Do Spiders Avoid Humans? (7 Interesting Facts)

One of the most frequently asked questions about spiders is as to whether they avoid humans. We explore that question comprehensively in this article.

Do spiders avoid humans? The answer is yes. Spiders typically try to stay away from humans as much as they can. If kept as pets, they don’t like being handled. They also don’t bite people easily, unless they feel that their life is in danger and biting is the only way they can defend themselves.

Can Spiders Sense Humans?

A good place to begin answering the do spiders avoid humans question is by finding out whether, in the first place, they can sense humans.

Only then will we be in a position to go further and find out, do spiders sense humans and stay away?

So, can spiders sense humans? The answer is that spiders do seem to have the ability to sense humans. That is why, for instance, if you move towards a jumping spider, you will see it swiftly moving out of your way.

This means that it has sensed you. And it knows that you are capable of harming it in some way: which is why it moves out of your way.

Similarly, if you move towards one of the spiders that build webs, it is likely to move to one edge of the web, and crouch in order to make itself as invisible to you as possible.

The implication is that the spider has sensed you. That is the reason for its moving to the edge of its web, and crouching in order to make itself as invisible to you as possible…

All this leads to other interesting questions: do spiders know what humans are? What do spiders think of humans? Do spiders care about humans? And do spiders know when you are looking at them?

The key thing to understand in this context is that spiders have the ability to sense the presence of humans. You can tell this from the way they react to you.

They may sense the vibrations you make through the hairs on their bodies and the hairs on their legs. Jumping spiders have good vision, which means that they may see you.

All in all, spiders do seem to have the ability to sense humans.

Do Spiders Avoid Humans?

So far, we have established that spiders are able to sense humans. With that background information, we can now proceed to answer the do spiders avoid humans questions.

So, indeed, do spiders stay away from humans? Or, to put it differently, do spiders try to avoid humans? The answer is ‘yes’. Spiders do try as much as they can to stay away from humans.

This is why a jumping spider will normally immediately start jumping away from you the moment it notices you approaching.

It is also why a spider that has a web will try to move to an edge of the web, and make itself appear as small as possible, the moment it notices you.

It is important to understand that, considering our sizes as humans, relative to spiders’ sizes, we look like giants to them. This is why they may try as much as they can to stay away from us.

That is indeed the sentiment you get while going through most of the do spiders avoid humans Reddit threads.

Spiders avoiding humans seems to be an instinctive thing to them. Experience has seemingly taught them that we are capable of harming them. And indeed, most people’s automatic reaction to spiders is that of killing them. Why then wouldn’t the spiders want to avoid us?

Do Wolf Spiders Avoid Humans?

We can take the do spiders avoid humans question further, and focus on specific types of spiders. Let us start with wolf spiders. Do they avoid humans?

The answer is ‘yes’. Wolf spiders, like most other types of spiders, go to great lengths to avoid humans. They are able to avoid humans with ease because they are agile jumpers.

Moreover, they don’t spin webs. This makes it easier for them to stay away from humans than is the case for the spiders that build web – and which are usually very reluctant to leave the webs.

Do Huntsman Spiders Avoid Humans?

Huntsman spiders are rather big: with bodies that can at times be as wide as half a foot. They do come across as the sorts of spiders that are capable of confronting humans head on.

But in actual fact, upon encountering a human being, a huntsman spider will typically respond by retreating.

Remember, while answering the do spiders avoid humans question, we saw that this is what they do by default. They avoid us. That applies to huntsman spiders as well.

Do House Spiders Avoid Humans?

There are many different species of house spiders. What they have in common though is the tendency to avoid humans as much as they can.

Therefore the general position we gave earlier, while answering the do spiders avoid humans question applies here too. A house spider will do everything in its power to stay away from you.

A common question that comes up in this context is, do house spiders attack humans? And the answer is that house spiders try to avoid humans as much as they can.

Therefore the question of them offensively attacking humans doesn’t arise.

If a house spider ever bites a human, it is likely to be on account of great provocation. That is where, for instance, someone gets hold of a house spider and tries to squeeze it in his hand.

The spider knows that it will die for sure, if it doesn’t bite. So it responds by biting.

Generally though, house spiders go to great lengths to avoid humans.

Are Spiders Scared Of Humans?

Alongside the do spiders avoid humans question typically comes this one: on whether spiders are scared of humans.

And the answer is that, for the most part, spiders seem to be indeed very scared of humans. Our sheer size, relative to theirs, makes us scary to them.

And experience seems to have taught them that we have a tendency to harm them. This is something that seems to be encoded in their DNA: hence their fear of us.

Do Spiders Try To Attack Humans?

Spiders usually don’t try to attack humans. Instead, they try to flee from humans, upon sensing their presence. If a spider ever bites a human, it is likely to be for defensive purposes.

It is likely to be that the spider feels that its life is in danger, and the only way to survive is by biting. So it bites to survive.

That should therefore also answer the do spiders attack humans for no reason question.

In fact, the better question to ask would be, do spiders protect humans? And the answer is that they have the potential to protect us, by feeding on bugs that would otherwise be potentially harmful to us.

Ultimately though, spiders don’t try to attack humans. They instinctively tend to flee from humans at the earliest opportunity.

Do Spiders Avoid Sleeping Humans?

Even when a human being is asleep, they still make small movements – for instance, as they breathe. Spiders are able to detect the vibrations arising from such movements, through the hairs on their legs and on their bodies.

Consequently, they are able to avoid the sleeping humans.

Spiders avoid sleeping humans.

Can Spiders Befriend Humans?

It is highly unlikely that a spider would befriend a human being. In fact, spiders seem to have very little emotion. These are creatures that mostly operate by instinct.

Sometimes, observing how they react, one even wonders, do spiders know when you help them? And the answer is that they seem to be incapable of knowing when you do so.

Therefore there is very little in the way of a bond that can be the basis for friendship between a human and a spider.

This is not to say that spiders can’t make good pets. They can. It is just that the sort of bond of friendship that is possible to create with, say, a dog is impossible to create with a spider.

Final Verdict – Do Spiders Avoid Humans

Spiders have a tendency to avoid humans and do everything they can to stay out of our way.

Upon sensing that a human being is around, a spider that is on a web will usually go to one edge of the web. Then it will crouch in a manner that makes it as invisible to the human being as possible.

On the other hand, spiders that don’t build webs will simply jump as fast and as far as possible upon sensing that a human is around.

If nothing else, our sheer size relative to spiders’ sizes makes us very scary to them.

All this means that if you keep a spider as a pet, you should avoid handling it unnecessarily. That is because being handled by a human being is probably quite an unpleasant experience for the spider.

As a pet lover, make sure to learn about pet more and give your pet spider a good and comfortable life!

Rajkumar Ravichandran

Welcome to Learn About Pet. My name is Rajkumar Ravichandran and I love all pets, travel, and amazing food. I write about my passion and personal experience caring for multiple pets in this blog! ❤️