The little spiders in bed are the spiderlings or baby spiders that hatch from the spider egg sacs in your bedroom. Adult spiders hiding in your home can lay eggs in cluttered areas of your bedroom, which leads to tiny spiders in bed.
However, there are many small adult spiders that can end up on your bed.
In this guide, you’ll find the types of tiny spiders in your bed and what attracts spiders to your bedroom.
You’ll also find arachnologist-approved ways to eliminate tiny spiders in the bed and bedroom safely.
Let’s dive in.
3 Things That Attract Spiders To Beds
Food Crumbs In The Bed Attract Bugs
Spiders belong to the arachnids family, and they’re able hunters.
Food crumbs and stains on the bed lure bugs to the bed. These bugs are easy meals for the spiders.
So, insects in the bed will draw spiders to your bed.
Eggs Sacs In The Cluttered Bedroom
A cluttered bedroom will always give the spiders the space to hide and lay their eggs.
Spiders lay 100-200 eggs, which they pack in silky woven balls called egg sacs.
Baby spiders or spiderlings hatch out of these eggs in the bedroom and spill over to your bed.
Accidental Occurrence
Your bed doesn’t provide the spiders with the habitat they need. Seeing adult or tiny spiders in bed is more of an accidental occurrence than an intentional move by the spiders.
Sometimes, spiders in the bedroom cross over the bed while transiting from one hiding place to another.
Types of Little Spiders In Bed
Spiderlings From Spider Egg Sacs
As I noted earlier, tiny spiders crawling on your bed can be the spiderlings or baby spiders hatched out of the egg sacs.
Their sightings on the bed indicate that adult spiders in your home are breeding and laying eggs.
The bad news is that these tiny spiders in your bed can be babies of venomous spiders like the brown recluse and black widow hiding in the house.
Jumping Spiders
Jumping spiders are tiny, stocky spiders with body sizes ranging from 3 mm to 19 mm (0.125 – 0.75 inches). These spiders come in different colors, such as brown, tan, gray, and pale white; some can have bright blue or green patterns.
Jumping spiders have eight short legs for jumping rather than traveling. They pounce on their prey, which can be any crawling insect or fly, to hunt.
Jumping spiders enter bedrooms through the usual places, such as open windows, gaps on the windowsills, and other small openings.
Harsh weather conditions outdoors, such as too much cold or heat, make these spiders sneak inside the house.
Once inside, they’ll lurk on the walls, ceilings, or near windows to hunt for prey like flies and other small insects.
Jumping spiders, like all spiders, are hunters. Bedrooms often attract other small insects, like mosquitoes or moths, especially if there’s an open window. A jumping spider might enter in pursuit of these insects.
So, their presence on the bed is purely coincidental rather than intentional.
Jumping spiders are harmless. They can bite if you try to handle them, but their bites don’t bring any risks. They are not aggressive and will often try to flee if they come across a human.
Orb Weaver Spiders
Orb weaver spiders spin their large, intricate, wheel-like webs on the windows and between the leaves and twigs of plants.
These spiders’ sizes depend on their sexes. Females grow between 2 and 6 inches, and the males are smaller, with sizes ranging from 0.5 inches to 2 inches.
Orb weaver spiders have bulbous abdomens, and they’ve eight legs. Brown, gray, and yellow are standard colors of orb weaver spiders. But some can also have bright colors with striking patterns.
These spiders prefer outdoor environments. But weather changes and searching for prey can push these spiders inside your home or bedroom.
Bringing in objects from outside, such as plants, firewood, or even laundry hung out, can inadvertently introduce an orb weaver into the home.
A cluttered bedroom often provides them with an undisturbed environment and refuge that they’re looking for.
Sometimes, they wander on the bed without any specific intent.
Orb weavers are not aggressive, and they don’t pose any threat to humans. They can bite if they feel threatened. Their bites feel like a bee sting, and severe reactions to bites are rare.
Cellar Spiders – Tiny Brown Spiders In Bed
Cellar spiders are delicate-looking spiders with eight long legs. Their slender legs on their tiny bodies make their body size 6 mm to 9 mm (0.24 to 0.35 inches).
Cellar spiders are translucent and pale with whitish, beige, yellow, or light brown colors.
Cellar spiders spin webs in the walls and ceilings of the basement, cellar, and other cluttered areas such as garages and storage rooms.
These spiders are regular inhabitants of human homes. They are the most common brown spiders in the house after the American house spider. They enter homes through cracks, gaps, vents, or open windows and doors.
Cellar spiders enter the bedroom and end up in your bed when these spiders’ populations explode in the house. From places like the basement, they spread all over the home.
Cellar spiders don’t bite at all. And you can easily confuse them with huntsman spiders, also known as daddy longlegs.
Cellar spiders prefer quiet, undisturbed areas. A rarely used bedroom, for example, is as attractive a place for cellar spiders as a basement or garage.
How To Get Rid of Spiders in Bed and Bedroom?
Wash The Bedding
Bed sheets, pillow covers, and other bed fabric get food stains and dead skin cells that attract bugs to your bed.
These bugs, such as ants and roaches, attract spiders to your bed.
So, wash the bed fabrics in hot, soapy water. And dry them in the dryer.
It’ll remove the dirt and stains on the fabric and kill any bugs or tiny spiders.
Declutter The Bedroom
Cluttered places provide spiders with tight gaps where they can hide. These places also attract insects, which in turn attract spiders.
A cluttered bedroom with storage boxes underneath the bed or furniture, paper piles, old books you don’t read, and cardboard boxes provide spiders with the perfect hiding places.
Other pests can also hide in these places, and they will attract the spiders in the bedroom.
So, remove all the mess in your bedroom by discarding everything that is creating the clutter.
But be cautious while doing so. Venomous spiders like the brown recluse and the black widows can also hide in these places.
These areas can have the egg sac, too. And the female spiders will turn aggressive to defend their egg sacs.
So, wear protective clothing such as trousers, shoes, and hand gloves while following this step and the steps to follow.
Vacuum Clean The Bedroom
After decluttering, take your vacuum cleaner and thoroughly clean your bedroom.
Clean the bed mattress, storage sections such as closet, wardrobe, dresser drawers, and the areas underneath the furniture.
Remove any webs on the ceiling and walls with the help of your vacuum cleaner.
While vacuuming, be slow and methodical without skipping any edges.
It’ll remove any tiny or adult spiders hiding in these areas.
Dispose of the vacuum dust bag safely outside your property so that spiders in the dust bag don’t re-enter your bedroom.
Get Rid Of Bug Infestation In Your Home
The presence of pests and insects in the house attracts spiders. Spiders hunt them, so they sneak inside the house, looking for an easy meal.
Spiders will be in the house if there is prey that they can hunt and eat.
So, remove insects or bugs in the house using pest-specific removal methods. Severe bug infestation will need an intervention from a professional pest controller.
Clean The Surfaces
Deep clean the furniture, floor, bed frame, and headboard surfaces with a disinfectant to remove repel bugs and spiders.
Avoid Eating On The Bed
Refrain from eating on your bed. Food crumbs fall on the bed while devouring those midnight snacks.
Food oils and beverage spills also cause stains on the bed sheets, headboards, and footboards.
Human food in bed attracts insects, including bed worms. And other insects in bed play a direct role in attracting spiders to your bed.
Seal Gaps And Cracks On The Windows And Walls
Seal off the thin gaps and cracks on the window sills, walls, and door frames.
These crevices make it easy for spiders to enter your home and bedroom. I use silicone-based sealants to close those gaps.
These sealants are durable and waterproof, and the bugs can’t chew through them.
You can also use door sweep or weather striping to close the gaps between doors and the floor.
Remove Lights From The Bedroom Windows
Lights attract pests and flies that can enter your bedroom. And your bedroom becomes a hunting ground for the spiders.
These spiders in your bed can be hunting other insects that enter your bedroom attracted by the light.
So, remove the light bulbs near the windows, especially during the spring and summer.
If lighting is necessary, you can use light bulbs that don’t attract flies.
You can install window screens with fine mesh to stop spiders and other flies/insects from entering your bedroom.
Use Spider Traps To Prevent Spiders Crawling On The Bed
Spider traps have a sticky surface. If a spider crawls on the trap, it’ll get stuck.
Some traps have pheromone smells that lure the spiders. And others can have poisonous chemicals.
Keep the spider traps at night along the baseboard on the floor. Keep them in tight spaces and corners where most spiders crawl.
Check the traps the following morning for any spiders on them. On finding any, dispose of them outside the house without touching the spider.
If the bed is too close to the floor, use bed risers to eliminate any chances of spiders crawling on the bed.
Use Spider Repellent Such As Essential Oils
Natural products such as essential oils are one of the best ways to prevent spiders in your bedroom.
I use peppermint essential oil to deter spiders from entering my bedroom. A half bottle mixed with water and essential oil acts as a powerful spider repellent.
Take a spray bottle and fill half the bottle with water. Add a few drops of peppermint oil, preferably 7-10 drops in the water.
Spray it in the entire room, in storage areas, underneath the bed, and on the windows.
Peppermint oil has a potent smell that deters spiders. Spiders find the peppermint smell repulsive and they keep away from the places that smell minty.
You can also use white vinegar, tea tree oil, and lavender oil for the same effect.
Hire Pest Control
Sightings of little spiders in bed indicate a spider infestation in your home. These spiders are breeding, and over time, their numbers will increase.
So, hire a professional pest controller to address the spider issue in the house. Pest controllers use a mix of traps and chemical pesticides that help eliminate the infestation.
If There Are Tiny Spiders In Your Bed, Should You Sleep In It?
By all means, yes. But not before vacuum cleaning the bed.
You must use your vacuum cleaner to clean the bed and to remove the spiders in the bed.
As I mentioned, you can also keep sticky spider traps near the bed to prevent them from crawling on to the bed.
I Found A Spider In Bed, Are There More?
Yes, sighting of one spider in the bed or anywhere else in the house indicates that there are more spiders in the house.
That’s why it’s always best to inspect the house for spiders and their eggs if you find a spider. Or hire a pest controller for home inspection.
Do Tiny Spiders In Bed Bite?
If the little spiders in bed are baby spiders, then they don’t bite despite having the ability to bite.
They don’t have venom and their fangs are too weak to penetrate the human skin.
If there are tiny adult spiders in the bed, then they’re least likely to bite. Spiders are human-shy and their first action is to flee if they come across a human.
Spider bites in bed can occur if spiders get accidentally pressed against your skin on your sleep.
However, most tiny spiders in bed are harmless and even if they bite, their bites don’t cause any medical emergency.
Conclusion
Though tiny spiders in bed are an uncommon occurrence. Their presence indicates that there are adult spiders in the house.
A thorough cleaning of the bedroom and removing the clutter are vital to get rid of spiders in the bed.
You’ll also need to take preventative measures, such as sealing their entry points and using spider repellents, to ensure spiders don’t sneak into the house.
Dr. Thomas Orbert is a PhD in Entomology with extensive research experience in ectoparasites and microbials. He has also worked in the spaces of ecology conservation and has multiple years of experience in field research and scientific publishing.