Why Harmless Cellar Spiders Are One Of The Most Commonly Controlled Pests Of Homes
Cellar spiders are among the most commonly encountered spiders within homes throughout the United States, and their excessively long legs has earned them the well known name “daddy long legs.” Cellar spiders and cobweb weavers are responsible for the tattered cobwebs that accumulate in homes, and especially in uninhabited structures like garages, barns and sheds. Several cellar spider species are commonly found in US homes including long-bodied cellar spiders, truncated cellar spiders, elongated cellar spiders, and marbled cellar spiders, the last of which is mainly found in the southwest US. While cellar spiders can become a nuisance when they are found in large numbers within homes, many cellar spider complaints concern the abundance of webs they build within homes.
Unlike many spider species that either remove or recycle their silken webs after use, cellar spiders frequently abandon their webs in order to establish new ones. This habit can result in a large number of indoor webs that remain intact long after the spiders leave a home. Overtime, these sticky indoor webs can become matted down to walls, shelves, furniture and awnings outside of homes, making their removal difficult. It has been claimed that regularly removing cellar spider webs from homes will cause the pests to return outdoors, but in reality, cellar spiders constantly construct new webs whether they are regularly removed or not. The only way to avoid cellar spider webs from accumulating indoors is to remove or exterminate the pests.
The elongated cellar spider is the most commonly encountered cellar spider within US homes, and they can be recognized for their half inch long bodies, long pale legs, and pale body with brown or black markings on their back and abdomen. Elongated cellar spiders tend to build webs beneath eaves and in basements, while the truncated cellar spider tends to build webs in occupied living spaces. Truncated cellar spiders have remarkably long legs, far longer than most other cellar spider species, and their body is covered in black and pale dots.
Have spider webs ever accumulated within your home?
