Did you know that spiders come in a variety of life spans? While many insects have short lifespans, some species of spider can live as long as four decades!
Common house spiders typically don’t last more than a year while tarantulas possess one of the longest and most impressive lifespans. Environmental conditions also play an important role when it comes to how long spiders will survive.
Fascinatingly different from their insect counterparts, our eight-legged friends are sure to stay around for much longer – if we let them! So how long do spiders live? Let’s check out the different spiders and how long they can survive.
Types of Spiders and Life Span
To get an idea of how long spiders live, here are different species and their lifespans:
1. Black Widow Spider
Black widow spider is typically black with two reddish triangular patterns on the backside, usually joined to form a reddish hourglass-like shape. Female black widow spiders tend to be twice as long as male spiders.
On average, black spiders live for one year, but some can live up to 3 years and even longer when put in captivity.
2. Brown Recluse Spider
Brown recluse spiders are found largely in regions such as Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi just to name a few.
They are among the few spiders with medically important venom, including the Chilean recluse and black widow spiders.
Brown recluse spiders can live up to 4 years.
3. Wolf Spider
Wolf spiders are known for their agile hunting abilities, aided by their outstanding eyesight. Unlike most spiders, wolf spiders are not social and like living mostly in isolation, hunting alone, and don’t spin webs.
Since they don’t create webs, they normally chase down their prey on the ground. They have long and broad hairy bodies with firm long legs.
Male wolf spiders live less than one year, but female wolf spiders can live a couple of years.
4. Daddy Long Legs Spider
This type of spider spins loose webs in sheltered spots, mainly in and around homes. They are not poisonous and will not harm you, although their webs can be a real nuisance.
They are quite common in populated areas and feed on insects, bugs, and even other spiders. The average lifespan of a daddy long legs spider is one to one and a half years.
5. Huntsman Spider
Huntsman spiders are known for their large body size with long legs. They are normally brown to grey in color, sometimes with stripy legs.
Most huntsman spiders have flattened bodies, with Delena being the flattest. Due to their body shapes, huntsman spiders live in narrow spaces, in rock crevices, and under loose barks. Huntsman spiders can live up to two years.
6. Garden Spider
Also known as yellow garden spiders, these types of arachnids are large, circular web-spinning spiders known for having a pair of claws on each foot. They also have an extra claw to help spin their intricate webs.
Female garden spiders have black with symmetrical spots of the perky yellow abdomen. On average, this type of spider can live for up to a year.
Males usually die immediately after mating while females may die during the first hard frost after mating, although they can live for a few years if conditions allow.
7. Yellow Sac Spiders
Yellow sac spiders belong to the Cheiracanthiidae family. They are about a quarter an inch long and have a pale yellow-green color.
The spider is also known for hiding in a small sac or silken retreat during the day. This means they only hunt at night. Yellow sac spiders have a lifespan of between 1 and 2 years.
8. Jumping Spider
Jumping spiders are known for their excellent vision that they use in hunting, navigation, and courtship. They are also known for their superb ability to jump high and pounce on their prey.
They navigate by suddenly altering the blood flow in their bodies. Jumping spiders live between 6 months and 2 years.
9. Joro Spiders
Joro spiders have some of the shortest lifespans of all arachnids, typically living for just one year. Although joro spiders have venom that they use on insects and other prey, they are not harmful to people.
10. House Spiders
The female house spiders have yellow legs while males have orange hues on their legs. They are generally known for having comb-like hairs on their legs and dark bands at the joints.
House spiders can live almost anywhere including in basements, backyards, attics, gardens, sheds, barns, and anywhere near human settlements.
Both male and female house spiders have different lifespans, although females tend to live longer – more than 2 years, while males usually die sooner.
11. Banana Spiders
Banana spiders have varying physical features depending on gender. Male banana spiders are usually half an inch in length while their female counterparts can reach up to 3 inches.
The male spiders have willowy and dark brown bodies while females have long with yellow markings on tan or orange bodies. Adult banana spiders rarely live past 12 months of life.
12. Orb Weaver Spider
Orb weavers are known for their brightly colored spiny or hairy legs and large abdomen. Most spiders in this species have grey or brown bodies.
They have three claws that they use to build flat, spiral wheel-like webs. Orb weaver spiders live for about 12 months.
13. Trapdoor Spider
With a lifespan ranging from 10-20 years, trapdoor spiders lead an incredible life of underground dwellings and diligent burrow building. These unique creatures have evolved to construct intricate silk-lined homes with cleverly disguised doorways for protection against predators and successful hunting!
Factors Affecting Spider Life Span
Understanding factors that affect the life span of spiders is important if you want to naturally control their population. Some of these factors include:
Temperature:
Spiders are known for being ectothermic creatures, meaning they rely on their surrounding to regulate their body temperature.
Therefore, extreme temperatures can be damaging to them and may reduce their lifespan. If the temperature is too cold, the spider’s metabolism will significantly slow down, making them susceptible to predators.
If the temperature gets extremely hot, dehydration issues could ensue.
Food Sources:
The availability of enough food can elongate a spider’s lifespan. They prey on insects, bugs, and even other spiders. Arachnids that can access plenty of food are highly likely to live longer.
Habitat:
Destroying a spider’s habitat can significantly shorten its lifespan and vice versa. When their homes are altered, shelter and food become scarce, which subsequently leads to reduced lives of spiders.
Predators:
Spiders’ enemies include reptiles, birds, and fellow spiders. Exposure to predators can shorten a spider’s lifespan while those that can evade predators can live longer.
The Life Cycle of Spiders
Despite different lifespans, all species of spiders go through an identical life cycle. The life cycle has three distinct development stages – egg, spiderling, and adult. Female spiders can lay one to 3,000 eggs in a silk sac.
Spider eggs usually take a week or two to hatch. Some species in temperate areas can stay in the egg sac all winter and emerge during spring.
Spiderlings or immature spiders resemble their adult counterparts, only smaller. Once hatched, the small spiders disperse by ballooning or walking away.
Immature spiders will repeatedly molt before reaching adulthood. Depending on the species, they can molt up to 5 or ten times to grow into adulthood.
When spiders become adults, they will then mate and start the life cycle again. Female spiders tend to live longer compared to males.
Average Lifespan of Spiders
Most spider species live for 1 to 2 years, depending on the species. Tarantulas tend to have long life spans than other species.
Although females normally outlive their male counterparts. Different species have different lifespans.
Indoor spiders tend to live an average life of around one year, the same as outdoor spiders. However, outdoor spiders tend to live longer than indoor spiders, unless the indoor spider is in captivity.
Conclusion
On average spiders can live between one to 2 years. However, their lifespan depends on many factors, such as species, gender, food sources, habitat, and climate.
Generally, female spiders live longer than male spiders, while outdoor spiders outlive their indoor counterparts. Different species have different lifespans, with some living for just a few months while a few can live for 20 years or more.
FAQs
How long do tarantulas live?
Tarantulas have some of the longest lifespans, living between 15 to 30 or more years depending on the family the tarantula belongs to.
Can the lifespan of a spider be prolonged or shortened?
Yes, a lifespan of a spider can be prolonged or shortened by external factors such as temperature, environment, habitat conditions, food sources, and predation.
Do spiders poop?
Yes, spiders do poop just like any other insect or animal.
How does the habitat affect a spider’s lifespan?
Safe habitat means there is shelter and enough food among other things to support the lifespan of a spider. However, if this is destroyed, the spider will lack shelter and food sources, reducing its lifespan. Insecticides for spiders will shorten their life if you spray for spiders outside and in the home.
