THE HOUSE SPIDER

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Its that time of year again. Autumn.  Spider breeding season. he time that spiders start to terrorise me in my own home.

It is usually the males that we see wandering around indoors as they come out of their hiding place in search of a mate.  The females tend to stay in one place and wait for them to visit.  Spiders come into the house through open windows and doors.  However these are outdoor spiders that have just found there way in and not true indoor spiders.

There are many species of spiders but only five species of indoor spider in the UK.  These spiders are quite happy to permanently live in the house and provide us with an effective cleaning service by eating all the unwanted bugs in the house.

But perhaps I would take the risk of living with the odd moth or fly when you compare them to living with a giant house spider (Eratigena atrica formally Tegenaria savea and T.gigantea).  These spiders are the largest in Britain and can grow up to a massive 5 inches long. Other species of house spider include the common house spider Tengenaria  domestica and the cardinal spider Tengenaria parietina.  

The house spider is a generic name for spiders that live indoors and consist of five closely related spiders that belong to the genus Tegenaria.  You can often spot these large brown spiders in the bath or running across the floor. They can run fast too, but only for very short periods of time and often pause mid run due to exhaustion.

Other spiders that may be in your house include the daddy long legs spider Pholcus phalangioides and you often encounter outdoor spiders in your house such as the European garden spider Araneus diademata and orb-weaver Zygiella x-notata. 


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