- Bathrooms make for perfect places for spiders to hang out, for a variety of reasons.
- They love humidity, piles of clutter, and being able to easily score meals.
- Spiders can be dealt with by keeping your bathroom clean.
For the record, I don’t mind spiders all that much. As an animal lover, I’ve been known to ignore a few spiders quietly hanging out in corners, especially during the winter months when I don’t want to expose the poor things to cold temperatures.
I’ve noticed that I tend to find spiders in my bathroom more than any other room in my house. But why is this? And what can you do to mitigate the problem, especially if you have a definite aversion to them?
“Spiders are attracted to any area that is generally undisturbed, provides moisture, and has access to food,” says Jeff Schumacher, owner of All-Safe Pest & Termite. “Bathrooms provide all of this, particularly under the sink and behind the toilet, or sometimes in the corners of the ceiling.”
With these nooks and crannies in mind, there are simply areas of your bathroom that you don’t look at on a regular basis, making for cozy spider homes.
“People rarely look up in a bathroom, so the wall/ceiling junction, which is ideal for spiders to occupy, is ignored until someone sees a spider or several spiders,” notes Greg Baumann, founder of PestControlWarrior.com and Pest Management Professional Hall of Fame inductee.
Learn what the top draws are for spiders in bathrooms, and what you can do to address them.
Humidity
“Humidity is the number-one reason spiders are attracted to any area,” says Schumacher. “Spiders thrive in moist environments, and it’s where they breed. Humidity also draws in the insects that spiders feed on. Bathrooms, laundry rooms, kitchens, and basements are all perfect places, from a spider’s perspective.”
He adds that things like drops of water and the smallest leaks from pipes can also bring on spiders.
Lack of Activity
Think about how often you’re in your bathroom during the day. You’re in it in the morning as you get ready for work, and then you’re in it again before bed. That’s not exactly a high-traffic area, especially when compared to another room like a kitchen.
“The lack of activity makes bathrooms hospitable,” Baumann says. If you’re an introvert, you can relate—that undisturbed atmosphere makes for a tranquil space where spiders can rest.
Free Meals
This is true of any room in your house: insects can enter through windows and doorways, which means spiders can grab an easy lunch, and the prey they require to survive indoors.
“Spiders follow their food,” Schumacher says. “So if you see spiders in an area in your house, you also have other insects.” This can include small flies, silverfish, gnats, and mosquitoes, all of which are equally drawn to a bathroom’s moisture.
Clutter
If you tend to clutter up your bathroom, you might as well roll out a welcome mat for spiders. Schumacher points out that stacks of towels and piles of bottles can provide “the perfect hiding spot for a spider.” And think about those items stored near the floor. As Baumann says, clutter in cabinets or on the floor might host stray spiders.
Busted Fans
Baumann says that bath fans that are not working properly will not remove humidity from the bathroom, which makes it even more hospitable for spiders.
Old Webs
You might be ignoring a few cobwebs hanging in the corners of your bathroom, since they can be hard to reach. You may think they’re harmless, but they’re actually turnkey-ready homes for spiders.
“If you previously had a spider infestation but didn’t clear away the webs, leaving them there will attract a new spider to move in,” Schumacher says. “An old web may also be home to hundreds of spider eggs. Always clean up abandoned webs to keep from attracting new spiders to move in and prevent any lingering eggs from hatching and creating a bigger problem.”
Easy Entry
“Bathrooms often have easy entry points for spiders, specifically around pipes, vents, or windows,” Schumacher says. “Make sure any gaps around pipe entry points are sealed.”
How to Deal with Spiders
✔️ Get out your vacuum. A vacuum can be quite handy to mitigate spiders in your bathroom. First of all, a vacuum can help clear away cobwebs. For catching spiders, Baumann says you can put your extension onto your vacuum and vacuum them up directly. “If you have many spiders, discard or empty the vacuum immediately,” he adds.
✔️ Turn on your fan after every shower. “If you have a fan in your bathroom, use it after every shower,” Schumacher says (you can also run it during your shower). “If moisture is lingering, try to identify the source and fix it. Fix leaking pipes, install a new fan, and use a dehumidifier.”
✔️ Control clutter. Schumacher advises, “Address clutter and keep your bathroom clean. Keep stacks of towels neat and routinely check for spiders and other insects. Sweep away webs when you find them and clean out the area under your sink regularly. This is often a space that people forget about, so spiders love it.”
✔️ Put them outside. If you don’t get the heebie-jeebies too much from spiders and would rather go the humane route, you can always collect them from your bathroom (or other rooms) and put them outside. I like using a Humane Bug Catcher around the house whenever I spot any spiders or other creepy-crawlies, and I set them free in my yard.
Shelby Deering is a freelance lifestyle writer who frequently covers home design and decor for national publications. She has worked as a full-time freelance writer for over a decade, and has worked in the industry for nearly 20 years, writing home tours, interviewing top designers, and beautifying her own home. She holds a master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and when she's not writing, you can find her at thrift stores and flea markets, running, or exploring local trails in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband and corgi, Dolly.
