Spiders are beneficial as they eat bugs. They also silently crawl on you when you are awake and while you sleep. Doesn’t it just make you feel all warm and fuzzy………..NOT! I remember the glorious feeling of slowly moving through the woods in the cool fall air hunting squirrels as I did in my youth. You spend your time looking up, into the trees as a peaceful feeling washes over you. Then you walk through the thick web of a wood spider (aka garden spider). You make a rather loud squealing type noise, drop your gun and invent a few new karate moves. You pick up the gun, get the dirt out of the barrel and spend the rest of the hunt looking for spider webs. I’m sure the squirrels had a good laugh.
Not all of our local arachnids are as fun-loving as the garden spider. Of the venomous spiders in the US, the black widow and the brown recluse are the two that are in our area. I am always leery of spiders and take proper precautions in their preferred environment. They like undisturbed areas like sheds, piles of wood and leaves, under beds, nightstands, dressers and all that stuff in the garage. A bite from either of these will not be fun. Black widow bites are painful and in some cases can cause death. Brown recluse bites are rarely fatal but the toxin causes tissue to die requiring surgery in extreme cases. The more you know the better prepared you will be if you find yourself in their world.
Most folks are ready to go to war with any and all spiders they find. I have a somewhat live and let live attitude when it comes to spiders outside. When they show up in the house, they are fair game. There are several ways to kill, remove and prevent spiders from a house. Research your options carefully and pick the one that fits your needs. But if you’re ready to wage war our best spider killers are called Tempo, Viper, and Demon. Tempo and Demon are concentrates only. Viper is available in concentrate and ready to use. Whatever product you choose read and follow the label direction.
It’s spring in Texas. The winter slumber is now over for all of Mother Nature’s critters including everyone’s favorite parasite, the CHIGGER! Also known as a red bug, berry bugs, harvest mites, scrub-itch mites and those low life belly crawling pond scum sucking………. In the case of chiggers, the best defense is a good offense. 
They came from South America sometime in the 1930’s and made themselves right at home. Fire ants infest most of the southeastern United States. If you are new to the area it takes only seconds to be introduced to them. After that, they are close to the most hated critter on the planet. There are tons of home remedies to fight fire ants but try to stick to the ones that have some science behind them. Remember that this is a process, not an event.
