Tarantulas in residential areas?

Here the spiders tend to be snall and sometimes give a mild bite which is harmless but uncomfortable for a short time. I've never seen any big spiders but I keep out of the jungle. We have chitchats (small lizards) which you will see on a daily basis plus large lizards in some locations such as near monsoon drains and in the sea. Otherwise cock roaches and ants are hard to avoid

I've yet to see any large spiders including in jungle areas, I've seen leeches and millipedes in the jungle but as Gravitas says at home in an urban environment cockroaches, ants and the lizards )think they're gecko) , as far as I know they eat insects so no need to chase away. I've seen a couple of large lizards outside sunning themselves (more in the parks) and of course rats are never far away.

I moved here to KL from the UK and being used to not seeing any insects whatsoever its interesting over here. I first lived in Bangsar right next to a small forest so saw plenty of the small lizards, large flies, mosquitoes etc. No ants or cockroaches as you simply get pest control to spray every few months and no spiders really.

Though now living in a relatively new high rise development in an area thats slowly developing and I am surprised how there is literally zero insects, not even the small lizards running around on the balconies and no mosquitoes.

Even though I know you are saying Penang and I am in KL but still I would say if you go for a modern development rather than an older one I think that will make a lot of difference.

Maybe can find pest control service to help you with that thing.

I saw an 6 incer crawl out of a drain once in KL. I hate spiders too. In homes tiny ones that jump but never seen anything bigger in 8 years.

I had one in my village house in Thailand once that big once. I broke the world speed record running lol. But it did cure me of small spider phobia. The small one (inch or less) look so small lol.

I haven't seen any tarantulas in Urban areas in Malaysia (even here in Borneo whee they are fairly common in the jungles). Tarantulas don't bother me as they are also quite common in the US. We had them as pets and they are quite docile unless cornered.

But I have seen scorpions in town, and even in the hallways of houses, some quite large. They are a bit more intimidating for me, though I have allowed them to run over my arms and such. The little ones scare me even more as they seem to be even more likely to come indoors and explore the bedroom.

My biggest arachnoid pest seems to be the jumping spiders. Probably harmless but seem to be ever present in my bathroom. I wonder what they are eating? Maybe ants? Or those funny little clothes moth chrysali  and nymphs that look like tiny mandibled aliens.

There are spiders as huge as you hand but they're mostly in rural areas. If you live in a high rise home, you're much safer.