Home

You’re Most Likely to See a Spider at Home in the Evening, Research Shows — But Here’s How to Prevent an Encounter

If you’re wondering how to keep spiders out of your house, you’re not alone. Learn how to prevent spiders here.

Updated

8 years ago

January 5, 2020

If you’re wondering how to keep spiders out of your house, you’re not alone. Though the little arachnids do a good job of keeping other pests in check, some of them can have poisonous bites that could lead to serious injuries. If you also happen to have a spider phobia and don’t enjoy seeing the creepy-crawlies roaming about your kitchen or bedrooms, it’s important to know when you’re most likely to have an eight-legged encounter: According to recent research, there’s a specific time of day when you’ll spot a spider in your house. As the weather starts to cool and the days begin to shorten, it’s crucial to be on alert for outdoor invaders entering your home.

A March 2018 paper published in Arachnology found that the most likely time for a person to see a spider in his or her home was in the evening between 6 and 9 p.m. The average time was around 7:35 p.m. (So if you’ve ever had a spider disturb your supper, you can at least find some comfort in knowing it’s a typical time to experience this problem!) Researchers found these results from 9,905 records in an app that tracked times that people spotted a spider in their homes. This app also tracked the specific rooms where people found the eight-legged critters, along with the gender of the spider.

As it turns out, many of the spiders seen roaming about the home at that time happened to be male. Experts think these particular spiders may have been on the prowl for a mate at the time they were seen, according to Science Alert. However, it’s important to note that just because you see a spider at a certain time doesn’t necessarily mean that there were no spiders earlier in the day. After all, many of us are out of the home in the late morning and early afternoon, so how could we know if one was secretly crawling on our floors?

While you may shudder at the thought of a spider creeping into your home at any time during the day, the good news is that there are ways to prevent spiders from making an entrance into your house in the first place.

How to Keep Spiders Out of Your Home

Clean your garage, attic, and basement. We know that these rooms are most likely to be left undisturbed by homeowners — and that’s exactly why spiders adore them, according to Pest World. From the spider’s perspective, that’s a great place to build a web to catch their food.
Be on the lookout for any cracks or crevices around your home. Remember, many home spiders are super small, so they can easily sneak their way into homes through cracks in siding. That’s why it’s important to seal those up as soon as you see them.
Remember not to leave food out for too long around your home. Food odors can attract spiders, according to Pests.org, so it’s crucial to make sure everything in your fridge and pantry is totally sealed and odorless. If you happen to leave any piece of produce on the counter (such as apples or tomatoes), throw them out immediately if they begin to rot.
If you spot and kill a spider, dispose of it immediately. We know it can be icky to pick up a dead spider, but leaving the carcass there might actually attract more live spiders in your home, experts say. It’s not exactly clear why this happens — but we know you definitely don’t want to see it in action.
If you discover an infestation in your home, don’t try to handle it on your own. Call a pest professional. They’ll be able to identify what kind of spider has invaded your home, and then they can figure out the best way to remove them.