Can I remove part of the web a daddy long legs has woven without harming them?
This spider has taken residence in a corner of one of the rooms, I’m not bothered by them but the web is getting a bit too big… can I just remove part of it to keep the size in check without causing harm to the spider?
Unlike spiders, Daddy Longlegs don’t spin webs because they do not produce silk. Daddy Long Legs actually have only two eyes unlike spiders who have eight. Another difference is that Daddy Longlegs are not venomous. They do not have fangs or venom glands. - from Google.
No, the daddy long legs you're talking about is a spider and of course it spins its webs. @PolyLlamaRous was talking about something completely different, the harvestman.
Some of the confusion over whether the daddy longlegs is a spider comes from the fact that there are two are small creatures with that name, and one actually is a spider.
The daddy longlegs spider is the cellar spider. It is pale gray or tan and has banding or chevron markings. Crane flies, which resemble large mosquitoes, are sometimes called daddy longlegs as well.
There are many arachnids that shares the common name. Opiliones, or harvestmen, is what you are referring to. But a family of spider, phoclcidae or cellar spiders, spin webs and does whatever a spider does.
I am going to assume you have a cellar spider. Removing part of the web isn't going to directly harm them. They don't recycle their web so you aren't even removing nutrients from them.
The only way it's going to affect them is by reducing their chances of catching prey. Cellar spiders don't have a sticky web and rather rely on prey brushing up against their web, then rushing there and killing it with a bite. So you are reducing the area they are covering.
They also usually just gradually increase the size of their web. So it's unlikely it will try to rebuild everything you removed at once. Meaning it's not going to waste too much energy.
Yes, the reduced chance of getting prey was the first thing that sprung to mind and I was mainly thinking about how that would mean increased hunger… but the web was getting too large to ignore, so we needed a compromise. Hope the trim won’t affect them too much!
I don’t think it’s an issue to remove part of the web. I’ve got spiders outside that tend to keep blocking the entryway and I have to destroy parts that get in the way of the path. They’re usually back within a day or so.
For a more solid answer, the link below describes moving spiders entirely by relocating part of the web with the spider. I think trimming the web is going to be less stressful than that.
Appreciate it! I guess, since it’s just a little trim around the edges, there shouldn’t be problems as you said! If they can survive a relocation they can probably live with a little less web! Thanks!
I don't know anything about daddy long legs, but I'd assume it's okay as long as you don't try and do it when it's in the web.
If it needs a web to live its life then it must be able to account for damage. Whether that means it repairs your damage or it decides another location would be best, it should be able to accommodate.
Thanks! It’s a bit difficult to wait for them to move out, since, at least for what I can tell, they never leave the web. I always found the spider in the same spot lol right now they’re keeping around the middle, so I could trim the edges of the web without directly touching the spider, if that’s what you meant!
As long as you're careful it should be okay. I'm sure it'll scare the shit out of them, they may flee if you trim it, but again, worst case is they decide they need to make a new web elsewhere.
Just did it, they curled their legs (I guess to keep stability, maybe?) but now they’re back to the previous relaxed state I always see them in. It was really just a small trim, hopefully small enough not to scare them away lol I appreciated their efforts to keep bothersome insects away so far and I wish for a long-lasting mutually beneficial relationship
In the UK what we call a daddy longlegs has wings and flies (a crane fly I think). Obviously a very widely used name for things with a small body and a bunch of long legs haha
Can’t tell if you are being serious or pulling my leg with that but I love it haha. I mean it’s a perfect way to distinguish because over here we have no good way to call the spiders other than ‘one of those long leg small body kinda spiders’ which is a terrible name.
Cellar spiders/ daddy long legs have become catch-all terms for any spider or pseudo spider with tiny body and long legs. Anyway, webs get disturbed all the time in nature. The spider just rebuilds. As long as you don's bump in to them, they will just repair the web. If the web needs repair too often, then the spider will move elsewhere.
I see, kinda lazy nomenclature, but I guess with all the different kinds of spiders, at some point you run out of names ahah thanks for the info! I hope they stay because they’ve been eating good, and I appreciate the reduced amount of insects
In German, cellar spiders are called “Große Zitterspinne” (Great Trembling Spider), due to its defensive mechanism. There’s a whole family of Zitterspinnen. Crane flies are called “Schnake” (no direct translation, large mosquito). There are regional variations, however, where both are also referred to as daddy long legs.
Can't find it right now but somewhere there's a 3 part one showing how the daddy longlegs deliberately lures the whitetail to try to come and eat it, but it's a trap.
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