Bugs in Post Falls/CDA (house, live, dangerous)

[oakread2]

We are looking at the Post Falls/CDA area as a place to relocate to, and I had a question about bugs. Specifically spiders. What kinds are up there and how many are poisonous? My husband hates spiders and wants to know if having a pest control company should be part of our budget.

[Sage of Sagle]

Yes, you should budget for pest control as part of your budget. We spray a couple times a year. Spiders aren't generally a big issue, but as it gets colder in the fall you don't want them coming inside. Best way is to keep trees back from your house. We cleared 80' around our house, and we have almost no issues with spiders at all. Our spraying is primarily to keep down the ant population and wasp nests.

[javatom]

There are no termites in cda.

[oakread2]

Thanks so much. He hasn't asked about it yet, but now I'll have an answer when he does!

[elousv]

There are basically two potentially dangerous spiders that you may come across. First is Black Widow and second is Hobo. I have not seen either one in 4 years that I have lived here. I used to see Black Widows often in CA. The ants are enormous compared to the ones I was used to in CA. The most annoying to me around here are Wasps and Hornets.

[FiloTV]

Originally Posted by elousv

There are basically two potentially dangerous spiders that you may come across. First is Black Widow and second is Hobo. I have not seen either one in 4 years that I have lived here. I used to see Black Widows often in CA. The ants are enormous compared to the ones I was used to in CA. The most annoying to me around here are Wasps and Hornets.

Yes, the ants are huge and their bites hurt like the dickens.

[oakread2]

Well, we dealt with huge red ants when we moved here last year, and the pest control company got rid of them. Thanks for all the help!

[RugbyDave]

I work in Arachnology as a secondary job (who could do that for their primary job ) and before leaving Idaho this past May, I conducted a few spider counts and collections around CDA and Poky. I will say my data represents what I would call a 'healthy' amount of widows in the area of both cities. Hobos seemed to be down more in Poky versus CDA, which may in part be due to the amount of endemic Jumping Spiders around the Poky area, many of which are known to be predators of hobos. There are a few other papers presenting this same phenomenon.

I would not be too worried! Widow females are the ones to watch and they rarely leave their webs. Hobos on the other hand do wander, and represent medically significant bites as well, though most hobo bites are overblown or are in part due to other factors (skin issues, viruses, bacteria, MRSA, etc). Many spiders do not even inject full loads of venom when they bite as well.

Bottom line: keep clean and check around your house (trees, wood, brush) but there are no spider apocalypses occurring in CDA. Bring some jumpers in and they'll help keep the real nasty population down!