/Callum Gale
Spider season has started early in Bedfordshire, and it is not about warmth
The big spiders turning up in Bedfordshire living rooms from late August are males looking for a mate, and most of them have been in the building all year.
Spider season normally runs from the end of August through to mid-October or November. This year it has started early, and the reason is the summer we have just had. Warm weather brings male spiders to maturity faster, so they are out and about weeks before anyone expects them.
We have already taken calls across Bedford and the villages from people who have found something considerably larger than they were prepared for behind a sofa or in a bath. It is worth saying plainly what is going on, because the usual explanation is wrong.
They are not coming in from the cold
The common belief is that spiders come indoors in autumn to escape falling temperatures. They do not. What is actually happening is that mature males leave their webs and go wandering to find a female, and the females have generally been living in the quiet corners of the house all along.
So the spider crossing the carpet at nine in the evening is not a new arrival. It is a resident that has grown up and gone looking. Reporting on this year's early start makes the same point: the heat has brought the males on faster, and they are moving towards cooler places rather than warmer ones.
That distinction matters, because it tells you where the effort is worth spending. Sealing a house against the cold will not change this. Dealing with the conditions that suit spiders will.
Most Bedfordshire households do not have a spider problem
We would rather be straight about this than sell something nobody needs. For the large majority of homes, a handful of house spiders in September is a nuisance, not an infestation, and it passes. The species people find alarming here are not dangerous to a healthy adult, and they do a fair amount of good eating things you would like even less.
The practical measures are the dull ones. Cut back growth touching outside walls, keep outside lighting off when it is not needed since it draws the flying insects spiders feed on, and clear webbing from the corners of garages, sheds and porches before it becomes established. Reducing clutter in lofts and understairs cupboards removes the undisturbed space they prefer.
When it is worth calling someone
There is a point where it stops being a seasonal nuisance. Repeated webbing in the same corners within days of clearing it, egg sacs, or spiders appearing in numbers in a room that is in daily use all suggest something is sustaining them.
That is the part where a professional actually earns the call, and it is usually not about the spiders. In our experience a house with a genuine spider population has a food supply, and the food supply is flies, moths or other insects that are breeding somewhere. Treating the spiders and ignoring the reason they are well fed gets you the same phone call next year.
Commercial premises are different again. Webbing in a food business is a hygiene finding in its own right, and it is one of the easier things for an inspector to notice.
What we are seeing across the county
Properties backing onto farmland around Biggleswade and Sandy tend to see more of everything at this time of year, and spiders follow the insects that follow the harvest. Older housing in Bedford and Ampthill gives them more of the gaps and undisturbed voids they like. Newer estates see fewer, though garages and porches are the exception everywhere.
If you are not sure what you are looking at, ring and describe it, or send a photograph. We will tell you whether it is worth doing anything about before anybody comes out.
Common questions
Why are the spiders so big this year?
They are not bigger because of the heat. Warm weather brings male spiders to maturity earlier, so fully grown adults are being seen weeks before people expect them. The size is normal for an adult male, the timing is not.
Do spiders come indoors for warmth?
No. Mature males leave their webs to search for females, and the females are usually already living in the house. This year they are moving towards cooler spots rather than warmer ones.
Are house spiders in Bedfordshire dangerous?
The species commonly found in homes here are not dangerous to a healthy adult. They are a nuisance rather than a risk, and they eat insects that most people would rather not have indoors.
How do I know if it is more than a seasonal nuisance?
Webbing that returns within days of being cleared, egg sacs, or spiders appearing regularly in a room in daily use. That usually means there is enough insect activity in the building to sustain them, which is the thing worth looking at.