumstances, we would also carry out a specific spot treatment.

As always knowledge and expertise are the foundation for the best results. When it comes to protecting your family and pets from spiders, it’s also important we live up to our name – for expert spider control call Spiderman SE.