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daddy long legs are spiders from the family Pholcidae, comprising nearly 2,000 different species. Interestingly, the term “daddy long legs” is often applied to several species of arthropods, especially the harvestmen. The confusion created by this shared name has led to a lot of misinformation about these arachnids, including what daddy’s long legs eat and how they hunt.
To ease some of this uncertainty, let’s take a look at what Daddy’s long legs, also known as basement spiders, prefer to eat, how they hunt, and what to watch out for along the way.
What Foods Do Dad’s Long Legs Like To Eat?
Daddy long legs eat insects and other spiders. As a result, basement spiders have gained quite a bit of acclaim as useful pest control. Some of the spiders they hunt pose a serious threat to humans. By eliminating them, Daddy’s long legs can help people who live in places where redback spiders, a relative of the black Widow, thrive in close proximity.
Daddy long legs do not have very specific preferences when it comes to finding food. They usually wait for something to land on their untidy web and then either feed on it or actively hunt. Here’s a list of some of the most common insects and arachnids that eat daddy’s long legs:
Daddy’s long legs consume a variety of insects and arachnids. By eating some of these pests, these spiders help humans avoid harmful interactions. Reducing the population of poisonous spiders and disease-carrying mosquitoes is a very good reason to avoid killing these spiders if they are found in their home.
How do daddy hunt long legs?
Knowing what the daddy’s long legs eat is almost as interesting as learning about the methods they use to get their food. Like many spiders, daddy’s long legs produce a web that they use to catch their prey.
These webs often form in areas of low light and low probability of disturbance. Buildings with attics, basements and high ceilings are common places for Dad’s long legs to set up. They also make webs outside near trees and near piles of waste, such as leaves.
While many cobwebs are sticky, Daddy’s long leg webs are not. Instead, their web has an unusual structure that slows the prey down enough that the spider can attack it from a distance with secreted material and go inside to kill.
Many members of the Pholcidae spider family has venom that is used in conjunction with their canines to kill their prey.
Daddy long legs also hunt in other ways. Another common name for these spiders is the “vibrating spider.” The reason is that when something disturbs the web of the daddy’s long legs, it will often cause them to shake their body and web.
One possible reason for this behavior is that the web vibrating is an attempt to catch a bug that got close to the web but eventually escaped. Shaking the web will increase your chances of catching that bug if it stays nearby.
Daddy’s long legs also use their vibrations when chasing other spiders. Sometimes they will happen over a spider web and use their vibrations to lure the other spider out to ambush them or feed on their eggs.
These spiders are successful hunters, both as ambush predators and trappers.
Who is competing with Daddy Long Legs for food?
Papa long legged are not the only spiders that like to crawl in damp, dark and eat other insects and arachnids. They have quite a bit of competition for food, especially from their own kind. Some of their primary food problems come from:
As you might imagine, when Daddy’s long legs can’t find the right insects to feast on, they turn on other arachnids and eat them instead. In terms of food competition, male daddy’s long legs often have the advantage over females because they grow faster. When a larger spider that lives near others detects prey, it has a higher chance of successfully eating that prey compared to smaller spiders that don’t want to become the next meal.
interesting, female basement spiders in low-food conditions, they were more likely to have an extra molt, giving them an edge over males raised in nutrient-rich conditions.
What predators eat daddy long legs?
Like any other arachnid, daddy long legs have to deal with a range of predators. Here is a list of their most common predators:
- Jumping Spiders
- Other daddy’s long legs (in low food situations)
- birds
- frogs
- lizards
- Small mammals
- centipedes
These creatures can kill daddy long legs. Although people don’t eat them, they will still often kill basement spiders out of fear or when they find their webs in an awkward space.
Can a father’s long legs hurt people?
Given the name “cellar spider” and the confusion surrounding daddy’s long legs in general, people worry that these spiders could cause them harm.
In fact, there is a perpetual myth that daddy’s long legs are the most poisonous spider and the only thing that can save people from their deadly bite is that their teeth are too small to break the skin. Neither part of that myth is true, however.
Experiments have shown that the venom is only mildly painful to humans and that the teeth can actually break people’s skin. Some of the confusi
on
stems from the fact that people get their definition of daddy long legs mixed up; harvestmen don’t bite humans (they actually squeeze) and they have no venom.
Learning about the true long-legged daddy spiders, the Pholcidae family, should put many people’s concerns to bed. Not only are these spiders very unlikely to cause harm to a person, but they also do a lot more good than harm. Their hunting can reduce the number of pest insects and arachnids in a person’s home and decrease their chances of encountering a more harmful spider species.
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