# How many spiders do you figure the average North American house has in it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 8, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170 "2010-01-08T16:07:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/41 "2010-01-14T20:58:28Z")
> [@arachnologus](#): > > … > Seattle boasts 3 species of _Tegenaria_ (European house spiders) …These spiders don’t know you exist; if you’re scared of them that’s your problem. Ah, I’m in Seattle and always wondered what these really were. They get damn big here. The last one that I relocated (after serenely and calmly discovering it on the cover of my novel that I picked up to relax with, only a few serene and peaceful millimeters from my fingers) was so large and feisty that I could feel and hear the thumping in the tupperware container I caught it in, and after releasing it in the yard I could see its path as it ran away displacing the blades of grass in my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/42 "2010-01-14T21:25:01Z")
In Northern Ontario/Quebec, we get so-called “Dock Spiders” big enough that I’d consider charging 'em rent at the cottage … Also, they are fast and active. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/43 "2010-01-14T21:47:05Z")
I vote we add “Straight Dope **Spider** Advisory Board” to **arachnologus** member category\*\*.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/44 "2010-01-14T23:28:35Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > From the [Spider Myths](http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/myths/3feet.html) page: > > I normally find two a year in my house 110 miles north of Seattle. You’ve got to be at the border, or over it! I lived in Birch Bay for a couple years - don’t remember the spiders being worse than anywhere else. Canadians, on the other hand, infested the area horribly in the summer. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/45 "2010-01-14T23:30:17Z")
This thread is rather fascinating. But it’s making me itch. I’m not hugely arachnophobic–I’m far more paranoid and insane about wasps/hornets and roaches–because spiders generally hang out in corners, in cobwebs, in dusty spaces behind books, etc…you usually have to go looking for one to find one. I’ve occasionally seen little tiny, tiny pale-colored spiders (so small that when they crawl across the book I’m reading, the text is three times their size) and I find myself charmed. I dunno if they are just baby spiders, or if they are a member of some Tiny Tiny Spider Club, but either way I go out of my way not to harm them. Cuz, you know, they’re cute. But like any bug, if it’s big, it’s creepy and horrible and must be killed. Like snakes, there are many harmless ones and a few potentially deadly ones, and I’m neither skilled nor logical enough to tell the difference. So DIE, DIE, DIE! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/46 "2010-01-14T23:39:22Z")
under contract you should have at least 4 - one in the bath tub - one in a random shoe - one under the kitchen sink - one in the ceiling corner above your bed If you opted for more then check your lease/mortgage agreement. That’s what all that mouse-type is in a contract. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/47 "2010-01-15T01:52:39Z")
> [@Audrey\_Levins](#): > > …Tiny Tiny Spider Club… Band name! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/48 "2010-01-15T02:47:13Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I vote we add “Straight Dope **Spider** Advisory Board” to **arachnologus** member category\*\*.\*\* Seconded! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/49 "2010-01-15T03:02:58Z")
I love spiders, and at one time had several tarantulas as pets =) I make sure never to kill my house spiders, and I know that I have at least 10 daddy longlegs running around in the house, at least 10 wolf spiders, and at least 3 or 4 web spinners types in the attic, and innumerable ones in the crawlspace under the house. Unfortunately the chickens tend to eat any they find outside on the lawn =( ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/50 "2010-01-15T05:07:08Z")
**!!!LALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!** The best part about moving from Virginia to Southern California is that I have yet to see a spider in the house. Ants, yep. Spiders? Nope. Not even outside. In Virginia, they were not only everywhere, but they were fricking HUGE. One spun a web the size of a shed door, and was itself easily as big as my two fists put together. \ Was a very pretty yellow thing, oblong-ish, and a beautiful web…but if it hadn’t been on the FAR end of the yard I would have found a flamethrower and burnt down the yard, I think. GAH I HATE SPIDERS!!! ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/51 "2010-01-16T23:50:52Z")
> [@arachnologus](#): > > What sort of compensation are you offering for a full-time spider-keeper-awayer? 🙂 Um… My eternal devotion? > [@Taomist](#): > > The best part about moving from Virginia to Southern California is that I have yet to see a spider in the house. Ants, yep. Spiders? Nope. Not even outside. Just wait. They’ll find you. (luckily they aren’t as big as that one you described. brrr) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170/52 "2010-01-17T00:47:31Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > **!!!LALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!** > > The best part about moving from Virginia to Southern California is that I have yet to see a spider in the house. Southern California is an excellent habitat for black widow spiders. I never saw any in L.A. proper, but in Northern L.A. County’s desert region they’re all over the place. And SoCal is basically a big desert. Just saying. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spiders-do-you-figure-the-average-north-american-house-has-in-it/524170.md?page=2)