What Types of Spiders are Common in Chester County, PA?

Wherever you go in the world, you will likely come across a spider at some point. There are thousands of spiders living on our planet. In Pennsylvania, there are more than 45 different kinds of spider species that you may find around your home or yard. Being able to identify common spiders in your Chester County home will help ease your mind of which are venomous and which are harmless. You can also be on the lookout for what types of environments attract spiders to come into your home.

The most common spiders

For residents in Chester County, there are a handful of spiders that you will cross paths with most often. While Black Widows and Brown Recluse are worth knowing about because of the potential harm they can cause you, they are rarely encountered in Pennsylvania.

The Brown Recluse, with its brown body, thin, long legs, and dark brown violin shape on its back, is not native to Pennsylvania and can’t survive the cold climate unless inside.   While the Black Widow, which is solid black except for the red hourglass shape on its abdomen and messy web, stays outside in wood piles and the like  and rarely comes into contact with people.

Just because these two venomous spiders are not super common around your Chester County home, doesn’t mean that you won’t encounter a spider. Spiders you will see around your home include:

The Wolf Spider: They hunt down their prey instead of spinning a web and trapping their food like other spiders. These arachnids are dark brown with a hairy body and broad legs.

The Common House Spider or American House Spider: This spider is a brownish-grey or a dark brown color and has bands on its legs.

The Cellar Spider: These spiders are light colored looking sometimes yellow to light brown or grey. They have long legs and hang from their webs, waiting to snatch their prey.

The Grass Spider: Though they look very similar to Wolf Spiders, these spiders have a different pattern with light chevron stripes along with dark stripes on their abdomen, unlike the Wolf Spider who has a bold dark stripe down its abdomen. They create a webbed funnel that they catch and pull their prey into it.

If you should see any of these spiders in or around your home, keep your distance. Though only the Brown Recluse and Black Widow have enough venom to harm humans, other spiders like the Wolf Spider can still give you a painful bite.

Spiders help keep the bug population down around your home and can be very beneficial. But spiders inside your house are not okay. Give ECPC a call today so we can rid your Chester County home of spiders.