Common House Spiders – King of the Cobwebs

Although common house spiders are of little consequence to humans due to their small medical impact on humans, they are of importance due to being a nuisance pest.

Common house spiders are in the family of cobweb spiders that hang upside down in the webs to collect their prey. Be aware there is one type of cobweb spider that is of medical importance: the black widow spider and is considered poisonous.

The common household spider, although venomous, may not have the ability to pierce human skin. Even so, this type of spider may be found in shoes, boots and clothing that are left for long periods of time unused. Always check footwear and clothing before wearing them. 

Here is some interesting information on common household spiders.

• Their main food source is smaller insects, usually mosquitoes, ants and many immature insect types.
• The female can produce hundreds of young during her lifetime so control early on is of value.
• Common house spiders build tangled webs which normally can be found in corners in homes, crawlspaces, attics or cluttered areas.
• Webs are built by the females and juveniles and often also built on the outside of the structure between eaves and walls and in soffits.   
• Since the common house spider is quite small, from 4 to 7 millimeters in size, it can cause quite a mess of webs in a structure without one noticing the spider itself. 
• Normally the common house spiders are not found out in the wild except for at openings at entrances of caves or on dry rock ledges. 

Not all spiders are dangerous, but recognizing different species can give a good hint as to how control can be accomplished.