Seeing spiders or cockroaches around you is likely to evoke a similar reaction of disgust and fear. However, there’s a silver lining to spiders, and their bad reputation may be short-lived once you figure out some benefits they provide for us.
An important question arises: do spiders eat cockroaches? What about roach eggs?
- Spiders sometimes hunt cockroaches and eat them (and their eggs)
- Some spiders that hunt cockroaches include wolf spiders, American house spiders, jumping spiders, huntsman spiders, brown recluse spiders, running spiders, and widow spiders
- Most spiders trap cockroaches in their webs and proceed to prey on them
This points us towards the possibility that spiders do, in fact, chase after cockroaches and eat them and their eggs.
So before you kill that spider lurking in the corner, you may want to think twice! It’s really an 8-legged cat, helping to keep the pests away.
Do spiders eat cockroaches? Cockroach eggs?
Spiders are prone to hunting down cockroaches and gobbling them up, along with their eggs. The norm suggests that small-sized spiders consume smaller cockroaches, while relatively bigger spiders consume bigger cockroaches.
You can’t really rely on spiders to keep your home pest-free. But conversely, if you see a spider in your home, you may not want to kill it. They often capture flies, mosquitos, and roaches!
Which spiders eat cockroaches?
Although it is established that spiders can eat cockroaches, it is important to know that this doesn’t apply to all types of spiders. Therefore, here are some spider species that actively hunt down cockroaches:
- Huntsman spiders (scary!)
- Running spiders
- Wolf spiders
- Widow spiders (scary!)
- Brown recluse spiders (scary!)
- Jumping spiders
Of those, several species are extremely dangerous to humans, and it’s not safe to have them in your house. But many are not dangerous, and are fine to have in the house.
Since we’re discussing the importance of spiders, we thought it would be beneficial to throw this out there: aside from cockroaches, spiders also tend to hunt down other household pests and eat them.
These include:
- Beg bugs
- Mosquitoes
- Flies
- Earwigs
- Clothes moths
These spiders’ basic personality trait is that they hunt after and feed on certain prey, depending on their environment.
These include small mammals, various other insects, and fish.
Cockroaches tend to multiply exponentially, and due to their unlimited supply worldwide, it doesn’t come off as a shock that spiders of various regions opt for them as a food source.
However, there are not only specific spider species that depend on cockroaches for their core nutrition source.
On the contrary, spiders prefer east cockroaches based on the circumstances, and the opportunity presented. For example, if a spider is thoroughly looking for food and a cockroach presents itself, it may decide to pursue it.
Similarly, if a spider traps a cockroach in its web, it is rare for large spiders to let go of that opportunity or give up that food source.
Is it common for house spiders to hunt cockroaches?
It is indeed common for house spiders to consume cockroaches. However, they do so only with small-sized cockroaches. Various spider species classify as “house spiders.” These include:
- Sac spider
- Brown recluse
- Daddy long leg
- Long-bodied cellar spider
- Hobo spider
- Jumping spider
- Wolf spider
The most common type of spider is the American house spider. This specie mainly does not pose any harm to human beings. Its core living method depends on consuming bugs with very limited defensive strategies.
However, although spiders tend to prey on cockroaches, we shouldn’t forget that cockroaches are incredibly intelligent and fairly resilient against some spiders’ mellow tactics. This applies to various large species of cockroaches, such as the American cockroach, which is often capable of breaking through thin webs.
A similar case applies to numerous other house spiders. For example, the daddy long-leg spiders are fairly tamed and have relatively smaller mouths. Therefore, it is difficult for them to crack through a cockroach’s tough outer shell to consume the bug.
This spider species would also struggle to fit the cockroach in its small mouth. Additionally, these spiders lay down fairly thin web traps, and large-sized cockroaches can easily break through these.
What do spiders eat aside from cockroaches?
Since spiders are common predators of household pests, they tend to eat various types. If they cannot find adequately sized cockroaches, the American house spiders eat earwigs, moths, mosquitoes, flies, and other tiny insects.
Many of these are unwelcome pests!
Do Wolf Spiders prey on cockroaches?
Aside from the American household spider, wolf spiders are also prone to consuming cockroaches. Since these spiders don’t lay down web traps, their method of preying on cockroaches is rather different. These spiders stalk and attack cockroaches, similar to how a wolf does to its prey.
On the other hand, some of these spider species might hide deep in the ground and set down a web trap covering the pit entirely. They will then sit back, relax, and patiently wait for various insects to pass the pit. Once they appear across it, the wolf spiders will emerge from hiding and attach to the insect directly.
Wolf spiders tend to hide away in the corners of your home or sometimes are sprawled against the walls. These spiders have an aggressive way of preying on their victims. If they encounter a potential victim, they will speed towards it aggressively or cover immense distances to end up on it.
This makes them quick and efficient at eradicating bigger cockroaches or fast insect species from your home.
Conclusion: Spiders may be a good option for natural pest control!
Spiders tend to prey on cockroaches and, in many cases, can help you with an infestation within your home or room. Wolf and American spiders are your best bet at preying on these sneaky pests and eradicating them from your house.
But of course, relying on spiders is not going to be sufficient if you’ve encountered a large infestation. If you’ve got a ton of roaches, it’s time to call a professional pest control service.
