Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing cellar spiders. These arachnids are also known as daddy long legs, however, there are other animals that have this name, as well. Harvestmen, crane flies, and cellar spiders are all referred to as "daddy long legs". We've discussed the other types of daddy long legs in previous episodes which you can find linked in the description! There's a myth that cellar spiders are the most dangerous spiders in the world but their fangs are too small to pierce human skin. This is wrong on multiple accounts. First of all, let's be clear that cellar spiders are actually spiders. Unlike the harvestmen and craneflies who share the "long legs'' moniker, cellar spiders are true spiders. They have fangs, and they inject their prey with venom. The myth of their danger may have started when people saw cellar spiders eating animals that are known to be harmful to humans, like black widows. While a cellar spider’s venom can knock out a black widow, it’s described as mild to a human. We couldn’t find a single record of human death by cellar spider bite.

You may be thinking, well sure, it's because their fangs are too tiny to pierce human skin, but that is also incorrect. Cellar spiders can break human skin and have bitten people. This concept has always confused me, personally, because I think about how much smaller fleas and ticks are and how they're able to break our skin! Plus, cellar spiders are regularly breaking through the hard outer exoskeleton of other invertebrates, including other spiders! In fact, cellar spiders are the only daddy long legs that CAN bite you. Harvestmen and crane flies can NOT bite humans. They don't even have the fangs to do it! This could be part of why the myth exists that cellar spiders can't pierce human skin, because the other two animals that share a common name with it literally can't. Though cellar spiders CAN bite you, if they do bite you it's NOT dangerous. You might have irritation and a mark at the injection site, but it'll disappear within a few days.

Now that we've cleared all that up, let's talk about these spiders properly. As previously mentioned, these are true spiders. They spin silk and construct messy cobwebs. These webs are not sticky. The spiders depend on the messy nature to trap prey. Apart from black widows, cellar spiders also eat other spiders like wolf spiders as well as other invertebrates like ants. These arachnids are often seen in the cellars of our homes, hence the common name. They may also be seen in sheds, garages, and attics. In nature, cellar spiders live in protected places like caves and crevices in cliffs. There are also some species who have much shorter legs and live in leaf litter! These spiders live all throughout the world from deserts to rainforests. In size, cellar spiders typically have a short body averaging a quarter of an inch (6mm) in length. Their legs, however, may be twenty times longer than their body! As with other spiders, males are smaller than females.

Predators to cellar spiders include birds, but these spiders have an anti-predator defense. When they feel threatened, cellar spiders dance in their webs turning them into a difficult-to-see blur! They are sometimes called vibrating spiders because of this behavior! Cellar spiders begin their lives as eggs. Females hold their eggs in their jaws until they hatch. They’ll project their young until their first molt at which point they’ll disperse. Cellar spider clutches are small averaging about 30 eggs per case. Their babies take about a year to reach reproductive maturity and they can live to be three years old!

For more facts on cellar spiders, check out the links below. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today. Thank you to our Patrons SpikeSpiegel93, Dad, and everyone else for their support of this channel! Thank you to these viewers for today’s request! And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!