Did you always believe that spiders sneak inside the home only during the fall months? Well, you’re right, but partially.
Spiders can also sneak inside homes during the summer months.
In this guide, you’ll find out the three reasons that draw spiders to your home during the summer.
And you’ll also find out quick and easy-to-follow hacks that you can use right now to prevent spiders from entering your home not just in the summer months, but all year round.
Let’s dive in.
3 Reasons For Spiders In The House In The Summer
The reasons for spiders in homes in summer are no different than the reasons for spiders in the house during the winter.
These reasons are –
- Shelter
- Food
- Mating
Let’s look at each of them.
Spiders Sneak Inside Homes Looking For A Cooler Place To Live
Spiders that sneak inside homes are not used to living in extreme cold, dry, and wet weather.
So, when the weather and temperature outdoors become too harsh for the spiders, they’ll look for an alternative shelter.
For example, in the late fall, the yellow sac spiders get inside homes looking for a warmer place to hide.
Similarly, in summer, the spiders want to escape the outdoor heat. Spiders will sneak inside homes looking for mild places to live.
You’ll find out how these spiders sneak inside homes in a minute. But when they’re inside your home, they’ll look for tight gaps and cluttered places to hide.
On top of that, areas with no light and very little to no footfalls are their favorite hiding spots. Some spiders prefer to hide in the gaps near the water sources too.
Hence, places like attics, cellars, basements, garages, storage rooms, and the plumbing areas underneath sinks are the hiding places for spiders in homes.
Presence Of Other Bugs In Your Home Also Attracts Spiders
Though high temperature outdoors is the primary reason for spiders in the house during summer, bugs inside the home also draw spiders inside.
And spiders can detect these crawling bugs inside your home from far, even when these spiders are not inside your home.
How? Spiders can pick up the vibration in the air that the movement of bugs causes.
Spiders have vibration-sensitive hairs on their legs. These are known as trichobothria.
That helps them to detect airborne vibrations of moving insects from afar.
So, if you’ve bugs and flies inside your home and spiders in your yard, then spiders can move inside your house looking for food.
Female Spiders In Your House Giving Out Mating Calls
Yes, strange but true. But the third reason, like the last one, isn’t the primary reason for spiders in the house in the summer months.
It’s a fall out of the first reason that made spiders sneak inside your home due to hot weather outdoors.
Some species of spiders mate during the July and August months. The female spiders that sneaked inside your home will give out mating calls in the form of pheromones.
Pheromones are the chemicals that bugs release to attract potential mates.
Different bugs have different ways of emitting pheromones. In the case of spiders, the female spiders release it in the cuticular or silk-based form.
It has a strong scent that male spiders can detect from a fair distance, even when they’re not inside the house.
That makes multiple male spiders sneak inside your home to mate with females.
So, the sudden appearance of spiders in your home can be because of the presence of a few female spiders.
Types Of Spiders In The House During The Summer
Some species of spiders are more inclined to get inside homes during the summer than other species.
The common species of spiders that can intrude into your home during the summer are –
- Common house spider
- Daddy-longlegs
- Jumping spider
- Wolf spider
- Hobo spider
Common House Spider
Every home in the US has or had a common house spider infestation at least once. These spiders are widespread in the northwestern region, but they’re found in all 50 states in the US.
Common house spiders are dark brown or gray with a swollen and spherical abdomen. On watching closely, you’ll also notice bristles on their legs.
Their favorite spots to spin their web is where there are dark and not many human footfalls.
So, places like the attic and basement are their go-to places to hide. You can notice them high up in the ceilings too.
Daddy-Longlegs Spider
Daddy-longlegs are long-bodied spiders with long legs that are common across the US. They’re pale tan, but they can be gray and, at times, light yellow too.
These spiders prefer to hide in places where there’s humidity. Humid places like the basement and the rear and undersides of sinks in the bathroom and the kitchen are their favorite hiding places.
But daddy-longlegs are also notorious for hiding places like wardrobes and closets.
Jumping Spider
Most spiders are nocturnal and hunt during the night. But jumping spiders prefer to hunt during the day.
That’s the reason you’ll notice these spiders near doors and windows waiting to latch onto any flying bug or crawling insect.
The zebra jumping spider is the most species of jumping spider in the US. They’re black, brown, tan, and gray.
Jumping spiders are the smallest on the list of spiders that sneak into homes during the summer months. An adult jumping spider grows only up to 1/8 – 3/4 inches (4-18 mm).
They’ve got dense hair on their bodies, and their front legs are thicker than their hind legs.
Wolf Spider
Unlike other spiders, which prefer cluttered and secluded places to hide, wolf spiders choose to hide in the cracks of the walls and underneath furniture.
Wolf spiders are widespread across the US and Canada. But more than hot weather outdoors, bugs inside your home are the main attractors of wolf spiders.
These spiders will go anywhere in search of bugs. Wolf spiders are the biggest in this list, hairy, and muted brown or gray.
These features help the wolf spiders to camouflage themselves in the bushes and foliage outdoors. That makes them successful hunters.
These spiders are big enough to hunt and eat lizards and frogs. Another reason for being such successful hunters is that the wolf spiders can also hunt during the day.
Wolf spiders are master crawlers. They can squeeze their bodies to crawl through the thinnest of gaps and holes and sneak inside your home.
They’ll hide in cluttered places like basement, garage, and even in the storage sections of your home that gets less human footfall.
Hobo Spiders
Hobo spiders are not native to the US. European settlers introduced hobo spiders in the 1930s.
Hobo spiders look like the brown recluse spider. The brown recluse is dangerous and venomous spider than all the spiders on this list.
Only an expert can distinguish between a hobo spider and a brown recluse spider. Hobo spiders have a distinct herringbone pattern on the top of their abdomen and smoother legs than the brown recluse.
Hobo spiders live in the dark and secluded areas of your home. So, places like attics, storage rooms, and basements are preferred places to hide.
These spiders are not efficient climbers.
So, they can’t climb onto the walls. But they’re efficient crawlers. They can sneak inside homes through the vents in the attic and HVACs.
They make funnel-type webs to catch their prey close to the ground inside gaps that support their tunnel-shaped web.
Hence, they catch crawling insects like roaches, beetles, silverfish, and earwigs more than flying bugs.
Hobo spiders are extremely protective of their egg sacs. And if they think that their egg sac is in danger, they can turn aggressive and bite.
But none of the spiders on the list can kill you. Spiders are shy and they avoid human contact at all costs.
If any of these spiders ever bite you, which is in the rarest of rare cases, then expect nothing more than some redness and swelling on the bitten area.
But sensitive people or people allergic to bug bites can experience nausea, vomiting, and fever too.
How To Stop Spiders From Entering Your Home In The Summer
Cleaning your yard, sealing gaps and cracks, and getting rid of bugs inside your home are three ways to prevent spiders from entering your home in the summer.
Outdoors, spiders live under foliage, underneath rocks, and in woodpiles.
Getting rid of all these wastes, and controlling moisture in your yard, will deny the spiders the hiding place they need to hide and hunt.
Trash bins with decaying organic wastes, like food wastes, attract bugs.
And these bugs attract spiders. So, ensure that you don’t let the wastes gather in the trash bins of your yard.
Overgrown bushes and shrubs around your home’s foundation and underneath the patio deck are also hiding places for spiders. So, trim those bushes and ensure that there’s no clutter underneath the deck.
Spray anti-spider insecticide around your home’s perimeter, on the mulch beds, and the woodpiles. That’ll kill any spiders hidden spiders in these areas.
Spiders enter homes by crawling through cracks and gaps on the walls, window frames, window sills, and doors.
They also enter through the vents in the attic, basement, bathroom, and chimneys.
So, ensure that you seal those gaps and cracks. And install window shields with fine mesh on the vents.
These shields with mesh don’t allow spiders and bugs to enter homes. And these shields don’t obstruct the airflow either.
Bugs inside your home are food spiders. Spiders will indeed detect bugs, and they’ll follow these bugs to your home.
So, get rid of any bug infestation that you may have in your home.
As a preemptive step, use peppermint spray in your yard, underneath patio decks, and around the home’s foundation.
Spiders hate the smell of peppermint. And it’s a spider repellant.
Pro Tip: Spiders love to hide in cluttered places like the attic, basement, and storage rooms where there’s less natural light and human footfalls.
Keep these places clutter-free. Ensure that there is no excessive number of useless cardboard boxes, paper piles, and old books lying around in these places.
Spiders that sneak inside homes during the winters (like the black widow spider and the brown recluse spider) hide in these cluttered places.
If there’s too much clutter in your bedroom, then spiders in the bedroom are also a possibility.
So, making your home clutter-free denies spiders the hiding places they need.
That makes the job of spotting the spiders and getting rid of them fast and easy.
Are Spiders In The House Good Or Bad?
Spiders are good for your house. They hunt and eat bugs and pests inside the home and thus help in keeping your home free from invasive pests.
So, spiders are the real threat to bugs like roaches, earwigs, silverfish, kissing bugs, and centipedes that infest homes.
Spiders are shy and avoid human contact. That’s why spiders hide in places where there is less human interference.
But should you tolerate spiders in your home?
Well, if their numbers go over the roof and they’ve become a nuisance, then you must take the help of a professional pest controller to get rid of them.
And if you’ve arachnophobia, then no way you should have a single spider in your home.
Spider bites are rare. They bite only during a one-off occurrence that makes them get pressed against your skin or if they feel they’re under threat.
However, if any of the spiders on the list bites you, then you’ll face a slight discomfort for a few hours.
The bite feels like a pinch or sting. The bitten wound turns red and develops a bit of swelling too.
Sensitive people and people allergic to bug bites will show symptoms like nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and fever if a spider bites them.
Seeking immediate medical attention is the best option to treat spider bites.
Nang Chen is an Entomologist and Arachnologist who is associated with Vienna’s museum of natural history. He’s also a consultant with real estate groups, insecticide conglomerates and law enforcement groups as a forensic entomologist. Nang Chen holds an M.S. from South China University and he’s a regular contributor to our site.