How Long Do Spiders Live? House Spiders to Tarantulas

Two things decide how long a spider lives: whether it lives indoors or out, and whether it is male or female. Males of most species die soon after they mature and mate, which is why the large, wandering spiders seen in late summer and autumn are so often males near the end of their lives. Where sources disagree, we give the range.

How long do spiders live? The species compared

How long do house spiders live?

The spiders that live and breed inside your home are a small, specialised group, and they generally live longer than their outdoor relatives because the climate indoors never kills them. The Burke Museum at the University of Washington describes house spiders as a small number of species “specially adapted for indoor conditions (constant climate, poor food supply, very poor water supply)”, and estimates that fewer than 5 per cent of the spiders you see indoors have ever been outdoors.

Common house spider

The common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, is the cobweb builder of garages, window corners and basements. The Missouri Department of Conservation notes that while most spiders in a temperate climate survive only a year, dying with the first hard freeze, this species, living in the climate-controlled habitat of our buildings, “may survive for more than a year.” A female can make more than 15 egg sacs, each holding 100 to 400 eggs.

Cellar spiders

Cellar spiders, the thin-legged spiders most people call daddy long legs, are among the longer-lived household spiders. Clemson Cooperative Extension says development from egg to adult usually takes about one year, and adults may live for an additional two years.

Brown recluse

Where it occurs, the brown recluse is the hardiest of the indoor spiders. The University of Kentucky reports that it matures in about a year and has an average lifespan of 2 to 4 years, and that it can withstand winters in unheated basements and stifling summer heat in attics, “persisting many months without food or water.” If you are not sure whether a brown spider is a recluse, our spider identification guide walks through the features in the order that matters.

How long do spiders live outside?

Outdoors, the calendar sets the limit. Most of the large, conspicuous spiders of late summer are annuals.

Orb weavers: one season

The big wheel-web spiders of gardens and porches, covered in our guide to orb weaver spiders, usually live a single season. Kansas State University says the female yellow garden spider dies after producing her egg sac, and the spiderlings overwinter inside the sac and emerge in spring. University of Georgia entomologist Nancy Hinkle puts it plainly for the autumn orb weavers: the first hard frost will kill them, but before it does they mate and produce egg sacs that overwinter and re-establish the population next spring. The spider on your porch in October is usually an adult in its last weeks.

Wolf spiders: one to several years

Wolf spiders live longer. Penn State Extension describes a typical cycle: mating in autumn, after which the males die before the onset of winter; the fertilised females overwinter in protected places, including buildings, and produce egg cocoons the following May or June; the spiderlings reach only half their full size by their first winter and finish growing the next year. Penn State adds that females “may live for several years beyond the year in which they reach maturity.” The Missouri Department of Conservation is more cautious: some wolf spiders survive for nearly two years.

Tarantulas and trapdoor spiders: decades

The long-lived spiders are the burrowing mygalomorphs. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension says female tarantulas may live as long as 35 years, while males, after 8 to 10 years, leave their burrows between June and October to search for mates and usually die a short time after mating. Colorado State University Extension gives a more conservative figure, that females may live for more than 20 years.

The record holder is often described as a tarantula, but it was not. “Number 16” was a female trapdoor spider, Gaius villosus, followed through annual monitoring of a burrowing population that arachnologist Barbara York Main began studying in 1974 at North Bungulla Reserve, Western Australia. Curtin University researchers reported in 2018, in the journal Pacific Conservation Biology, that she had reached 43 years, beating the previous record of 28 years held by a tarantula from Mexico.

Do spiders die in winter?

Many outdoor adults do, but the species survives. Orb weavers die as adults and pass the winter as eggs or spiderlings in the egg sac. Wolf spiders overwinter as fertilised females and as half-grown young. Spiders do not need a warm house to get through winter: the Burke Museum points out that spiders are cold-blooded and not attracted to warmth, simply becoming less active and eventually dormant, and that most temperate spiders carry enough natural antifreeze that they will not freeze at temperatures down to about 23°F (minus 5°C).

Indoors, the true house spiders stay active all year. That is why cellar spider records barely dip through the year, while records of orb weavers collapse after October.

The chart shows our analysis of iNaturalist research-grade records: each group’s share of all US observations that month, scaled so the yearly average is 100. Orb weavers swing from an index of 25 in April to 290 in September, more than elevenfold, because adults appear in late summer and die in autumn. Cellar spiders stay between 75 and 144 all year, peaking in November. Part of that late-year rise is people noticing indoor spiders when little else is about. These are photographed sightings, not counts of infestations.

Across all spiders, records peak in September (index 184) and stay high into October (165). Wolf spiders peak a month later, in October (164), which matches the autumn mating season Penn State describes, when males wander and turn up indoors. The autumn rush is mostly mature adults mating near the end of their lives, not a spider invasion from the cold.

How long do spiders live without food?

For months, in many species. Spiders have unusually low metabolic rates and can lower them further when prey is scarce. In a laboratory study published in Ecology in 1974, John F. Anderson starved adult spiders of two species: wolf spiders (Lycosa lenta) survived an average of 208 days, and a cribellate web builder, Filistata hibernalis (now the southern house spider, Kukulcania hibernalis), averaged 276 days. Both cut their metabolic rate by 30 to 40 per cent while starving, without any apparent loss of normal ability. Anderson estimated the potential adult life of fed wolf spiders at 305 days, so a starving wolf spider lived about two-thirds as long as a fed one.

So starving spiders out of a house rarely works on any useful timescale. Outdoor spiders fare worse indoors than hunger alone suggests: the Burke Museum notes that the few typical outdoor spiders that end up indoors die, or at least do not reproduce.

How long do spiders live indoors without food, or in a car?

It depends on which spider it is. A true house spider is adapted to a room with little food or water and can live for months in a quiet corner. An outdoor spider that has wandered in usually does poorly. No study we could find has measured spider survival in a car, so we will not give a number; the practical answer is to carry it out or vacuum it up.

How long do small spiders live?

Size tells you little about age. A small spider may be a small species, such as the short-bodied cellar spider, whose body is about a sixteenth of an inch long, or a young spider of a large species. Spiderlings that hatch from orb weaver egg sacs in spring are tiny and will be large adults by late summer. Wolf spider young spend their first winter at about half adult size. If small spiders appear in numbers in one spot, an egg sac has usually just hatched nearby.

Males and females

Across almost every species in the table, females outlive males, sometimes by years. Kansas State University gives the clearest numbers for black widows: males reach maturity in 50 to 90 days and live up to four months, while females mature in 112 to 180 days and live three or more years. Tarantula males take 8 to 10 years to mature and usually die a short time after mating.

That pattern explains many of the large spiders found indoors in late summer and autumn: the Burke Museum notes that seasonal surges of spiders indoors coincide with the mating season of the species, and mature males of many species wander in search of females. If you want fewer of these visitors, sealing and lighting changes do more than spraying, as we cover in how to get rid of spiders in the house.

When a spider problem is a job for a professional

Because indoor species live a year or more and keep making egg sacs, killing the spiders you see changes little; University of Wisconsin Extension calls regular housecleaning very important in controlling spiders indoors, along with removing the insects they feed on. The exception is a confirmed brown recluse or widow problem inside a living space, where a licensed professional who inspects before treating is worth it. Our spider control cost guide covers what that service involves. Any product used should be applied according to its label.

Frequently asked questions

How long do most house spiders live?

Most spiders that live indoors live about one to three years. The Missouri Department of Conservation says the common house spider may survive for more than a year in heated buildings, Clemson Extension says cellar spiders take about a year to mature and may live two more as adults, and the University of Kentucky gives brown recluses an average of 2 to 4 years. Males usually die sooner than females.

Why shouldn’t you squish spiders?

There is no rule against it, and squashing is a legitimate option, but most house spiders are harmless and eat flies and other pests. Where brown recluses occur, the University of Kentucky notes that most bites happen when a spider is trapped against bare skin, so grabbing one by hand is the risky move. A cup and a card, or the vacuum, is safer and quicker.

What smell do spiders absolutely hate?

Only a few scents have been tested. In a 2018 study in the Journal of Economic Entomology, peppermint oil and chestnuts strongly repelled brown widows and a garden orb weaver in choice tests, while a third species, the false widow Steatoda grossa, was much less affected. Lemon oil, the most widely recommended remedy online, had no effect on any of the three species. No scent has been shown to clear spiders from a house.

Are spiders scared of humans?

Spiders do not seek people out, and they bite only when pressed or trapped. The University of Kentucky says the brown recluse, like other spiders, is not aggressive, and that most bites occur when one is trapped against skin in clothing, shoes or bedding. University of Arizona Extension says tarantulas do not bite unless seriously provoked. A spider that runs from you is reacting to a disturbance, not attacking.

What is the longest-living spider?

The longest-lived spider on record was “Number 16”, a female trapdoor spider, Gaius villosus, followed in a long-term population study in Western Australia that began in 1974. Curtin University researchers reported in 2018 that she had died at 43 years old. The previous record was a 28-year-old tarantula from Mexico. In the US, female tarantulas in the Southwest may live as long as 35 years.

Sources

• Missouri Department of Conservation, Field Guide: Common House Spider and Wolf Spiders.
• Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home and Garden Information Center, HGIC 2408 Cellar Spiders (Oswalt, Benson and Zungoli), 2004.
• University of Kentucky Entomology, ENTFACT 631 Brown Recluse Spider.
• Penn State Extension, Wolf Spiders.
• University of Kentucky Entomology, Wolf Spiders of Kentucky; ENTFACT 622 Common Spiders Found Around Homes and Buildings.
• Kansas State University, Kansas Bugs: Yellow Garden Spider, 2026.
• University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (Nancy Hinkle), Autumn spiders.
• Kansas State University Research and Extension, MF3346 Black Widow Spiders (Whitworth and Schwarting), 2017.
• University of Wisconsin Extension, A2135 Common Spiders In and Around Homes (Pellitteri).
• University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Backyard Gardener #90 Tarantulas (Schalau), 2023.
• Colorado State University Extension, Spiders in the Home.
• Curtin University, World’s oldest spider discovered in Australian outback, 2018; Mason, Wardell-Johnson and Main, The longest-lived spider: mygalomorphs dig deep, and persevere, Pacific Conservation Biology, 2018.
• Anderson, J.F., Responses to starvation in the spiders Lycosa lenta Hentz and Filistata hibernalis (Hentz), Ecology, 1974.
• Burke Museum, University of Washington, Spider myths: Spiders come indoors in the fall.
• Fischer, Ayasse and Andrade, Natural Compounds as Spider Repellents: Fact or Myth?, Journal of Economic Entomology 111(1), 2018.
• The Pest Control Brief analysis of iNaturalist research-grade records, pulled October 2026.