It’s that time of year when leaving your window open during the hours of darkness could come with a high price.
Households are being urged to shut their windows (Image: Alex Evans)
Households across the UK are being urged to keep their windows closed between the hours of 7pm and 6am over the next six weeks.
It’s not a good time of year for the faint of heart, as the next few weeks are the official Spider Season, where eight legged arachnids flood into British homes looking for a mate to shack up with for the cold winter months ahead.
As the warm weather begins to fade in late August and early September, spiders rush into houses in the search for some action, and in doing so, begin to appear uninvited on walls, floors, baths, beds, and all sorts of other places around the house that those of a squeamish disposition may not want to share with a living thing possessing that many legs.
Spiders will find their way into your home through gaps, gaps in walls, skirting boards, window frames, brickwork, and even through open windows.
While this is a natural and beneficial part of nature, it doesn’t necessarily have to happen in your house, and there are steps you can take to divert them elsewhere.
To fight it, the best thing to do is to make sure every last crevice or crack is sealed up, including with caulk or filler if necessary.
Otherwise, as well as using repellents like white vinegar or chalk on windowsills, the best way to stop it is to keep windows closed overnight.
Spiders are most active at night, and they’re often on the hunt for their prey (insects such as flies and aphids) while we’re fast asleep.
Spiders prefer the dark over light, choosing to move around in the cover of darkness when their chances of detection are lower.
That means that if you spend a lot of time plugging gaps and spider-proofing your house, then you leave your windows open at night, you’re going to invite spiders in while you sleep, which will then scurry off and find a place to hide once they’re in.
To combat that, the best thing is to close windows between sunset and sunrise.
Meteorology data says that darkness falls at about 8pm in August, and as early as 7pm by the end of September, so you’ll want to close your windows from 7pm to 6am, when the sun rises again, in order to keep spiders out.
