Learn why why spiders seem more noticeable in early fall in our video:
Why It Suddenly Feels Like Spider Season
It’s a common occurrence in south Florida when fall arrives: a homeowner walks outside in September or October and they notice a big spider web across shrubs, porches, eaves, or even walkways. It suddenly feels like it’s “spider season”, but in reality these spider populations didn’t suddenly multiply overnight. Many local spiders, including orb-weavers, have been slowly growing throughout the summer season and are simply larger and easier to notice by the fall. In addition, some mating habits also make it more likely to spot spiders in the fall. In this blog post, we’ll cover why spiders become more visible, which spiders Florida homeowners are likely to spot, where they appear, and what preventative measures actually help versus those that don’t.
Why Late Summer Creates the Perfect Drain Fly Environment
By later summer, south Florida has been facing months of heat, humidity, afternoon storms and flooding. The increasing temperatures lead to faster insect breeding and life cycles. The frequent rain can expand the number of damp places around the home. AC systems create condensation around pans, lines, and nearby surfaces. Over time, drains that are slow or not used much can build an organic film – biofilm. These then become the perfect habitat for drain flies.
More Visible Spiders Doesn’t Mean More Spiders
Fall spider sightings increase in the fall for a very basic but practical reason: the spiders were often hatched in the spring and started to steadily grow over the summer. Now, the spiders and the webs they weave are large enough for homeowners to notice. Golden silk orb-weavers, aka “banana spiders” are a classic example of this phenomenon. These spiders grow throughout the summer and finally become noticeable by the fall. Spider webs spotted near walkways or porches can feel unsightly or even dangerous, but they’re actually a fairly normal part of the seasonal landscape in Florida. Researchers at the University of Florida identities common Florida spiders, including banana spiders, in this helpful article.
Why Fall Mating Behavior Makes Spiders More Noticeable
Another reason Florida homeowners might spot more spiders around the fall is tied to mating behaviors. Some spider species have their males reach maturity in the fall and they actively begin wandering farther out in search of a mate, making it more likely they’re spotted by humans in and around noticeable areas: garages, porches, sheds, storage areas, doorways, and bushes and hedges. But sightings alone don’t mean you have a genuine infestation on your hands and they shouldn’t necessarily trigger homeowner alarm or concern.
Spiders Are Often a Sign of Insect Activity Nearby
It’s also important to understand that spiders are in many ways a beneficial “pest” in Florida. They’re natural predators on many of the other insects that Florida homeowners are wary of: flies, roaches, mosquitos, and other smaller insects. If spiders are making webs in a particular area of your home or property, that signals there’s an underlying insect population nearby to support the spider’s habitat. In many cases, exterior lights or light coming from the home attract insects, which in turn attracts the spiders. If homeowners want to reduce spider sightings, they’ll also have to reduce the other insect populations that the spiders feed upon.
Common Places Spiders Show Up Around Florida Homes
Some of the more common places in and around a home where spiders can be spotted in the fall include:
- Porch lights
- Window trims
- Eaves and gutters
- Shrubs, bushes, and landscaping
- Garages
- Sheds and other storage areas
- Door gaps
- Patios and lanais.
These spots generally are in proximity to indoor or exterior lighting, which attracts the other insects that the spiders prey upon. Places like bushes and hedges or nooks on a porch provide web-building sites. Places like garages and sheds offer quiet and less-traveled spots to hide. Finding an outdoor web isn’t a crisis, but repeated sighting indoors or within heavily-trafficked areas might indicate an overall pest problem and not just a spider problem.
Orb-Weavers, Banana Spiders, and Spiny Orb-Weavers
Florida has many different types of spiders, and our Pest Library can help you identify them. But there’s a few in particular that homeowners might spot in the fall more than others. Orb-weavers are a very common web-building spider and you’ll often spot them in gardens, shrubs, trees, and around exterior structures like porches, porticos, garages, and sheds. Golden silk orb-weavers, also known as banana spiders, are larger spiders that make them very visible to humans. Spiny orb-weavers are also a common species in Florida and are noticed from late September into the winter season. All of these spider species are common and native to the area and can be considered beneficial predators: they feed upon a wide range of other pests that homeowners are equally concerned about.
How to Reduce Spider Activity Around the Home
Even when homeowners understand that most spiders are beneficial, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to reduce or eliminate sightings of them. To best reduce spider activity in and around your home, take a three-fold approach:
- Reduce insect prey: Switch off or dim exterior lights and use motion-activated lights where practical. Keep doors and window sashes closed at night to reduce light leakage that draws insects toward your home exterior.
- Reduce access: Seal up door gaps, repair holes in screens, check window and door seals, and check the gaps around utility lines and entrances. These are all common entry points for spiders that move from outdoors to indoors.
- Reduce harborage: Trim shrubs and vegetation back from the exterior of your home. Clear any standing webs from eaves and/or porch areas. Reduce clutter in the yard and within your garage, shed(s), and other storage areas. Move storage boxes off the floor and onto shelves or elevated surfaces where you can.
Remember, spider prevention requires homeowners to focus on the conditions that first attract and then support spider populations, and not just an isolated web here or there. Guidance from experts at the University of Colorado emphasizes reducing insect prey, exterior lighting, and harborage to control spider populations.
When to Call Nozzle Nolen for Spider Control
Remember, the occasional spider web or two are perfectly normal and often beneficial in the grand scheme of things. But, professional pest control help might make sense if:
- Spiders are repeatedly spotted indoors and not just outdoors
- Webs keep returning around walkways, doors, patios and other high-traffic areas
- There are also other visible insects likely attracting the spiders: roaches, flies, mosquitos, etc
- Storage areas like garages and sheds are cluttered and hard to visually inspect
- The homeowner isn’t sure of which type of spider they’re seeing
Here at Nozzle Nolen, we offer award-winning residential pest control programs for homeowners in Palm Beach county and the surrounding areas. You can also always visit our website to Schedule a Free Inspection today.
