House Spiders

Common Name:Spider

Introduction:During autumn is the best time of year to see one of the arachnids as males come out of their usual hiding places in search of a mate There are five closely related species of house spider in Britain from the genus Tegenaria which means "mat" in reference to their sheet-like webs. These are the large brown spiders sometimes seen scuttling across the floor or stuck in the bath. Males can be identify very easily due to their pedipalps protruding from the head structure that look like boxing gloves which they use for transferring sperm into the females.

When you see or find large spider in the middle of a room, normally it's the male they are not planning to scare you , but exhausted, they can run very fast for a short distance, and then have to stop to recover. Spiders are most likely to be found living in sheds, wood piles, in the loft, behind the facia board, beneath the floorboards, garden area and sometimes indoors.

Spiders you're most likely to encounter around your home

Large house spiders (T. saeva ) Are large hairy spiders you are more likely to encounter and most often seen in houses across the UK .

Common house spider (T. domestica) The smallest of the Tegenaria spiders, and its known as the barn funnel weaver , due to its funnel shape web and retreat it to one corner

Cardinal spider (T. parietina) This species is the largest house spider found in the UK and its leg span can reach over 12cm. Its common name comes from a story that spider used to frighten Cardinal Wolsey who lived at Hampton Court palace in Surrey.

Daddy long legs spider (Pholcus phalangioides) A skinny -limbed spider is also known as the cellar spider they are most likely to be found upside down in a very untidy web near the ceiling.

European garden spider (Araneus diademata) Also known as the garden cross spider they have a pattern of white dots on their back and weaves a distinctive orb web familiar to gardens. Orb-weaver (Zygiella x-notata) can often be found on windows,

Lace web weavers (Amaurobius similis) These nocturnal spiders weave silken webs on external walls and hide in crevices during the day.A. fenestralis were named after their habit of living near windows (fenestra in Latin) whereas A.similis are more likely to be found on trees.