Spiders are interesting arachnids. They spin a web to catch their prey and when they do, they inject their venom to keep them in one place. Spiders are carnivores and often will eat insects that can annoy us such as cockroaches, earwigs, flies, mosquitoes, and fleas. Do spiders eat ants? Yes, some species do but they don’t provide much food for spiders or nutritional value.
Let’s take a look.
Types of Common House Spiders That Eat Ants
There are several types of spiders that will eat ants. As mentioned above, ants don’t provide a primary food source but many spiders also won’t pass them by either if hungry. The ones that like ants are the following:
- Crab spiders
- Wall spiders
- Lynx spiders
- Daddy long legs
- Jumping spiders
- Daddy long legs
- Ant spiders – mostly eat ants
Ant Spiders
Ant spiders are also known as Zodarion rubidium spiders and are from the Zodariidae family. They are found all over the world on different continents. These spiders are unique because they hunt ants in the daytime hours and have ant-like behaviors. They also live alongside ants and mimic their chemical trails as well and this type of spider is often referred to as an ant mimic.
Brown Recluse and Black Widows
In Florida, we have two species of spiders that also eat ants, the brown recluse and black widows. Unfortunately, both of these are dangerous to humans so you need to be careful if you come into contact with them.
What Do Household Spiders Eat
There are a lot of things that household spiders will eat. Things such as frogs, crickets, lizards, birds, grasshoppers, or rodents. These delicacies that the spiders like are things you probably don’t want to see in the home anyways.
Spiders help balance the ecosystem by catching mosquitoes, flies, moths, and other insects. An interesting fact is that spiders as a whole eat tons of insects each year. In fact, hundreds of millions of tons of insects!
Spiders will spin cobwebs to catch creepy crawlers, flying insects, and other things. Some spiders don’t spin a web but rely on actively hunting for food instead.
Why Do Household Spiders Live Inside?
It is easier for these spiders to live indoors as they can easily find the food, insects, and water that they need. You can reduce the number of spiders by sealing entry points in doorways or windows and this will lower the amount of spiders and insects in the home.
How Do Spiders Eat Their Prey?
As we know, most spiders will spin a web to catch their prey. However, they don’t bite and chew their food. Instead, they have appendages called pedipalps near their mouth to sense objects. The pedipalps also help hold the prey in place.
Then, once they have the prey in place, they use their fangs to inject venom. Also, they will inject their venom and digestive enzymes into the prey. This makes the insect’s insides turn to liquid and then the spider drinks this bug protein shake. The exoskeleton is then left behind.
How to Prevent Spiders In The Home
Even though spiders aren’t attracted to the food we eat, if we leave food out, insects will be attracted to it. Then, the spider comes into the area of the home because the insect that likes the food attracts the spider. You can keep spiders out of the home without using harsh chemicals by making sure that food is put away.
Recommended Maintenance
Now that you know about spiders that eat ants, let’s take a look at other areas of maintenance. One of those is repelling earwigs. No one likes to see earwigs and using coffee grounds to keep them away can help. They are a nuisance and don’t like the smell of coffee so they tend to stay away. It is also better than using chemicals.
Another area is millipedes. You may see this arthropod with a million little legs and wonder if it is dangerous. The good news is millipedes are not dangerous, but they can irritate your skin if you touch them with bare hands so keeping your hands away and watching from a distance may be a good idea.
Lastly, when walking through tall grass, you may find chiggers on your clothes. They are small red bugs that will attach themselves to clothing but the worst place is to your body. This is where your concern needs to be. Chiggers will inject enzymes that will break down skin pores or hair follicle cells in your body. On clothes though, they will only live a few hours.
When To Call A Professional
If you find that you have an influx of spiders or ants in the home, you may have an infestation. You can contact a professional to come out to take a look at your situation. Many people don’t like spiders and some people are deathly afraid of them so calling on a professional to take care of the situation is a great idea.
Conclusion
Pest control is important to have for your home. This is especially true in the state of Florida. Spiders help take care of the environment by eating many of the insects we don’t like so you want to know what kind of spiders you have so you don’t disrupt this process. If you have an ant issue or spider issue, reach out to All South Pest Control to determine your pest service needs in McDonough, GA, and the surrounding areas.
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