You see a movement in the corner of your eye, something small and black flashing past before vanishing beneath the sofa. Five minutes later, and everyone is sitting cross-legged on the three piece, terrified to move for what might be scuttling about beneath them.
That's if you're a household that's scared of spiders, like many are across the UK.
As a nation, we generally don't get on too well with our eight-legged friends. Unfortunately, they absolutely love living with us.
And it's this time of year when they are more likely to head out from the cold and into our warm homes, often in search with a mate to make lost of little baby spiders with.
Following the news that giant house spiders ‘the size of your hand’ will be invading homes across the UK this autumn, SellHouseFast compiled a list of 67 UK cities to find out how many spiders were recorded within a 10km radius of the centre, using data from the National Biodiversity Network atlas.
It suggests these are the areas most likely to find spiders in their homes.
Check the weather for your area:
The city most in danger of having homes invaded by spiders, according to SellHouseFast was Leicester, with 228.
If you don't like spiders but live in Bangor then you may not be pleased to hear that the city is in second place with 223 different species of spiders (and allies - similar creatures such as ticks) recorded.
Six tips to spider-proof your home:
St Davids is in third place with 209 followed by Swansea with 196.
Meanwhile Cardiff was in 15th place with 100 spiders and Newport was in 27th with 43.
The most common spider species found in Bangor is the Antistea Elegans, with 43 recorded. The Antistea Elegans are also the most common spider found in St Davids, with 54.
Dolomedes Plantarius, known as the Great Raft Spider, is the most common spider found in Swansea, with 163 recorded.
There are over 650 species of spiders in the UK in fact and even though they can all bite, most are unlikely to cause any harm to humans.
