Spiderlings Travel by Catching a Ride on the Wind

Q: Is it just my little acre that is infested with small spiders? The webs are so thin you don’t even see them until they wrap around your face, and they reach the ground from limbs 25 feet up. I got bitten between my fingers, and my hand swelled for two days. 

A: It’s likely that you have a mix of spiders. Joro spiders are the ones that build their webs high up, with the strands stretching to the ground. This is the way spiderlings travel, by trailing silk and catching a ride on the wind. Their silk is quite strong and sticky, which is why it feels so weird when it wraps around your face.

There are other spiders, like crab spiders and wolf spiders — one of which may have bitten you — in the mixture as well. August is a good time for spiders. The ones that hatched in early spring have had a couple of generations. The ones that hatched in warm weather might have had one or two. This means lots of little spiders are looking for a home.