Most spiders around homes in Nassau County and Queens are harmless and even helpful, since they eat other pests. Common ones include house spiders, cellar spiders, wolf spiders, orb weavers, and grass spiders. Dangerous species are rare here: the brown recluse isn't established in the Northeast, and black widows are uncommon.
Spiders make people nervous. But the good news if you’re in Nassau or Queens County is that the ones you'll typically meet around a home here are no threat. In fact, they even do you the courtesy of preying on insects.
Common house spiders make small, messy webs in corners and on ceilings. Cellar spiders are the long ones with thin legs, also called daddy-long-legs. They like to spend time in basements and other damp, quiet spaces. Wolf spiders are larger ground hunters that chase prey instead of spinning webs. They’re big and they’re fast, which makes them look scary, but they usually keep to themselves.
Then there are outdoor spiders. You have the orb weavers, which build the classic round garden webs. There are also grass spiders that spin funnel-shaped webs. You may also see small jumping spiders that can be found by walls and plants by day.
All of them are doing pest control on your behalf, eating mosquitoes, flies, and other insects, so a few around the yard are a sign of a working ecosystem more than a problem.
Brown recluses are usually not found in New York or the Northeast more broadly. Every once in a while, one will show up in shipped goods. Black widows are a little more common, but still rare, and they tend to stick to undisturbed spots like woodpiles, sheds, and crawlspaces rather than living areas.
Spiders are mainly a pain when you see a lot of them indoors. If you find this to be the case, you likely have an insect problem because that is what’s feeding them.
If you're tired of spiders and the webs that come with them, Mosquito Squad of Nassau County and Queens can help. Mosquito Squad offers perimeter treatments that help control spiders and the pests they feed on. These are applied by a trained technician alongside barrier service which allows you to enjoy an up to 90% reduction in mosquito activity on a 21-day cycle.
