Common house spiders

There are all kinds of spiders around the world. For every block in an urban area, there are millions of spiders. So, of course, humans and spiders often interact. That causes a lot of concerns for people because fear of spiders is one of the most common phobias. People worry about spider bites, even though they are completely uncommon and very rare and the number of spider bites that might actually be a health risk to humans is even more rare.

One of the most ubiquitous spiders, found in nearly every home or building, is the Common House Spider. As you can tell from the name, they are very common. They are the ones who build webs in the corners of ceilings, near floors, in basements and in living rooms. Are they dangerous? Western Exterminator is the expert in removing spider infestations and preventing spiders from returning.

If you have a spider problem, contact Western Exterminator today and discuss a spider treatment and prevention solution.

Common house spider characteristics

The common house spider is a relatively small spider that has adapted to urban life and humans, often setting up their webs in houses and buildings, which makes them one of the most common arachnids to have human interactions. The standard common house spider is in the achaearanea tepidariorum family.

The female common house spider is between 5 - 8 mm in length. Males are, like most species of spider, smaller. Their coloring is usually dark gray or brown with stripes or markings along their legs. They have thin legs and thicker, round, bodies. Although common house spiders will set up their webs in the wild, they have adapted well to urban sprawl and are often found in webs inside homes.

Common house spider habits

Common house spiders are often confused with brown recluse or black widow spiders because they set up similar messy, disorganized webs. Sometimes the large, round abdomen with markings on it gets confused with those two spiders as well. However, the Common House spider will set up their webs in the corners of ceilings and one of the signs that you have them around are cobwebs as they abandon their webs and those abandoned webs collect dust.

Common house spiders may not set up one spot to build a web and wait. They will try different locations around the house until the find a spot that is abundant in food. They use their webs to trap smaller insects and they often spend time at the far end of a funnel-shape until prey gets trapped. They will then envenom their prey and wrap them in webbing for consumption later.

How do common house spiders get inside a home?

The common house spider is not a very big arachnid. They don't need much space to squeeze through and get inside a house. Common house spiders prefer quiet areas, off in a corner, where they can find prey.You very often see them in basements.

A common house spider gets inside a home through cracks in the foundation. They can enter interior wall spaces through holes and cracks in siding or exterior walls. Common house spiders can easily crawl under doors with any space below the bottom of the door and the ground. Any holes in window screens or any space in the house, they can use.

Once a common house spider enters a property, they set up their webs and start to feed. If a male and female get inside, they will soon lay eggs in their webs.When the spiderlings hatch, they will find other areas of the house to set up their own webs and the cycle continues. Thus, you can quickly go from having one or two common house spiders to a full on common house spider infestation.

Common house spiders bites

It is very unlikely that a common house spider will bite a human. They do not wander around as much as black widows and brown recluse spiders once they have found a place where the food is abundant. They prefer to sit in their webs and wait for prey to get trapped rather than hunting. Males might travel to look for mates during mating season, but they are very small and also unlikely to bite.

The common house spider will bite if provoked. However, even then it would often take grabbing the spider, handling it, or even pressing it to the skin to get it to bite.

Are common house spider bites venomous?

Common house spiders do have venom in their fangs that they use to paralyze prey. However, they have very small fangs and the amount of venom within them is minimal compared to the average human. Most humans are unlikely to have a reaction to a common house spider bite.

People who are sensitive to insect bites and stings might have a reaction. Red bumps, rashes and hives could indicate an allergic reaction and medical attention should be sought immediately.

Western Exterminator common house spider solutions

If you have a large number of webs, it could mean you have a common house spider infestation problem. Although there is little in the way of health risks associated with the House spider, those webs, as they collect dust and debris, can make your home look messy. Western Exterminator spider control specialist can help get rid of common house spiders already there and offer advice on how to prevent them from returning.

Don't let your arachnophobia get the better of you. Contact a Western Exterminator specialist today.