--- title: Entomologist: Why You Shouldn’t Kill Spiders in Your Home description: I know it may be hard to convince you, but let me try: Don’t kill the next spider you see in your home. canonical: https://time.com/5678329/should-you-kill-spiders/ author: The Conversation article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-09-16T16:03:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:58:09.828Z article:section: Science og:title: Why You Really Shouldn’t Kill the Spiders in Your Home, According to an Entomologist og:description: Spiders can help more than they hurt og:url: https://time.com/5678329/should-you-kill-spiders/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa500120bc69b4ec/698a02f522fb85f6bbe29d88/dont-kill-spiders.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Entomologist: Why You Shouldn’t Kill Spiders in Your Home og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why You Really Shouldn’t Kill the Spiders in Your Home, According to an Entomologist twitter:description: Spiders can help more than they hurt twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa500120bc69b4ec/698a02f522fb85f6bbe29d88/dont-kill-spiders.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why You Really Shouldn’t Kill the Spiders in Your Home, According to an Entomologist by [Matt Bertone, North Carolina State University / The Conversation](https://time.com/author/the-conversation/) ## Matt Bertone, North Carolina State University / The Conversation Sep 16, 2019 4:03 PM UTC  common house spider on a smooth tile floor seen from ground level in a kitchen in a residential home common house spider on a smooth tile floor seen from ground level in a kitchen in a residential homeGetty Images by [Matt Bertone, North Carolina State University / The Conversation](https://time.com/author/the-conversation/) ## Matt Bertone, North Carolina State University / The Conversation Sep 16, 2019 4:03 PM UTC I know it may be hard to convince you, but let me try: Don’t kill the next spider you see in your home. Why? Because spiders are an important part of nature and our indoor ecosystem – as well as being fellow organisms in their own right. People like to think of their dwellings as safely insulated from the outside world, but many types of spiders can be found inside. Some are accidentally trapped, while others are short-term visitors. Some species even enjoy the great indoors, where they happily live out their lives and make more spiders. These arachnids are usually secretive, and almost all you meet are neither aggressive nor dangerous. And they may be providing services like eating pests – some even eat other spiders. My colleagues and I conducted a visual [survey of 50 North Carolina homes](https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1582) to inventory just which arthropods live under our roofs. Every single house we visited was home to spiders. The most common species we encountered were [cobweb spiders](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1960) and [cellar spiders](https://bugguide.net/node/view/9608). Although they are generalist predators, apt to eat anything they can catch, spiders regularly capture nuisance pests and even disease-carrying insects – for example, mosquitoes. There’s even a species of jumping spider that [prefers to eat blood-filled mosquitoes](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507398102) in African homes. So killing a spider doesn’t just cost the arachnid its life, it may take an important predator out of your home.Both build webs where they lie in wait for prey to get caught. Cellar spiders sometimes leave their webs to hunt other spiders on their turf, mimicking prey to catch their cousins for dinner. It’s natural to fear spiders. They have lots of legs and almost all are venomous – though the majority of species have venom too weak to cause issues in humans, if their fangs can pierce our skin at all. Even [entomologists themselves can fall prey to arachnophobia](https://doi.org/10.1093/ae/59.3.168). I know a few spider researchers who overcame their fear by observing and working with these fascinating creatures. If they can do it, so can you! Spiders are not out to get you and actually prefer to avoid humans; we are much more dangerous to them than vice versa. [Bites from spiders](https://arthropodecology.com/2012/02/15/spiders-do-not-bite/) are [extremely rare](https://arthropodecology.com/2013/06/13/update-spiders-still-dont-bite/). Although there are a few medically important species like [widow spiders](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1999) and [recluses](http://spiderbytes.org/recluse-or-not/), even their bites are uncommon and rarely [cause serious issues](https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/spiders/). If you truly can’t stand that spider in your house, apartment, garage, or wherever, instead of smashing it, try to [capture it and release it](http://spiderbytes.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/SCREEN%5FSpiderCatcher%5FPostcard%5FFront.jpg) outside. It’ll find somewhere else to go, and both parties will be happier with the outcome. But if you can stomach it, it’s OK to have spiders in your home. In fact, it’s normal. And frankly, even if you don’t see them, they’ll still be there. So consider a live-and-let-live approach to the next spider you encounter. Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines [_Matt Bertone_](https://theconversation.com/profiles/matt-bertone-471762)_, Extension Associate in Entomology,_ [_North Carolina State University_](http://theconversation.com/institutions/north-carolina-state-university-1894) _This article is republished from_ [_The Conversation_](http://theconversation.com) _under a Creative Commons license. Read the_ [_original article_](https://theconversation.com/should-i-kill-spiders-in-my-home-an-entomologist-explains-why-not-to-95912)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5678329/should-you-kill-spiders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5678329/should-you-kill-spiders/"},"headline":"Why You Really Shouldn’t Kill the Spiders in Your Home, According to an Entomologist","datePublished":"2019-09-16T16:03:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:58:09.828Z","description":"Spiders regularly capture nuisance pests and even disease-carrying insects","url":"https://time.com/5678329/should-you-kill-spiders/","keywords":["Insects","Living","spiders","bugs","syndication"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa500120bc69b4ec/698a02f522fb85f6bbe29d88/dont-kill-spiders.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Bertone, North Carolina State University / The Conversation"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa500120bc69b4ec/698a02f522fb85f6bbe29d88/dont-kill-spiders.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Entomologist: Why You Shouldn’t Kill Spiders in Your Home","caption":"common house spider on the floor in a home","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/insects/","name":"Insects"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5678329/should-you-kill-spiders/","name":"Why You Really Shouldn’t Kill the Spiders in Your Home, According to an Entomologist"}}]}] ```