BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Have you noticed a lot of eight-legged creatures around Buffalo? So have local exterminators. There appears to be an influx of spiders in Western New York.
"This is like peak spider season right now," said exterminator Ernest Freiberg.
Spiders have seemingly popped up everywhere, on buildings, houses and cars across the region.
"Arachnaphobia is one of the biggest fears that people have so I think that spiders are more noticeable than any other insects," said zoologist and television host Jarod Miller.
Business has been good for Ashland Pest Control in Buffalo. The exterminating company has seen spider-related calls alone jump about 50 percent this summer.
"People have been seeing a lot more insects all over the place," Frieberg said. "Probably one of the reasons is the intense cold winter we had killed off a large portion of them and now it's just Mother Nature rebounding to keep the population at its set level."
Miller said the influx of spiders might not trace all the way back to the winter, but it has been building for months.
"This started back even three months ago when we had higher temperatures in the spring," he said. "The insect populations went up which then caused the spider populations to go up and now we have an abundance of spiders. It's really just the natural balance," he said.
Although many people are afraid of spiders experts say there's not a reason to be in Western New York. Most of the spiders around here aren't dangerous to people, but many people want to get rid of them anyway for other reasons, including the fact that those big webs start to get in the way.
"People are just tired of dusting them and sweeping them up and getting rid of them themselves," Freiberg said.
While experts admit it's a bit of a creepy infestation, there's always the opportunity to look at the positives.
"There are quite a few different species," Freiberg said. "If you like looking at insects, before you get rid of them, take a chance to just sit there and watch the spider. Watch what it does."
"Really look at it in the perspective of it's population control for insects. What would you rather have, an abundance of mosquitoes or an abundance of spiders? My vote is for spiders," Miller said.