A house spider eats live insects: flies, gnats, moths, ants and small beetles. If one is living in a corner of your home, you don’t need to feed it at all. If you keep one as a pet, offer live prey no bigger than the spider’s body.
What House Spiders Eat in the Wild
The common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) builds a tangled web and waits for prey to blunder into it. Typical meals include:
- Houseflies, fruit flies and gnats
- Mosquitoes
- Moths and small beetles
- Ants and small crickets
- Other spiders, including smaller house spiders
Spiders can’t chew. They inject digestive fluid into prey and drink the liquefied result, so they only take live or freshly caught insects.
What to Feed a Pet House Spider
Good feeder insects for a captive spider are:
- Flightless fruit flies for spiderlings and small spiders
- Pinhead crickets or small house crickets for larger spiders
- Small flies such as houseflies, caught indoors or bought as feeders
- Small roaches from a feeder culture, such as dubia nymphs
Choose prey no larger than the spider’s body. Large prey can hurt or stress a small spider.
How Often to Feed
- Spiderlings: every one to two days
- Juveniles: every two to three days
- Adults: once or twice a week
Spiders can go for weeks without eating, especially before a molt. A skipped meal is normal. Remove any live prey left in the enclosure after a day, since crickets can nibble a molting spider.
Water
Spiders get most of their moisture from prey but also drink. Lightly mist one side of the enclosure every few days so droplets form, or offer a very shallow dish with a pebble in it. Keep the enclosure damp, not soaked.
What Not to Feed
- Insects from sprayed areas. Pesticide-covered bugs can poison a spider.
- Dead or dried insects, which spiders usually ignore.
- Fruit, pollen or table scraps. House spiders are predators and don’t eat plant food.
- Prey much bigger than the spider.
- Fireflies. They are toxic to many predators.
Should You Feed a Spider Living in Your House?
No. A wild house spider finds its own food and is a free pest controller. If you want it gone, gently move it outside with a cup and a piece of paper. A heavy infestation can point to an insect problem, and a pest control company can help.
Bottom Line
House spiders eat small live insects. Feed a pet spider flightless fruit flies or pinhead crickets, sized no bigger than its body, every few days, and keep a little moisture in the enclosure. Wild house spiders need no help from you.
Related reading: what pet spiders eat, what yellow sac spiders eat and what redback spiders eat.
