(CBS) CHICAGO They are creepy and crawly and they are on the march. No it's not your imagination. An invasion force of spiders is taking Chicago by storm this summer.

While most don't have a toxic bite, spiders can be menacing, especially when they seem to be everywhere.

The word is out. "We were seeing 10, 15 spiders per window," said blog writer Fuzzy Gerdes.

Chicagoans are on high alert.

"They are definitely ugly," said Kristyna Ryan.

Is our city facing a spider invasion?

“There's more than I've ever seen," said Juan Saavedra with Corp. Cleaning Services.

It seems like there are spiders and spider webs everywhere, from the nooks and crannies where we're used to seeing them, even in our cars, even all the way up the Sears Tower.

The extremely dry and hot summer has made spiders healthier and some say, bigger and bolder.

"They were getting pretty big, I don't know big, big spiders," Gerdes said.

This blogger's photo of a big one looks like something out of a horror movie, but it's just a friendly neighborhood spider sixteen floors up a Streeterville skyscraper.

"You can press your face right against the glass and see the spiders. I probably wouldn't get that close to them if I was walking up to them,” Gerdes said.

Kristyna Ryan first noticed the spiders while gardening on her sixth floor balcony.

"The cats like to watch the spiders for sure," Ryan said.

Even front line soldiers like window washers have had to battle the creepy crawlers.

"They get bitten by them," Saavedra said.

We thought it best to take our suspicions about this spider invasion to an expert.

"They're everywhere. They're really having a good year," said Doug Taron at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

And a good year for them isn't necessarily a good year for us.

Most of the spiders aren’t dangerous, but they do bite if you bother them, Taron said.

"Would you like to have one around your bedroom?" CBS 2’s Antonio Mora asked.

"I wouldn't mind," Taron said.

That's the spider expert talking. He said the reason there are so many spiders is that the weather has been terrible for the fungus and bacteria that sicken spiders and that sicken the bugs they eat, so they get a double benefit.

Spiders don’t fly, so how do they land on you or end up way up the outside of a building?

smellmyfunk said:

My dear lord.

INSATIABLE said:

this means nothing to me. nothing.

i remember about a summer or two ago, ladybugs were everywhere. it was horrible...they're so cute, but not when several of 'em fly into your face (the bastards sting, man) and you come home from outside and you wind up draggin some of 'em indoors with you.

not to mention stepping on the poor things. ew.

Anxiety said:

Does this?

INSATIABLE said:

your knack for irreverence is absolutely whelming.

Anxiety said:

Golly, I hate spiders!

INSATIABLE said:

and your sarcasm cuts harder than left handed safety scissors on a humid day!

spiders were sent to us from the devil and it is our job to destroy them all. I hate spiders and i will never let one live in my house.

GET OUT OF MY PERSONAL SPACE DAMN ARACHNID!! DIE


i hate those bastids.

Anxiety said:

I especially hate the big fuzzy ones! Like, I can't sleep when I know there's one in my room!

INSATIABLE said:

we had a moth plague 25 years ago, every night before bedtime mum and dad would have to come into our room and kill all the moths because they flapped around so noisily we couldn't sleep. It was horrible.

charlottegelin said:

you could hear their wings?!?

Aren't I pretty!

Cloudbuster said:

INSATIABLE said:

May I lick your face?

INSATIABLE said:

If you must.

Cloudbuster said:

I love it when you play hard-to-get.