Why Seattle has so many spiders in the fall

Spider season returns to Seattle

They’re big, they’re fast and they’re back — it’s once again spider season in Seattle.

SEATTLE - They’re big, they’re fast and they’re back — it’s once again spider season in Seattle.

A time of year when we all seem to get a lot of uninvited house guests and web design takes on a whole new meaning. FOX 13 Seattle sat down with an expert who says we should welcome these spiders and not worry.

Rod Crawford is the curator of Arachnids at the Burke Museum and has been working with spiders for 52 years.

He also debunked one of the biggest spider myths out there, that you swallow up to eight spiders a year in your sleep. Washington State’s unofficial "Spider-Man" said that’s impossible, because the vibrations from us breathing would be enough to scare spiders away. What may give you the creeps, however — all the spiders you’re seeing now, they’ve been lurking in your home, the whole time.

"It’s not spider season for me," Crawford said. "I go way out in the woods and collect the spiders that are mostly native to our state."

Spider season for him is year-round, but for the average person, it’s right now.

"They may be seeing a lot of giant house spiders indoors," Crawford said.

On Reddit, threads about spiders spotted in Seattle are already creeping up, with some asking what is the biggest spider they’ve seen in our area? One person responded: "A 3-4 inch [wolf spider] in their bed!"

Another said they saw "two the size of their husband’s hand."

So, why are they coming out now? There’s a web of reasons, but the main reason is mating season. "The males become mature in August and September and when they’re mature they start running around looking for females," Crawford said.

He adds, none of the spiders in the Puget Sound area are harmful, and they’re not aware of your existence. Here in Seattle there are 25 to 30 spider species, and 975 species of spiders living in Washington State.

Black Widow and Yellow Sac spiders are the only two that can do us harm, but they’re not around here.

If you see a spider running toward you, Crawford told FOX 13, they’re just trying to hide in your shadow.

"They can’t actually see anything but light and shadow," Crawford said. "My usual advice is just wave as they go by. The mating season will be over in a couple of weeks, and then you can relax."

Mating season is usually over by October, according to Crawford. If you don’t want spiders in your house though, the best course of action is relocating them to your garage or crawl space, experts said. That way, they’re out of sight, but the giant house spiders can still continue to eat pesky bugs such as flies, mosquitoes and moths in peace, doing your home an invaluable service.