Common Spiders in Asheville Homes
Most spiders in Asheville homes are harmless house spiders and cellar spiders — but the webs, the egg sacs and the surprise in the bathtub are reason enough to call. This guide covers the spiders you will actually see, and the two to watch for.Arrange an inspection
Mon-Fri 7:00 AM-10:00 PM ET | Sat 8:00 AM-10:00 PM ET | Sun 7:00 AM-9:00 PM ET
Call NowTL;DR
- The problem
- Spiders follow their food, and Asheville's warm, wet climate keeps the insects coming for much of the year.
- The solution
- Remove the webs and the egg sacs, reduce the insects they feed on, and seal the entries they use.
- When to call
- When webs reappear in the same corners within days, or when spiders appear in the bathtub every morning.
Which spider is in your house?
Start with the web. A funnel web in the corner, behind furniture or in the garage belongs to a common house spider — brownish, quick, and gone the moment the light comes on. A messy, tangled web in the basement or the crawl space, with a long-legged spider hanging upside down in it, belongs to a cellar spider. No web at all, and a large spider hunting on the floor in autumn, is a wolf spider — it came in through the garage or a ground-floor door when the weather turned. A small, quick spider on the windowsill in summer, hunting flies in the daylight, is a jumping spider.
The web tells you the species, and the species tells you the work. A house spider in a corner needs the web cleared and the entry sealed. A wolf spider in the garage needs the door seal and the gaps at the ground floor. A cellar spider that has been in the same corner for months needs the web removed and the insects at the window reduced — because the spider is there for the food.
The two to watch for
Two species get asked about most and seen least. The black widow favours undisturbed places — woodpiles, sheds, crawl spaces — and the one place it is most likely to be found is the woodpile against the house wall. It builds a low, tangled web close to the ground, and the spider itself is glossy black with a red mark underneath. The brown recluse is uncommon in the mountains but is reported often enough that providers check for it in storage areas: a tan spider with a violin-shaped mark, hiding in boxes that have sat undisturbed.
Identification matters here. The treatment for a house spider is not the treatment for a widow in a woodpile, and the provider identifies the species before deciding the approach. If you find a spider you cannot identify, take a photograph from a safe distance and leave it where it is — the photograph helps the provider more than a description does.
The spider calendar
Spiders follow the seasons. Spring and summer bring the web-builders to the eaves and the corners, and the webs appear fast in the warm months. Autumn brings the hunters indoors — wolf spiders through the garage and the ground-floor doors, and the web-builders moving in from the eaves as the nights cool. Winter is the quiet season for spiders outdoors, and the ones that are already inside settle into the corners and the crawl space.
A visit timed to the season does more than a visit after the webs are already everywhere. A spring visit clears the eaves before the web-builders settle. An early-autumn visit seals the garage and the ground-floor entries before the hunters move in. The provider sets the timing to the calendar, not to a fixed date.
Clearing webs — and keeping them cleared
Clear the webs regularly, because a web that is left alone becomes a nursery — and the egg sacs in the garage, the shed and behind stored boxes are the next generation. Keep storage off the floor in the garage and the crawl space, and shake out boxes that have sat undisturbed. Seal the gaps at windows and doors and repair torn screens, because spiders enter through gaps most homeowners would swear were sealed.
Keep the outside lights in mind: lights draw insects, insects draw spiders, so the webs cluster around the brightest fixtures. And keep the woodpile away from the house wall — it is the one place a black widow is most likely to be found, and the one place a homeowner reaches into without looking.
Most spiders in Asheville homes are harmless house spiders and cellar spiders. Black widows favour undisturbed places like woodpiles, sheds and crawl spaces. The provider identifies the species on the inspection.
Because the spiders are still there, or the entries and the food are still there. Clearing webs without sealing entries and reducing the insects at the windows means the next spider moves into the same corner.
Spring and summer for web-builders at the eaves and corners, and autumn for hunting species like wolf spiders moving indoors.
Pest problem in Asheville?
Call now — we will connect you with an independent local provider for an inspection and a clear plan.
Call Now