When does spider season end? Why there are so many spiders in your house right now and how to stop them
Arachnophobes will already be well aware that the UK is already well into spider season – with so many of the eight-legged friends weaving webs across doorways or even venturing inside homes.
Spider season in the UK is roughly between late summer and early autumn, Professor Adam Hart, an ecologist at the University of Gloucestershire, told i.
It is the time when people report seeing the most number of house spiders roaming around their homes, said Professor Hart. This period coincides with the mating season of house spiders, he said, which only occurs once a year.
“What normally happens is that male spiders are on the lookout for female spiders for mating and they get very wandering,” he said. “So they cover a lot of ground looking for females and that’s what we’re normally seeing.”
Are the spiders we see in our homes in the UK dangerous?
Professor Hart says we’ve got very benign spiders in the UK. “In terms of the spiders we see [in the home] – they’re harmless enough,” said Professor Hart. “They’re just looking for mates usually.”
When does spider season end?
Mating season does not last long and is usually over by mid October, said Professor Hart. “This period is generally the only time of the year that we see them [house spiders] in the house,” said Hart.
How do you best get rid of spiders in your home?
Moving spiders outdoors by trapping them in a glass using a piece of card is the most humane way to remove spiders from the house, said Professor Hart.
But the problem with this method for people who are scared of spiders is that you have to get quite close to the spider to do this. He said that there are spider “grabbers” on the market that can be used to humanely remove spiders from an arms’ length.
Spiders play a vital role in our ecosystems, he said.
Professor Hart said: “They are important predators of various other insects. If you didn’t have these predators – what normally happens is that one species kind of ends up dominating and so you have lower biodiversity… so having predators around actually increases biodiversity.”
Where are house spiders the rest of the time?
“They’re all over the place,” said Professor Hart.
He added: “They’re outside of the garden, they’re in garages, they’re probably wandering around the walls of homes. Our houses are just sort of part of their continuous habitat.”
