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Warm Wet Summer Means We're Seeing More Spiders In Our Houses

Warm Wet Summer Means We're Seeing More Spiders In Our Houses

Oh, brilliant.

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Hey, good news everyone. Not only was this summer pretty rubbish - certainly when compared with last year - that also means that this autumn it looks as if we're going to have our homes invaded by loads of spiders.

Fantastic news, right? Everyone loves huge house spiders.

Yep, because the summer was pretty warm and wet, scientists at the University of Gloucestershire reckon that will see our homes filled to the brim with more eight-legged terrors than we'd ordinarily see.

That's because the unprecedented heat, coupled with the heavy rain we've also seen, has created the perfect environment for the kinds of small insects that spiders just love chowing down on.

Basically, where there are flies, there are spiders.

At least they kill flies, eh?
PA

The spiders that you'll see wandering around your house at this time of the year are usually male spiders that are on the hunt for a mate.

Great, huge horny spiders marauding around your living room whilst you're trying to watch a movie.

Furthermore - strangely enough - they've pinned down exactly why they can be spotted as you're sitting down to enjoy your evening.

Apparently they're most active at 7.35pm each evening. Well, so says a study performed in 2018 by the same team.

There are also lots of sightings between 6am and 8am each morning, meaning that they're potentially sneaking around down plugholes and drains waiting to hop out and get trapped in your shower.

What a way to wake up.

As long as they stay outside...
PA

Professor Adam Hart, who works for the University of Gloucester, told The Telegraph: "It certainly looks as if people are getting quite excited by it quite early this year.

"People are saying that they are seeing more than they normally do."

So, how do you stop this invasion?

The short answer is that you don't. Hart continued to say that there is 'not much you can do'.

While there aren't any foolproof solutions to keep spiders out, there are things you can do to try to reduce the numbers getting into your gaff.

They are attracted to piles of mess like clothes and stuff on the floor. Getting rid of that is a start.

Oh, and you can - if you're really bothered about it - fill in lots of tiny gaps in walls and floors that they could hide out in.

However, even if you do all of that, you're still fighting a losing battle. They're tricky customers, these spiders.

False widow spiders will give you a nip - avoid those.
PA

You can at least take solace in this - the UK is home to 650 different species of spider, of which only 12 are harmful to humans.

That means you're very unlikely to come to any harm if you get bitten by one.

Take that, Australia.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Science, UK News, Interesting, Weird, Animals