daddy long legs

[starbound25]

anyone know how I can get rid of them? We had our basement refinished and the kids dont want to play down there because there are tons of daddy long legs??!!!!!!!!!!

[amyjeans]

found this: http://www.pestproducts.com/spider.h...%20ELIMINATION

1. Use Cobweb Eliminator to prevent formation of spider webs.
2. Eliminate or shield outdoor lights or bright indoor lights that attract the spiders’ insect food source.
3. Trim weeds around the building foundation and remove debris to discourage insects and spiders from living next to a structure.
4. Seal openings and install screens and door sweeps to prevent spiders (as well as other unwanted pests) from moving indoors.
5. Use a vacuum cleaner to remove webs, spiders and their egg sacs. Spider elimination includes prevention of entry, reduction of spider food and any condition that might encourage spider invasion or reproduction.

hope that helps!

[Demeter9]

Daddy Long Legs (harvestmen) don't use webs, and aren't actually spiders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones

I imagine that something is attracting the harvestmen into your basement. A food source. It might be better to try and figure out what they are eating. You'd hate to get rid of the harvestmen only to have an explosion of some worse nasty.

[Naturalyst]

Originally Posted by Demeter9

I imagine that something is attracting the harvestmen into your basement.

A Harvestman is just another term for a Daddy Long Legs, which is an arachnid, but not a spider. But, it is not likely that this is what you are seeing in your basement as its habitat is outdoors. Here is some information:

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ec...harvestman.htm http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseu...ylonglegs.html

What you have in your home is probably a Cellar Spider, also known as Pholcus phalangioides. (Adding to the confusion, it is sometimes referred to as a Daddy Long Legs *Spider*.) The Cellar Spider loves damp places, dark and damp is even better. So they are common in basements, attics, and bathrooms. Every summer, Cellar Spiders declare the ceiling corners of our bathroom as their nursery.

The Cellar Spider is a common indoor spider and harmless to people. While it does carry venom, it is not aggressive and its mouth parts are too small to penetrate human skin. Here's a little about it:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/9610/bgimage

If you can get your children interested in the spider it might dampen their fear. The female cellar spider can be very interesting to watch. She holds her eggs in a ball that she protects until they are ready to hatch. She doesn't eat during this time, spending all her attention on her egg sac. As the spiderlings hatch, she weaves a sloppy, small web that the spiderlings enter and where they stay until ready to go off on their own. "Mom" guards the web, staying next to it. At first, the spiderlings look like immobile specks in the web. But, the slightest movement will make them scurry within the web. It's hard to see without great eyesight or a magnifying glass. Here's the most interesting part, IMO - as the spiderlings get closer to autonomy, a few try to make a run for it and "mom" chases them back into the web. After the first "break out", more and more try. Eventually, within a couple of days of the first spiderling escaping, too many are trying to get out at the same time and she can't keep-up with chasing them back into the web. She, eventually, gives-up and walks away. You can just imagine that if she were a human mother she'd be throwing her hands up in exasperation, saying, "Fine, just do what you want. I'm too tired to fight." Here's a picture of a female holding an egg sac:

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy_long-legs_spider

The spiderlings leave behind sheddings from their growth - the outside skin without the spider. The sheddings are as small as a pinhead and a fun thing for your children to view under a magnifying glass or a microscope.

These spiders eat harmful insects, including mosquitoes and another common indoor spider, the Jumping Spider, which is aggressive, venomous, and does have the mouth parts capable of biting through our skin. The Cellar Spider serves a positive purpose in our homes.

If I've not enticed you to let the Cellar Spiders be, then good housekeeping is your best defense - a vacuum cleaner and a long reach duster.

[maisiedotes]

I am glad you asked this. We seem to have one living in our shower- I think I saw him with a little camera this morning, taking pictures of me dirty spider!

I wonder if it is the moisture that some basements have? I figure that is the common denominator with your basement and my bathroom...

[utopia760]

lol - not on topic reallt just wanted to say my 2 year old ds calls them daddies spiders

[Naturalyst]

I want to add this story as a follow-up to my earlier factual post.

My DSD was fearful of spiders when she first came to live with DH and I, In an effort to desensitize, I'd tell her things like, "The spider by the kitchen window, is mine. I saw it first." Pretty soon, she'd declare certain spiders "hers" and we'd talk about the idiosyncrasies of the various types of spiders in our area. We would remove any spider that unnerved her. But, she otherwise saw that the only spiders DH or I would kill or usher out of the house were those that were venemous, with a bite able to penetrate human skin.

We'd also each choose an orb weaver every August, when they were very active making elaborate webs (outdoors), and see "whose" spider got the biggest by September 1. (No cheating was allowed -- no offering prey.)

One day, when DSD was about 12, I came across an inverted cup on my hallway floor. When I picked it up, a spider no less than 3 inches across ran out, darted over my shoe and ran into the kitchen. I "eeked" and jumped back. DSD saw all this and laughed, saying, "I was saving it for you to see. Why did you jump?" She caught it again under the cup and assured me it was a nursery web spider. She was right, it was a non-dangerous , nursery web spider.

I called DH and told him that DSD's fear of spiders was, officially, history.

[grisaleen]

Naturalyst, thanks for all the neat information! I love it.