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Learn how to identify whether there are spiders or scorpions infesting your home so that you can contact a pest control service to provide the appropriate methods of extermination and prevention for these pests.

Signs of a Scorpion Versus Spider Infestation in Your Home

In the desert environment of Las Vegas, both spiders and scorpions can infest a home. These pests are feared not only because they look creepy, but also due to their painful and sometimes venomous bites. Knowing what type of pest is invading your home can help you take the appropriate control measures, such as calling for professional scorpion extermination in Las Vegas.

Physical Characteristics

Spiders and scorpions are both arachnids, have segmented bodies and have a total of eight legs. Despite these similarities, there are some physical characteristics that differ between spiders and scorpions. Spiders have a pair of fangs on their heads. Scorpions have a stinger on the end of their tails, but no fangs are present on the head segment. Scorpions usually have pinchers located on the middle segment of their bodies. Scorpions have a long segmented tail while spiders lack tails and pinchers.

Behavioral Differences

Spiders have spinnerets that they use to produce silk and build a web. Different types of spiders build different types of webs, but all spiders produce some sort of a web to catch their prey. Scorpions do not have a spinneret and do not build or live in webs.

How Scorpions Get into a Home

Scorpions gain access to a house by squeezing through small gaps and crevices. They will use gaps under exterior doors, cracks around low windows or crevices around plumbing and flue vents. Scorpions may also climb into or onto boxes, outdoor furniture or firewood and hitch a ride into a home that way. Once inside a house, scorpions seek out a dark and dry hiding place such as a crawlspace, the bottom of a cabinet or behind seldom-used items stored in a garage or basement. You may see molted carapaces or desiccated scorpion bodies, which are signs of an infestation.