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Find out why living with spiders indoors can be positive for both parties

Image: Photo by Tony Fortunato on Unsplash

It may be hard to believe, but killing spiders that wander around your house may not be necessary. Spiders are an important part of nature and the "home ecosystem", as well as beings in their own right to live. If that didn't convince you, know that most spiders that appear in human homes are harmless and even help to fight pests such as mosquitoes and other spiders.

People like to think of their homes as safe and isolated environments from the outside, but they forget that human beings interact with several other species, such as insects, which makes many of them find in our homes environments that are conducive to their lives. This is the case of some spiders, which like dry and dark environments and can lodge in small corners away from a shelf, in a window that is never opened or in the junk room (by the way, how about cleaning around? ).

• Dispose of furniture, electronics, appliances and many other old objects without leaving your home

A group of American entomologists conducted a survey to find out what types of spiders are most common in human homes. They visited 50 homes in North Carolina (USA), all of them with spiders and humans living together, and found that the most common types are the Theridiidae (a family of spiders that includes more than 2,000 species) and the Pholcidae (family with a fence). of a thousand species and considered harmless to humans).

In every house, spiders left webs ready to capture prey. Pholcidae spiders sometimes leave webs ready to trick other spiders by capturing them for dinner. Although spiders are generally predators, ready to eat anything they can catch, they often catch insects that are uncomfortable for humans and even disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes and mosquitoes.

There are even some species of jumping spiders (found in African homes) that prefer to eat mosquitoes with blood, thus preventing the transmission of disease. In other words: killing spiders doesn't only cost them their lives, it can also end up with an important natural predator of the pests that attack us.

But it is normal to be afraid of spiders. They have many legs and are almost all poisonous - although most species don't even have the strength of their claws to pierce human skin, and a poison too weak to cause us any problems. The fear of spiders is normal even among entomologists, who are specialists in insects. There are even some professionals in the field who overcame their fear just by studying spiders in depth.

Discover the story of Fiona Cross, an arachnologist who was terrified of spiders.

Spiders have no interest in attacking humans and actually prefer to avoid us - we are more dangerous to them than the other way around. Spider bites are extremely rare, although there are some species whose bites, although rare, cause serious consequences, such as the black widow and the violinist spider.

If you really can't put up with spiders in your house, apartment, garage or other indoor environments, next time try to catch and release them outside. They will find another place to call home and you will be happy too. Another idea might be to use natural products to scare them off instead of killing them. Learn about some options in the article "Spider repellent: know ecological types of insecticide for spiders".

But, if you are not afraid of spiders or have big problems with them, it is perfectly acceptable to have spiders at home. It's even something extremely normal. Even if you don't see your house spiders, chances are you have a few sharing the space and helping you with unwanted mosquito and mosquito control, so it's convenient to consider a "live and let live" relationship.