Should You Be Concerned About Seeing Spider Droppings In Your Home?

For people with arachnophobia, any evidence of spiders in their home is too much — but not wanting an infestation isn't reserved for people who fear arachnids. There are a few obvious signs that spiders have infiltrated a living space, including freshly woven webs, egg sacs, and sightings of the eight-legged intruders themselves. Perhaps less obvious, though, are collections of spider droppings in or around where the cluster lives, feeds, and breeds.

Unlike rodents, roaches, and other domestic pests, spider droppings can easily be misidentified or ignored completely as miscellaneous substances. Their excrement reflects the liquefaction of what the spiders are eating, but generally speaking, spider droppings look like small ink blots in shades of black, brown, and gray with the occasional white and may be found in corners, near webs, or on furniture and floors. The more spiders there are, the more obvious the unhappy trails will be. Now that you know what to look for, should you have any health concerns about seeing spider droppings in your home? The short answer is no. Here's why.

While some pests are known to carry bacteria and diseases that can be harmful to humans and though not much research has been done on spider feces, there is no evidence that spider droppings pose a health risk. The only danger, it seems, is to surface finishes. If you catch them right away, cleaning the droppings is as easy as wiping them up with a paper towel. However, if allowed to dry, they can be difficult to remove and may cause damage or discoloration to some surfaces. Even metalworkers have reported color changes to metal sculptures and dulling of varnishes thanks to spiders with unfortunate potty habits. 

Ridding your space of spiders with common household staples is easy, but there are a number of reasons why you shouldn't kill spiders in your home. For one, most species are not dangerous. Some are actually helpful when it comes to killing other unwanted pests like ants and mosquitoes. Whether a few spider droppings here and there are worth less mosquito bites is a matter of personal preference.