Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Daddy-longlegs: spider or not?
Happy Friday! Let’s talk bugs. I’m revisiting the question as to whether Daddy-longlegs are spiders since a co-worker had an encounter with one and thought it best to kill it. Hmmm, here are some cool facts I found out when a listener told me to check out Daddy-longlegs.
For those who are spider squeamish, don’t worry, daddy-longlegs aren’t spiders!
- They don’t have venom
- They can’t spin a web
- They are generally beneficial – they eat real spiders and insects, including plant pests such as aphids
- They’ve been found in fossils over 400 million years old
- They play dead (like a possum) to repel predators
- If a leg gets stomped on… it doesn’t grow back
- They live 2 to 7 years – unless squished
Female daddy-longlegs lay their eggs in soil, under stones, or cracks in wood in the Fall and emerge in Spring. In the fall, they can become a nuisance when they congregate in large clusters on trees and homes, usually around eaves and windows.
Additionally they can be found in damp crawl spaces, unfinished basements, and garages. Now I know why they’re in my 1897 home, the basement is REALLY not finished! (no photos will be shown!)
Honestly, they don’t damage any structure like ants do, they only congregate for a few weeks and they’re beneficial, so there’s no real reason to control them. Especially with any chemical.
Before you totally freak out, grab a shoe and let ‘em have it, consider that they eat mosquitoes. I tend to guide them out of my view.
Actual Spiders go for those nasty indoor pests like cockroaches, mosquitoes, earwigs, and even clothing moths.
I REALLY don’t like earwigs! Aside from the NAME, which conjures up the time I had a bug in my ear, those pincers are nasty looking and they eat plants!
