It has nothing to do with how well you keep your house. Black Widow spiders don’t come into just cluttered houses. All it takes is to have one dark or dimly-lit corner that one can establish a web and, that’s it. You’ve got a Black Widow in the house and now. Why? Because we live in the desert. Look on the bright side: At least it isn’t a scorpion, right? Not that either one is a pleasant discovery.

Image of an adobe home beneath a small mountain in Tucson, ArizonaMarana residents especially have more experience with various denizens of the desert, but all of the Tucson area is home to these creatures. But there are ways to safeguard your home against the Black Widow. While Marana residents will probably also be more apt to dealing with scorpions, they, too, can benefit from knowing how to take pre-emptive action against Black Widows.

House Cleaning Tips to Keep Black Widow Spiders Away

1.) Keep Corners Clean: You should always use a broom or duster to clean the corners from the ground to the ceiling. However, never stick your bare hand into a corner area that you cannot see. If a spider is there, you can be bitten. A better option is hiring Maids by Trade to give your house a professional house cleaning. Why? Because they’ll have the right tools for the job to make sure those corners get clean and stay clean.

2.) Keep Doors Sealed: Make sure the weather-stripping on the bottom of your door is keeping a good seal. Black Widow spiders don’t come into your house as big as they are when you finally see them. They come in as tiny baby spiders, under the door. Or they come in through poorly-sealed windows. Residents in areas with newer homes like Marana will have better sealed windows. But in older neighborhoods with the old, jalousie-style windows, there’s usually a gap between the window and the frame. That’s another way baby spiders get in. Because we know this, unless we want to replace all those windows, it’s a good idea to have a professional house cleaning service come in regularly. Even with sealed windows and doors, Maids by Trade is a wise investment because you can’t keep baby spiders out 100% when they are the size of the head of a pin.

Image of a well-decorated living room, with black widow spiders crawling around it3.) Routine Checks: Generally speaking, Black Widow spider webs are hard to see. That’s why people get bitten. The webs are hard to see and this spider hides well. People usually feel the web before they see it. These insects are also nocturnal and prefer to come out at night. During the day, you might not even see them. It may hide behind things. You have to check your corners regularly for these webs. Don’t use your hand! Use a long stick, at least a foot long, and run it up corners and around areas. This is not in any way perfect. They can be under a rarely-used table, for example. It truly does pay off to have Maids by Trade come in and give your home a professional house cleaning.

4.) Night Patrol: Because these spiders are nocturnal, night is the best time to look for them in the house. Yes, the lights can be on. Many insects operate on an instinct of knowing when it is night even if the lights are on. This is the time to be the most careful of them because they’re active. Once you discover a lot of webs in the corners, this is the time to have a professional house cleaning.

image of a pest control worker spraying under a table and chairs for spiders on an outdoor patio5.) Silly String Test: Some people will be reluctant to look for webs using a stick, and rightfully so. The kids’ canned “silly string” can be sprayed into corners or areas where you think a web is but can’t see well enough to risk putting your hand. The silly string will stick to the web. It might even cause the spider to reveal itself as well, sensing the movement. The military uses silly string to look for the tripwires of booby-traps. The same principle is at work using it for searching for spider webs. Hair spray can also be used, because it’ll stick to the web. If this is all too much, hey, there’s an easier solution. Maids by Trade will give your home a professional house cleaning and you won’t need to mount an anti-spider military operation in evenings at home you’d rather spend in much more enjoyable activities. Folks in Marana often have a longer commute, so the last thing a tired person needs is a spider sweep-and-clear that night.

6.) It Isn’t All About You: You can’t say, “I keep my house clean” and think you cannot have Black Widow spiders set up shop in your home. You don’t think like a spider. So you can’t know when, why, or how they might come in. This is the desert. People have scorpions get into the house. People in areas of Marana also have rattlesnakes to watch for in their yards. You can’t think you’re immune to this and live here. Having a professional house cleaning is always a good idea. They clean as a business. That’s why they can see what you don’t. Maids by Trade can give your house the house cleaning it deserves—and you deserve.

House Cleaning: Top to Bottom

Look, it isn’t just about these spiders. Because the city of Tucson says weeds in the yard cannot be over 6 inches in height, people usually hire a landscaping service to do their yards and keep the weeds down. This is quite common. But why is the inside of the house overlooked when it comes to having a professional do it? The outside looks great, yes, that’s nice. But what about the inside? Do you not deserve to live in the same care and attention to detail in house cleaning as the outside of the house got in cleaning? Think of it as the whole picture: Outside and inside.