There are hundreds of spiders that make their home in Idaho. Even though they are creepy to most people and an unwanted house guest, there are only a couple that you need to be worried about. By in large, spiders are a good addition to gardens and other outdoor spaces since they help keep the insect population down. However, there are places where people generally don’t want spiders in their homes, being one of them. Pestcom Pest Management would like to talk about one spider that poses a danger to humans, the Hobo Spider.
Hobo Spider Identification
Hobo spiders didn’t pose a threat to Idaho residents until the 1960s and 1970s. Then, suddenly, there was a surge of people seeking medical attention for spider bites that closely resembled the brown recluse spider. Brown recluse spiders don’t live in Idaho, though.
By the mid-1980s, spider toxicologist and expert Darwin Vest were able to identify the spider as the Tegenaria Agrestisare or more commonly known as the Hobo Spider. This spider is brown, much like the brown recluse, but the markings are quite different.
The Hobo Spider is about ¼ inch long with solid brown legs. If you see legs with any markings on them, you aren’t dealing with the hobo spider. While their legs are solid brown, they have chevron-shaped markings on their body.
Hobo Spider Habitat
This spider is known to be a very aggressive house spider. They are not known to be good climbers, so if you see brown spiders walking across your ceiling, they probably aren’t hobo spiders. However, they are incredibly fast spiders. Like the common house spiders, Hobo Spiders like to inhabit homes and workspaces near humans. They seek dark, humid places and can be found in woodpiles and under rocks outside.
A commonplace the hobo spider is found building its web underneath the siding of houses as well. Hobo spiders build funnel-shaped webs, and this is a distinctive characteristic. Their webs are also not sticky to the touch. They trap their prey in the funnel-shaped web before it can escape rather than have the prey stick to their web.
Hobo Spider Bite Treatment
The Hobo Spider bite is rather nasty. You may not even realize you got bitten at first since the bite is almost painless in the beginning. However, within 24 hours, you will notice a blister start to form, and within 24-36 hours, that blister will break, leaving a nasty open and oozing wound. Common side effects often include nausea, headache, and fatigue. If a Hobo Spider has bitten you, the wound should be appropriately cleaned, and medical attention is needed to possibly get a tetanus shot or other antibiotics to treat the damage.
Your wound should heal within 2-3 weeks but will leave a permanent scar most of the time. If you experienced the bite in a fatty area such as your upper arms and legs, it could be an intense bite and take years for the bite to heal completely.
If all this doesn’t work then, call a pest control in Boise to get rid of these spiders.