No. Daddy long legs spiders are not considered harmful to people. The Australian Museum's daddy long legs spider page says there is no scientific evidence for the popular belief that they have the most toxic venom of any spider, and that their venom is not especially potent even for insects. They are a nuisance more than a risk, and a house full of their webs often says more about what else lives there.
Where did the "most venomous spider" story come from?
The Australian Museum thinks it grew from people watching a daddy long legs kill and eat a redback. If it can beat a redback, the thinking went, its venom must be stronger. That doesn't follow, because the museum says the venom is weak.
The other half of the story, that its fangs can't break human skin, is not quite right either. The fangs are about 0.25 mm long, and a test on the American TV show Mythbusters showed they can pierce skin. The sting was very short-lived. Reputable sources, including the University of California, Riverside, still say this spider would never be considered harmful to people.
What does a daddy long legs look like?
The common one in Australian homes is Pholcus phalangioides. It has a small body, about 9 mm long, and extremely long, thin legs. The front of the body is pale with a brown patch, and the abdomen is cream to pale brown with a light pattern.
It is not native. It came from Europe, arrived in Australia by accident, and is now one of the most common spiders in the country because it does so well in buildings. Australia also has about 60 described native species in the same family, but those usually live in natural habitat, not in houses. A related introduced species, the marbled cellar spider (Holocnemus pluchei), looks similar but has a strongly patterned abdomen with a dark stripe on the underside.
When its web is disturbed, a daddy long legs vibrates so fast it becomes a blur, which is often the quickest way to recognise one.
Why do they gather in ceilings, garages and under decks?
They build thin, tangled webs in sheltered places where nobody disturbs them. The Australian Museum lists the usual spots as under furniture, behind doors, in ceiling corners, in sheds and garages, and under decks. Those are the parts of a house people disturb least.
Yowie Bay takes its name from a small bay on the north shore of the Port Hacking estuary. A Yowie Bay home where the boatshed, the space under the deck and the downstairs rumpus room fill with tangled webs again a few weeks after each clean can book spider control in Yowie Bay to treat the sheltered areas and the entry points together.
What does a lot of daddy long legs tell you?
Daddy long legs feed on insects and other spiders. If a garage or laundry has a web in every corner, those spiders are finding enough to eat there. That can mean flies, moths and small cockroaches coming in, or other spiders such as redbacks living in the same space.
It works the other way too. The Australian Museum lists daddy long legs among the recorded prey of white-tailed spiders, so a big population can feed the hunters you would rather not have indoors.
Sylvania is known for its large waterfront properties. A Sylvania garage with daddy long legs in every rafter and a redback or two found under the stored kayaks needs more than a broom, so booking quick spider control in Sylvania means the technician can look for what the daddy long legs are feeding on as well as the spiders themselves.
What if a daddy long legs bites you?
The Australian Museum still advises that if you are bitten, the spider should be identified by someone who knows spiders, and that you should get medical attention if a reaction lasts more than a short time.
Healthdirect's spider bite page says to see a doctor if the pain is bad, if the bite hasn't settled within a few hours, or if swelling or itching gets worse after 24 to 48 hours. A bite from a funnel-web or any big black spider is a medical emergency and needs a call to triple zero (000). If you didn't see what bit you, don't assume it was the harmless one in the corner.
A Gymea family who woke to find a child with a red mark on the arm, and a ceiling corner above the bed thick with webs, can ask their doctor about the bite and then book spider control in Gymea so the bedrooms and the eaves are checked for every spider living there, not just the obvious one.
When is spider control worth booking?
One daddy long legs behind a door is harmless. Treatment makes sense when:
- webs come back across ceilings, eaves and garages within weeks of being cleaned
- you also see redbacks, white-tailed spiders or other spiders in the same rooms
- children or a family member with allergies sleep in the affected rooms
A technician will check where the spiders shelter, what insects are feeding them and how they get inside, then treat the eaves, window frames, garage and sub-floor spaces where they are active.
A Miranda household that sweeps the same webs off the front eaves and carport every weekend can book spider control service in Miranda and have the outside of the house treated where the spiders are settling.
Before you book
Note these details so the technician knows what to look for:
- where the webs are: ceilings, eaves, garage, shed, under the deck or sub-floor
- how quickly they come back after you clean them
- whether you have seen other spiders, such as redbacks or white-tails, in the same places
- whether anyone has been bitten, and what the bite did
- whether children, pets or anyone with allergies live in the home
Send those details when you contact us for spider and pest control in the Sutherland Shire: call Sutherland Shire Pest Control Pro on 02 8360 3033 or email [email protected].