The Spiders in Your House - the Common House Spider

A close look at Parasteatoda tepidariorum, the Common House Spider, which you almost definitely have living in your house (and why that's okay).

All photos and video footage are my own, UNLESS OTHERWISE CREDITED.

Be advised that I am an amateur arachnologist and not a trained scientist.

Also be advised that any bite by anything can become infected. If you've been bitten by a spider, a wasp, a dog, a child, or an adult, watch for signs of infection and treat accordingly. The venom of these spiders is the least of your worries, especially in the last case.

Thanks to Dr. Catherine Scott for generous assistance in tracking down some of the necessary research for this video.

Think you found a brown recluse? Find out on Twitter, if it's still around by the time you watch this, from @RecluseOrNot.

I say again, DON'T SET FIRE TO YOUR HOUSE.

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References:

Rose, S. 2022. Spiders of North America. Princeton University Press

Dondale, Charles D., Redner, James H., & LeSage, Laurent (1994). A Comb-Footed Spider, Achaearanea Tabulata, New to the Fauna of Canada (Araneae: Theridiidae). The Journal of Arachnology 22, 176-178.

Valerio, Carlos E. (1976). Egg production and frequency of oviposition in Achaearanea Tepidariorum (Araneae, Theridiidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 3(7), 194-198.

Valerio, Carlos E. (1975). A Unique Case of Mutualism. The American Naturalist 109(966), 235-238.

Valerio, Carlos E. (1974). Feeding on Eggs by Spiderlings of Achaearanea Tepidariorum (Araneae, Theridiidae), and the Significance of the Quiescent Instar in Spiders. The Journal of Arachnology 2(1), 57-62.

[porygon]

Keeping the drain flies in the bathroom at bay, no-maintenance pet. 10/10

[shiftyferret]

Instant sub for the dry humor alone.

Detailed info on the overlooked common and well, ‘boring’ fauna underfoot can actually be hard to find, so this is as refreshing as it is informative.

[aurex]

This guy is so underrated especially the part were he was about to light his house.

[GuidetoGreenCheekConures]

This is great info! We have a pet Common House Spider who lives in our skylight. She set up shop there when she was almost an invisible spiderling many months ago. Now she is full grown and has produced 2 egg sacks. She has been incredibly helpful in ridding us of a moth infestation that came in my birds food. We even saw her boyfriend cautiously approaching her before her egg sacks arrived. This was all in the same spot! I am relieved to hear that I don’t have to do anything with the Egg sacks and nature will work itself out (in my skylight apparently.)

[KrisWood]

This is THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL that I have wished for, for a long time. Love the humor tidbits, and the real-ville method of just telling people the truth without the clickbaity drama. I used to be ridiculously afraid of spiders, but as a grown adult I decided it was dumb to be so afraid of something I didn't know the first thing about. So I set to learning about spiders' bodies and functions, and little by little I started to actually LIKE them. I appreciate your approach to letting spiders be, and letting them do what they were born to do. They don't see humans as prey, so they're highly unlikely to waste precious venom on us (unless somehow provoked). Once you begin to see them logically, you can start thinking rationally about them instead of setting fire to the house if you see one.

[amicaaranearum]

My favorite common house spider guest is the one that set up _in_ my dubia roach bin (for my pet tarantulas) as a spiderling. I did not want to put her out in the winter, and I had more feeders than I needed, so I let her stay. Every week, she would poach a roach nymph. By spring, she was full grown, and she had started poaching two roaches at a time, so I reluctantly relocated her to my porch.

[ericbalzer]

I live in a building in Brooklyn, NY with perennial roach problems. I've noticed these guys all over my apartment and, unlike others in my building who rely on a monthly visit of an exterminator that doesn't seem to do much good and which I've given up on, I rarely see roaches in my apartment.

[patrogers]

I’m not afraid of anything except spiders. So Ive been reading as much as I can about them to help me coexist and better tolerate their presence. This was a terrific article. Thank you. Can’t wait to read more.

[marissaroloff]

They could not care less about you messing up their web. They hide and then wait for you to be done and then they fix it

[LadyKakizaki]

Hey! I'm an exterminator and this is EXACTLY how we tell where pests are coming from, you are 100% correct. Obviously this is not scientific but this is absolutely used in the field to help determine pest entry points. I always tell my clients the spiders aren't the problem... whatever they're eating might be. And you are also correct that when you get rid of spiders other pest problems become more apparent. The clients I have convinced to leave the spiders alone have significantly less pest issues overall than the clients who insist I remove the spiders/webs and are much more chemically heavy. Surprisingly, although it may seem counterintuitive, the fewer and more friendly chemicals we use, the fewer problems clients have, as the natural spiders in the house help take care of the issues before they make it to the first floor. AWESOME video and what a great way to start my vacation! Thanks so much for making this vid!
- Charlotte

[marjoram]

I have recently noticed this little girl in the corner of my room and have been watching her since. She's cought a bunch of different bugs and didn't seem to be causing any problems so I decided on letting her live with me. After a couple of days of observing her hunt and talking to a friend about my new arachnid roommate I named her and have been giving her the bugs I catch myself. I have to say, I got attached and have been reading and watching stuff about those spiders to better know how long she has to live, when is she the most active and, what's important to me, when's her mating season. But I have to say, I was too late and she has made an egg sac literally today! I've been contemplating on moving Lucy (that's her name) to a container for a little to carefully get rid of the egg sac and throw it somewhere outside. I'm happy to hear that in case I won't be able to do that, the babies won't take over my bedroom and they'll probably die! I'm honestly very invested in Lucy's life now and am hoping she'll be keeping me company for the next year or so ^^

[ChuckRussell]

It's nice to see an in-depth video about these unsung heroes of home pest control. One of my favorite spiders.

[babetteosel]

This was great! I love your humor. I live by a lake and have a generous amount of flying insects resulting in many house spiders. After watching your informative program, I won’t be so quick to broom these friends away from now on. Thank you for sharing.

[SakuraShirakawa]

I commonly treat these as pseudo pets in my garage. Where I live in the central valley California is kinda suburb but on the fringe of rural farming. Livestock and Farming attracts lots of flies year round weather permitting. I tend to not swat the flies full force but just enough to stun them and then feed them to the various spiders in my garage (they tend to ignore prey that is already dead). Normally I am surer many of you would find this kind of thing disturbing mentally, but I tell you, if you hang around outside on any moderately warm day here, flies are a constant issue.

[poughkeepsieblue]

The shot of you dousing the house in gasoline via arachnaphobia style... was fucking priceless!!

[CK-K]

Spiders are easily the one of the best creatures on planet Earth. I’ve sat huddled up in corners for hours as a kid, watching spiders do their thing. It’s nothing short of amazing. Epic channel dood!!

[gailmckay]

That toss the match into the house visual was hilarious. Thanks for the laugh on a serious video. Great info thanks.

[DeRien]

My childhood home was almost exclusively ruled by cellar spiders inside, wolf and widow outside. Probably only saw one or two of these in the shed. Quite the other way around when I moved out to the East Coast. Such funny little spherical spiders. Love the humor and the cutaways

[pessimystic]

Love spiders. Love informative non-sensationalized videos about them. You've earned yourself a subscriber.

[judycee]

This was fascinating. I have one of these little ladies living between my office window and the screen. She is basically stationary. She moved in last spring, built a nest sac, and amazingly survived the winter here in MD. I found that out trying to clean the screen. I now know some spiders produce their own antifreeze. I keep two tiny openings in the screen casing cleaned out so she has access to small insects that find their way in. She had one of those pesky earwigs the other day. Decided to call her Charlotte, let her live out hers days peacefully.