Different types and textures of silk may be used to construct snares or webs, egg sacs, draglines and ballooning threads. Some spiders use web snares to trap prey and all construct a silk sac to deposit eggs. Many spiders attach draglines of silk to the substrate at intervals wherever they go, appearing to have a silk thread to hang onto when knocked from their perch. Young spiders climb to a high point and release silk strands until the drag from the wind is sufficient to support their weight. Then, they release their hold and sail away, often for considerable distances.
House spiders spin their webs in dark corners of moist rooms and outdoors.
They hang upside down in the center of an irregular cobweb. The outside sticky threads entangle many insects, especially flies which are bitten and sucked dry. Females are fertilized several times during a lifetime with up to nine egg sacs, each containing 200 or more eggs. Young hatch in about eight days, staying within the sac until after the first molt. They are cannibalistic, eating one another.