In case you weren’t aware, it’s spider season in the UK right now.
That time each year when horny little arachnids make their way out of the shadows to get busy underneath your sofa.
Running from the first two weeks of September through to the end of the first week of October, spider season is when males hunt for a mate.
And the bad news is that even your spotlessly clean gaff is home to plenty of creepie-crawlies.
‘I think even the cleanest, smallest house will have a good 20 to 40 spiders,’ entomologist Richard Jones told Radio 1.
And while less than fifty may sound okay, that’s not the case if you’re in a larger, older property. In that case there are probably thousands of spiders lurking around.
‘Old Victorian houses like mine – with lots of little cracks and crevices and places for things to get in – I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we’re well into four figures.’ Richard said.
Hopefully it comes as some small bit of comfort that you’re unlikely to get bitten or bothered at all by your eight-legged lodgers.
‘The ones you see running across the carpet in front of you freaking you out, most often it’ll be a male out on some sort of amorous pursuit,’ explained the entomologist, who goes by the name of ‘bugman’.
‘They’re more mobile than the other sedentary females. And that’s why we see them at this time of year.’
Nottingham Trent University ecologist Dr Chris Terrell-Nield says the most common spider coming into people’s homes is the house spider.
He previously told NottinghamshireLive: ‘The males are up to 10cm across the leg span and can be the size of your hand – that is the top range but it can be two thirds of that size. The size is down to how much they have eaten.
‘They are not dangerous but they can give you a nip. They have biting fangs. These things have been breeding and started their life span in the spring.’
‘This time of the year, August and September, the male spiders have the urge to mate and start wandering and looking for females. When they find them they mate and she lays eggs and the male usually dies.’
While arachnophobes won’t exactly be welcoming the next couple of weeks, it’s worth noting that the vast majority of spiders in this country are harmless to humans – and even the few that do bite are unlikely to cause you any serious harm.
MORE : How to keep spiders out of your house as spider season approaches
MORE : What do spider bites look like – and are they common in the UK?
