House Spiders
The body of the female house spider is about 3/16-to 5/16-inch long and yellow-brown with a dirty-white abdomen with “army sergeant” stripes on the back. Males are much smaller that the females. House spiders lay their eggs in brownish silken sacs which have a tough papery cover. A female produces up to 17 sacs during her lifetime, each containing approximately 250 eggs. House spiders randomly select web sites, and if the web fails to capture prey, it is abandoned and another is built. They survive better in areas with high humidity, such as garages, sheds, barns, warehouses, etc. House spiders feed on a wide variety of insects but especially flies.
Black Widows
The body of the female black widow spider is about 1/2-inch long, glossy black with nearly globe-like abdomen. Males are much smaller that the females, 1/4-inch long with a longer, narrower abdomen and somewhat longer legs. Black widow spiders lay their eggs in silken sacs which they protect in their nests. A female produces from six to 21 sacs during her lifetime, each containing 185 to 464 eggs. Black widow spiders are shy, preferring to build their webs in dry, protected locations where their prey is likely to travel. Outdoors they can be found among rocks and wood piles. They prefer basements, crawl spaces, and garages in structures as well as other protected areas such as barns, sheds, meter boxes, brick veneer, pump houses, etc.
Daddy Longlegs
Daddy Longlegs are usually found hanging upside down in corners, eaves, or basements. They are very common and are found in most homes. The Daddy Longlegs is not a true spider but is an a Opiliones, it cannot make silk and does not have fangs or venom glands. They have long thin legs with flexible claw-like “fingers”. Daddy Longlegs can pinch but rarely penetrate human skin. They have scent glands on the front part of their bodies that can give-off a bad smelling fluid. This stinky fluid is used as a defense mechanism to keep enemies away. Some people might have a reaction to the fluid but Daddy Longlegs are not considered dangerous to humans and there is no true to the fable that they are the most poisonous spider but fangs are to short to bite humans.
Cat faced spiders
The Cat-faced Spider is a common outdoor orb-weaver spider found in the USA and Canada. They are considered harmless and have low-toxicity venom and are useful natural predators for insects, though they often cause great concern due to their size and large orb web.
Cat-faced spiders make their webs near lights, closed spaces, and on the sides of buildings. They can also be found under wood, overhangs, or guarded places such as animal burrows. They come in varying colors but are easily identified by the two horn shaped growths on their relatively large abdomen. Their color changes from summer to winter.
The female will die within days of laying a single egg sac with hundreds of eggs. Egg sacs can overwinter, and the emerging spiderlings will eat their brothers and sisters. The babies ride strands of silk in warm air currents, able to transport them to locations miles away.