House spider
The house spider is an indoor visitor that prowls around the house at night looking for prey. They often slip into a bath looking for a drop of water around the plug hole but they do not have sticky feet, so they get trapped. A strip of loo paper weighted at one end and dangled into the bath makes an ideal spider ladder so they can get out again.
In August/September the males mature and wander around the house in the evening looking for a prospective mate. They often get caught by cats and because of their longer leg size (up to 230mm from toe to toe) they are unpopular with arachnophobic humans!
Tegenaria domestica
Photo credit: Tone Killick
