This is called natural selection, and it helps explain many things in our natural world. In other words, the strongest survive to reproduce and spread more of the strong traits, while the weakest might not survive long enough to spread the weaker traits. This is where killing that spider comes in.
While it is common to dislike or fear spiders, they shouldn't be killed when found in your home. One benefit to having spiders in your home is their tendency to capture nuisance pests and disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes. Rather than killing any spiders you find, make an effort to release them outdoors.
If you truly can't stand that spider in your house, apartment, garage, or wherever, instead of smashing it, try to capture it and release it outside. It'll find somewhere else to go, and both parties will be happier with the outcome. But if you can stomach it, it's OK to have spiders in your home. In fact, it's normal.
Spiders truly are nature's pest control. They help keep flies, roaches, mosquitoes, stink bugs, and many other home invading species from ever getting inside. Spiders are also great for gardeners. Spiders help keep crop killing insects from ruining your tomatoes, squash, and other plants.
Spiders Rid Your Home of Pests
In fact, spiders even prey after disease-carrying insects. They go for those nasty indoor pests such as cockroaches, mosquitos, earwigs, and even clothing moths. The more you keep daddy long-legs around, the less mosquitos you'll have floating around your home.
However, you don't actually need to kill them! Huntsmen are quite beneficial spiders in many ways. Apart from being mainly harmless to humans, they're very fond of eating other creepy crawlies that we don't like having around the house – such as cockroaches, mosquitoes and flies.
Are spiders afraid of humans? Yes. This is why spiders are most commonly encountered in seldom used areas such as garages, attics, basements, closets, or guest rooms. Spiders are antisocial and try their best to avoid human contact.
Sometimes when we get too close or disturb them, they treat us like they would treat any predator. Many spiders have threat displays intended to scare off predators, such as rearing up or lunging. Biting in self-defence is another strategy that spiders can use when they are afraid for their lives.
MALES will go to extreme lengths to get females, but playing dead might not seem like an obvious strategy. Some male nursery web spiders, however, regularly feign death, and those that do are more likely to mate.
They don't feel 'pain,' but may feel irritation and probably can sense if they are damaged.
Killing spiders will only attract other spiders; often, this makes way for nastier spiders. Some spiders are doing you a favor and are good to have in your home.
On average, 61.84 spiders can be found per home. There is probably a spider within reach of you right now. The global average spider density stands at about 131 spiders per square meter.
Experts warn that squashing a wolf spider may not be enough of a blow to kill all of her young. Or as pest control company Terminix puts it, if the spider you stomp on happens to be a female, the impact could release hundreds of spiderlings in your home.
Regular cleaning will do much to keep their numbers down. Cleaning and removing their webs will also get rid of their eggs.
But Matt Bertone, an entomologist at North Carolina State University, says spiders are an important part of our indoor ecosystem and rarely a danger to humans — so it's best to just leave them alone.
Flushing Spiders Down The Toilet
You may think flushing spiders will kill them, but it can actually take an hour or a few for them to be fully submerged in water. They will eventually drown, but they will be living in your pipes for a while before this happens.
When spiders get sucked into a vacuum cleaner, can they eventually crawl back out, or do they suffocate in all that dust? Almost every spider sucked into a home vacuum cleaner will die—either immediately, from the trauma of ricocheting through the machine's narrow tubes, or eventually, from thirst.
Instead of these muscles, spiders use the blood pressure spike from their heartbeat to extend their legs out, as the graphic below from Jacob O'Neal for BBC Earth explains. And with no heartbeat when the spiders cease to exist, they curl up upon death.
Just as indoor spiders are suited for indoor conditions, it wouldn't really suit outdoors spiders to come indoors. Spiders are cold-blooded, not attracted to warmth and are able to live at temperatures all the way down to -5C — those that are used to living outdoors would probably die off when they arrived.
They are essential to our ecosystem; they are our friends, not our enemies so we need to find a way to learn to live alongside them. They really are more scared of you than you are of them and would much rather run away. Even the big spiders such as tarantulas don't want to hurt you.
The stinky smell of sweaty socks might repulse humans, but scientists now find it enthralls mosquitoes and spiders. The odor apparently helps the creatures hunt down their victims — the mosquitoes want to feed on people, while the spiders prefer to devour the mosquitoes.
These eight-legged creatures hate the smell of citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges. They also don't like peppermint oils, tea tree oils, eucalyptus, and vinegar. Using any of these around your home will keep spiders away.
While the theory is unproven, it is likely that spiders can detect human fear. However, there are only few studies about this topic and it is not yet known for certain. Different animals have sensory organs that are able to identify different stimuli.
“Our studies extended the range of auditory sensitivity to more than 3 metres – over 350 body lengths – for our spiders.” The team established that the spiders freeze when exposed to low-frequency sounds of about 80 to 400 hertz that resemble a low hum, or buzz.
There are many types of spiders in our homes. Some are harmless and non-poisonous, while others can be dangerous if they bite or sting. Here are some common house spider species that are harmless: Cellar spiders.