Registered Residential Customers
Manage Your Home Services
© 2026 Rentokil Initial plc and subject to the conditions in the Legal statement
Local branches
Spider bite?
Know the symptoms of spider bites
Common spider species
Most spiders prefer living outdoors, but all too often, you may run across a few spiders that have found their way indoors in search of food and shelter. Learn more about the life cycles and habits of these 8-legged creepy crawlers that are commonly found in India.
Don't waste time, book a treatment now with one of our experts
Item 1 of 1
Harvestman spider
(Phalangium opilio)
Appearance
- Adult – 1/8"– 3/8" body. The upper body surface has light grey/brown pattern, the lower surface is typically cream.
Lifecycle
- The females lay eggs in moist soil.
- Only one batch of eggs is laid each year.
Habits
- They climb tree trunks or look for food on the ground.
- They feed on many soft bodied arthropods, including aphids, caterpillars, beetle larvae and small slugs.
Item 1 of 1
Tarantulas
(Aphonopelma spp.)
Appearance
- Adult body length excluding legs is 1–5" long. Most tarantulas have black or brown hairy bodies and legs but some species exhibit striking colours.
Lifecycle
- Mating season is in autumn. Incubation of the young takes 6-9 weeks, with each female producing 500-1000 eggs into a silken cocoon. The young leave their burrow after 2-3 weeks.
- Life span 25-40 years.
Habits
- Tarantulas prefer to live in dry, well-drained soil where they dig a burrow which is lined with silk webbing.
Item 1 of 1
Wolf spider
(Trochosa ruricola)
Appearance
- Adult female: 5/16"; male: 1/4". They are generally brown to grey in colour.
Lifecycle
- Wolf spider mothers carry their egg sacs around with them attached to spinnerets under the abdomen.
- When the young spiderlings hatch, they climb onto their mother's back where they live for the first few weeks of life.
Habits
- They hunt at night but spend the day hidden amongst moss and decaying matter.
- They live in a shallow burrow, with an open and unadorned entrance.
Item 1 of 1
Yellow sac spider
(Cheiracanthium spp.)
Appearance
- Pale in colour, abdomen can be yellow or beige with a faint dark stripe running lengthwise.
- 1/4 to 3/8 inches long
- 4 pairs of legs, the 1st pair longer than the 4th.
- Eight similarly-sized dark eyes arranged in two horizontal rows.
Lifecycle
- A female produces around 5 egg sacs each with 30 to 48 eggs. The female may produce several egg masses during her lifetime.
- Approximately 30 percent of adult males get eaten by females after mating.
Habits
- Feeding — usually small insects.
- Location — they build a silken tube or sac (instead of a web) in a protected area which is used as their daytime retreat.
- Visibility — they emerge at night to look for food. They drop to the floor to seek cover when disturbed.
Get rid of spiders
Professional treatments to rid your home of spiders