10 Common House Spiders – Everything That You Need to Know

There are over 40,000 types of spiders on Earth. Most of those are ones you would find out in the wild. When it comes to common house spiders, there are usually just a few types you will encounter. Although these spiders usually alarm people that see them inside their homes, they can be beneficial in lowering other insect populations.

However, you may not enjoy having spiders in your house, which is why we created a list of the ten most common house spiders. Once you know whether an eight-legged intruder is dangerous or not, you can decide on what you would like to do about it. Here are the ten most common house spiders you have the likelihood of seeing in your home.

American House Spider

The American House Spider is as American as spiders come. It has long and skinny legs with tiny hairs covering them. When they reach maturity, their adult bodies are somewhere between four and nine millimeters in length. They will appear as a mix between yellow and brown, having spots on their abdomen. You can tell a male apart from a female because it is darker in color.

This type of house spider enjoys living where humans reside. You will find them anywhere in your home that provides cover, moistness, and darkness. They like areas where they can easily spin their webs. Some of the most common areas of your home you will find an American House Spider are the following:

• Closets
• Windowsills
• Underneath furniture
• Garages
• Basements
• Crawlspaces
• Room corners

Rather than being aggressive spiders able to see you with laser-sharp vision, this spider is quite docile and has poor eyesight. They are more afraid of you than you should be afraid of them. They only time they will ever bite is if their life was on the line by you grabbing or squeezing it. Although you will feel some pain if they bite, it is not that painful. You will not have any additional side effects if one of them does bite you.

Wolf Spider

A Wolf Spider gives an idea of its appearance. It is a hairy spider that can get big enough to appear threatening. The size of a wolf spider varies between 10 and 35 millimeters in length. They are excellent at blending in thanks to them being brown, black, or gray. Since they are comparatively larger than other common house spiders, they can be mistaken for other spiders that are more dangerous like tarantulas and brown recluse spiders.

The Wolf Spider is not the kind of spider that likes building webs. They prefer living in holes or burrows in the ground. They are usually outside anywhere that it is dark and damp. However, if they are looking for a warm place to shack up, they will enter your home. A Wolf Spider will prefer staying in the following areas of your home:

• Garage
• Basement
• Houseplants
• Windowsills
• Corners of rooms and doors

Wolf spiders are not aggressive and are actually friendly. The only time they will bite you is if they feel you are trying to kill them. If they do bite you, you will feel some mild pain and have some temporary itching. You will know if they are getting ready to bite you because they will show you their fangs.

Black Widow Spider

The Black Widow Spider is one of the few deadly spiders you will ever possibly encounter. These spiders are tiny, measuring between three and ten millimeters. These small spiders are shiny and have black spots on their abdomen. The color of these identifiable spots come in vibrant red, orange, and yellow. A male Black Widow Spider is generally half the size of a female and is missing the spots.

A Black Widow Spider does not like interacting with anyone else, not even others of their kind. They only interact when they need to copulate. This means you will probably not see them walking around your house. You have a better chance of stumbling into them by accident. These spiders like to build webs low to the ground. You will usually find them in these areas of your home:

• Patio furniture
• Garage
• Basement
• Barn
• Crawlspace

A female Black Widow Spider is the most poisonous of all spiders in North America. You can get muscle spasms, chills, headaches, nausea, and the need to vomit. It is dangerous to get bit by one of these, so you will want to make sure you do not have any around your home. You should do what you can to safely remove this spider from your house to eliminate the risk of an awful experience.

Brown Recluse Spider

The Brown Recluse Spider is the other dangerous spider you may encounter in your home. They are brown, as their name suggests, with a pattern on their hairy abdomen that resembles a black violin on their backs. They only have six eyes compared with the usual eight you find on a spider. They are between six and eleven millimeters in length.

As the name implies, the Black Recluse Spider is shy. They prefer to stay away from anyone and anything. They are most active at night, which is another reason you will probably never see them. They like dark places that are not disturbed, such as the underside of decks and the interior of large closets.

Although the Brown Recluse Spider is venomous, it will rarely bite someone unless it feels it is being attacked. You may not even notice that one has bitten you until a few hours have passed. Once you develop a white blister, you can be sure you got bitten. Although there is no effective antivenom, you should still get medical care immediately to prevent worse situations like gangrene. This spider should be removed from your house to avoid the potential harm it can cause you.

Daddy Longlegs

A Daddy Longlegs spider has a striking appearance that you probably have first seen when you were a child. The term “Daddy Longlegs” is actually describing two types of spiders. The first is a harvestman spider, whereas the second is a cellar spider.

Harvestmen spiders are the ones with the iconic long and thin legs connected to an oval abdomen. The cellar spiders have cylindrical abdomens sporting a long abstract pattern. Cellar spiders spin their webs in dark and damp areas of your home, such as cellars, crawlspaces, and basements. Harvestmen are unable to spin webs, but you will find them in the same places you would cellar spiders.

Although cellar spiders are slightly poisonous, it will hardly be noticeable if you get bitten by one of these spiders. Harvestmen are not venomous, and unlike popular belief, this is not because their fangs are too tiny to pierce your skin. They are unable to produce any venom, so they cannot harm you.

Domestic House Spider

The Domestic House Spider is a common spider you may find in your house. This spider tends to be dark brown or rust-colored, with a lighter area on its breastplate. It has two long black strips going from its head down its body. Their size spans from six to twelve millimeters.

This spider is a busybody and moves around a great deal when it is hunting. Instead of circular webs, the Domestic House Spider designs funnels to catch its next meal. You will usually find this spider in these areas of your home:

• Cupboards
• Attics
• Basements
• Closets
• Dark corners

You should never find yourself being bitten by a Domestic House Spider. They are a shy spider and will run away if threatened. If, for some reason, one of them does bite you, it will not even be noticeable because it is a painless bite.

Hobo Spider

Often mistaken for the Domestic House Spider, the Hobo Spider differs by having a v-shaped pattern on its abdomen. They are also slightly larger, ranging between 11 and 14 millimeters.

The Hobo Spider also prefers creating a funnel-shaped web. Not only do they eat other insects, but they also devour other spiders. Their preferred hiding spots are dry and warm areas of your home, such as the following:

• Attics
• Closets
• Storage rooms
• Behind furniture

If you get bitten by a Hobo Spider, you probably will not have any symptoms. Its toxic nature has been questioned, with the odds being in favor of it not being venomous at all. Still, you should avoid provoking them.

Jumping Spider

The Jumping Spider is named for what it is often seen doing. This highly mobile spider jumps onto its prey rather than taking its time building a web. Their jump is so broad that they can fly 25 times the length of their bodies. These hairy spiders have a set of four eyes that look more rectangular than round. These spiders usually come into your home as hitchhikers, although they will probably not stay very long.

A Jumping Spider can spin webs, although they look more like tents than iconic circular webs. They will run away from you if you come at them, so they are unlikely to bite you. If they somehow do, the venom is not harmful.

Southern House Spider

The Southern House Spider is generally either gray, khaki, brown, or black. Females differ from males by having a more bulbous body, whereas the male sports longer legs. The females are so similar in looking like tiny versions of Tarantulas that they sometimes get mistaken for them. Similarly, males may get mistaken for Brown Recluse Spiders.

The Southern House Spider is usually found in dark areas near the exterior of your home, such as windowsills, overhangs, and shutters. If you, by chance, have a yucca plant, you will probably be seeing these spiders visit it.

Females tend to keep to the shadows more, whereas males are more active. They will crawl over anything in their path, given they are virtually blind.

Although they may look intimidating, they are virtually harmless. A Southern House Spider will not bite you unless it feels trapped. However, it is unable to break the skin, so no harm can come from this spider.

Yellow Sac Spider

Rounding out this list is the Yellow Sac Spider. This arachnid has a tiny body measuring between five and ten millimeters in length. They look like a mix between yellow and green with nearly-translucent legs. You can find a v-shaped pattern on its abdomen.

The Yellow Sac Spider will eat other insects, as well as spiders. It will even feast on their foes’ eggs. While they usually prefer dark areas outside, they will enter into your home to get warmed up when it gets cold out. Instead of spinning webs, they create protective sacs in corners of rooms. They also enjoy the smell of gasoline, which means you may find these in your garage as well.

A Yellow Sac Spider is not venomous in the same way a Brown Recluse Spider and a Black Widow Spider are. However, they can still hurt you. If they bite you, a small lesion will appear in the area bitten. It is a bite that will hurt in the beginning and produce a swollen area. You may even experience additional symptoms such as a fever, cramps, and nausea. This is a spider you will want to get out of your house if you happen to come across it.

Wrapping Up

If you were wondering, “What do house spiders look like?” you now have your answer. These ten types of house spiders are the most common ones you will find in your home. You may only see a few of these types, or you may see most of them. If you see many of them, you have a severe infestation on your hands you need to deal with. If you try methods of getting rid of spiders on your own and are still having spider problems, it will be time to call an exterminator.