Spider identification
This is the spider from Charlotte's Web, and it behaves the way the book describes: a big web on the porch light or the barn eave, rebuilt at night, with the spider hidden by day. Most people see the web every morning and never see the spider.
Large, up to 2 cm in the body, plain hairy brown or grey with a darker pattern on a rounded abdomen and banded legs, with no white cross. The web is a large orb around a light, a door frame or a soffit corner. By day the spider sits in a crack, under a rail, inside a soffit gap or in a curled leaf; after dark it sits in the hub.
Porch lights, garage door frames, the eaves of barns, cottages and boathouses, and any corner near a light that draws moths and flies. Common on rural properties and cottages across the Lake Huron shore.
Noticeable from late July, largest in August and September, gone with the hard frosts. Egg sacs are left in sheltered cracks in fall and overwinter.
Only if squeezed, mild and local. It is shy and hides at the first disturbance. Most "spider bites" in Ontario are never confirmed; see the bite section of our guide to common spiders in Ontario for what a real one looks like.
Removal needs to find the spider as well as the web, so we check the soffit gap, the light fixture and the trim where it hides by day and vacuum the retreat and the egg sacs, not just the orb. Where the same light draws a new spider every week through August we treat that fixture site. Reducing light at night, or switching to a warm or yellow bulb, cuts the food supply and helps more than most people expect. Every visit ends with a written summary of what we found and where product was applied, if any. Our spider control service and 60 day guarantee pages have the details and pricing.
Spotted orb weaver, Cross orb weaver, Bridge orb weaver. The spotted orb weaver is almost identical in size and habit and is told apart only by a mottled abdomen; for control it does not matter which you have. The cross orb weaver has the white cross and sits in the web by day. The bridge orb weaver is half the size and lives in rows on lakeside eaves. The full list with photos is in the common spiders in Ontario guide.
Good to know
It hides in a crack or under trim by day and comes out to the web after dark. Look at the web with a flashlight after 10 pm and it will be there.
Often, yes. It eats much of the old web at dawn and spins a new one in the evening, which is why the web can look fresh every morning.
No. Its bite is rare and mild. It is a beneficial spider that is simply in an inconvenient place.
Related guides: Keeping spiders away from windows, eaves and lights, Why there are so many spiders in Port Elgin. Service areas where this spider is found: Port Elgin, Kincardine, Grand Bend.
