Should You Release House Spiders Outdoors?

Live Science

Some gentle souls will trap spiders in a jar and release them outside, waiting for them to scurry away. But is this outdoor relocation an act of compassion, or a death sentence for the spider?

Transcript

00:00Is it okay to throw house spiders outside? If you spot a spider creeping

00:06through your room, is it okay to scoop it up in a jar and throw it outside? It

00:11turns out it depends. This method only works if the spider species is native to

00:16the area. If the spider is not a native but a transplant, odds are it will die

00:22outside, even if the spider's ancestors arrived to the region decades to hundreds

00:28of years ago. That's because most spiders are adapted to specific places and

00:33temperatures. The American house spider is likely native to northern South America

00:38so it undoubtedly lives outdoors just fine if your backyard is in Brazil. Even

00:44spiders that move to places with similar climates have trouble. The giant house

00:49spider is a native of England and traveled west when the British settled in British

00:53Columbia, Canada. Then it moved south to Seattle and other parts of the

00:57northwestern United States. But the giant house spider is hardly ever found outside

01:02even though Seattle is just as mild and rainy as London. The more compassionate

01:08way to deal with spiders you find indoors is to scoop them up and put them in part

01:12of your residence where you don't mind having spiders such as the garage. This

01:17way the spider will live another day to catch flies and other small pests that are

01:21invading your space. House spiders, just another one of life's little mysteries.

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