Top 5 Basement Bugs in Virginia

Brown Recluse Spider

Many different spiders live in your basement, including possibly, the brown recluse spider, which is one of the few dangerously venomous spiders in North America. The chances of you having this species in your basement is quite small. Spiders are great exterminators because they eat any flying and crawling bugs that might gain access to your basement on a daily basis.

But if you do think you have found a brown recluse, take a few moments to make a positive identification. Brown recluse spiders are in a group known as “huntsmen,” because they roam around at night and sometimes wind up in bedclothes or shoes, or clothes left on the floor. Their bite is almost unnoticeable at first, but some bites develop into serious lesions.

Centipedes

Centipedes are quick-moving scavengers and predators that prowl basement floors at night. They can bite, and, yes, they are poisonous. But the ones in your basement aren’t going to
hurt you unless you pick one up and give it no option.

Centipedes do much more good than harm, they eat dead bugs, which is very useful, because without centipedes, you’d probably see an abundance of dead flies and spiders. Centipedes also eat cockroach eggs.

Silverfish

Silverfish are present in virtually every home, where they hang out in drains and dark corners. You’ll see them occasionally, when they get caught out after sunrise, often in a sink or bathtub. Silverfish are nearly impossible to catch and even harder to kill, so you should just wash them down the drain or find a way to ignore them.

Like centipedes, silverfish are scavengers who consume the bits and pieces that filter down to the lowest spaces in your home. You would really only notice the silverfish in your home if they disappeared, leaving you with, a somewhat dirtier dwelling. Silverfish can be considered as part of your home’s nighttime clean-up squad.

Earwigs

Earwigs are completely harmless. They have a tendency to frighten many people because of the pincers on the back of their abdomens. Earwigs use these pincers for defense and for sparing with rival earwigs.There are more than twenty species of earwigs in the United States. Depending on the species, adults range in size from 5-25 mm. They are slender insects with two pair of wings. They are found on flower-tops on sunny summer days. If they’re in your house, it’s because they’re trying to escape the cold and find food.

Termites

Termites are a problem. They may feed on structural wood, wood fixtures, paper, books, cotton and related products. Damage to the structural wood introduces moisture and rot,which can literally destroy your home from the inside.