![]() Their primary crime is the messiness of their webs, which are thin and flimsy but tend to gather dust and floating debris, as well as the remains of the insects the spiders have fed on. Webs typically appear under the eaves of roofs, around porch lights, within garages, and indoors around windows where the light may draw small insects that the spiders feed on. Their long legs make them very clumsy when attempting to walk. ![]() They hang upside down on their webs, and when disturbed they will begin to shake and bounce the web noticeably, or they may drop off the web and run to hide. These spiders have been known to feed on black widow spiders. The female creates an egg mass of about a dozen eggs, and holds it in her jaws until the eggs hatch. Insect Identification: Cellar spiders are easily identified by their extraordinarily long and thin legs, which are attached to their elongate and thin body. The color is a yellowish brown and the legs may be as long as 2 inches. There may be either 6 or 8 eyes, depending on the species, and the outer 3 eyes on either side of the head are arranged in a close triangle. Pest Control: Basic cleaning and other natural pest control measures will greatly reduce the presence of these spiders. Sweeping of webs to remove them is an important step in cellar spider control, as these spiders do not reuse their own silk, and the webs continue to accumulate. Sweeping is not likely to kill the spiders, but pyrethroid insecticides provide excellent knockdown and control. Reduction of other insects in and around a home will reduce the food available to the spiders, and removal of debris and lumber piles will help to reduce harborage sites. Reduction of outdoor lighting or changing white light bulbs to yellow will help to attract fewer night-flying insects and thus reduce the spider populations. Vanish Pest Control is your local Bay Area pest control company, including the East Bay and South Bay we provide complete pest control services.Despite the general disdain for spiders, homeowners should think twice before killing them. ![]() While they can bite, many household spiders do more good than harm. It’s not uncommon to find a spider in the house, but these eight-legged creatures prefer to be outdoors. Spiders enter our homes to find shelter and a food source, especially if you have ants or flies in your home. Since spiders eat smaller insects, they can help remove those unwanted creatures from your home. Most small spiders that enter your home are harmless, but a few, like the brown recluse or the black widow spider, are dangerous, especially when threatened. Even though most spiders are harmless to humans, many people have a fear of spiders. Harvestmen do not have silk glands, so they cannot spin webs they also lack the venom glands that true spiders possess.In fact, studies show that just under 20% of men and 50% of women fear spiders. Among the obvious structural differences are harvestmen’s having one apparently unified (usually egg-shaped) body, while true spiders have clearly separate head and abdomen regions. Similar species: Though they also have long, thin legs and are also often called daddy longlegs, harvestmen (in order Opiliones) are quite different and unrelated. To distinguish it from other cellar spiders may require close examination of palps, “face” structure, carapace markings, and eye groupings. ![]() Perhaps the most common species in our area is the longbodied cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides. Many common spiders in this family have 8 eyes arranged into three groups: 2 in the center of the face, and a cluster of 3 on each side of the central pair. Most have oval or rounded abdomens, sometimes described as “peanut shaped.” Females build nonadhesive, unorganized, messy-looking cobwebs, usually in corners or crevices. Some species have darkened joints on their legs, giving them a “knobby-kneed” look. This movement turns them into a blur, rendering them practically invisible to potential predators. ![]() Other characteristics add to their camouflage: Their gray, tan, or whitish color, small body size, and remarkable habit of “vibrating” or bouncing rapidly in their webs when alarmed. The tarsi (“feet”) are flexible, adding to the wispy impression they give. Cellar spiders are inconspicuous, harmless, fragile spiders with extremely long, thin legs. ![]()
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