What Do Daddy Long Legs Eat?
We found a daddy long legs nest in our house and were wondering how they were able to grow in numbers in our home. So we spent some time researching what they eat to ensure we could cut off their food source and this is what I found.
What do daddy long legs eat? Daddy long legs are omnivores and eat a wide variety of things like aphids, caterpillars, beetles, flies, mites, small slugs, snails, earthworms, and other spiders. In your home, they may feed on decaying plants and animal matter, animal droppings, mold, bread, butter, and fatty meat.
In other countries, the term daddy long legs are used to refer to the Crane fly, which is actually a fly and not a spider and these adult flies don’t actually eat at this stage of their life cycle as all their feeding is done at the larvae stage of their life cycle.
Even though the answer to this question seems simple, many people refer to different insects as daddy long legs and wonder what they actually are, what they eat and are they even poisonous. Well, when I was researching if daddy long legs are spiders, I found the answers to many of these questions.
What is a daddy long legs?
As simple as the answer to this question may seem, there is more than one answer as this ultimately depends on what country you live in.
In America, a “daddy long legs” can be a reference to two types of species of arachnids, one of them is an actual spider, while the other isn’t.
One of these pests is the long-legged Harvestman or Harvesters. These pests are actually Opiliones, which are an order of the arachnid species and not spiders despite what people may think.
The other type of insect in America that is referred to as a “daddy long legs” is the cellar spider.
Cellar spiders are also arachnids and are noticeably yellow to light brown and have long thin legs with a small body. Their extremely long legs make these spiders appear much larger.
In Britain and Ireland, the term “daddy long legs” is used to describe the long-legged Crane fly, which is actually a fly and not a spider.
An adult crane fly is about an inch-long gangly-legged insect that generally resembles an oversized mosquito, with a slender body and long stilt-like legs that easily detach from the body.
Below we have outlined some key differences for you to check what type of daddy long legs you may have in your house.
What does their diet consist of:
Depending on whether you have identified a Harvestman or Cellar spider in your house you might be wondering why they are in your home and what they are actually eating to ensure you don’t encourage them to nest in your home.
Harvestman spiders eat a wide variety of insects like aphids, caterpillars, beetles, flies, mites, small slugs, snails, earthworms, spiders, other harvestmen. In your home, they may feed on decaying plants and animal matter, animal droppings, mold, bread, butter, and fatty meat.
Cellar Spiders will mainly eat other insects like mosquitos, smaller spiders, beetles, flies, and mites. That is why they are often good pests to have found in your home as they will tend to keep other insect populations in your home at bay.
Do Daddy Long Legs Eat Spiders
So by now, you’ve realized that daddy long legs eat a wide variety of insects and food in your house as well as the fact that they may eat other spiders.
So, do daddy long legs eat spiders? Yes, daddy long legs eat spiders. This is for a number of reasons as they are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. They will eat other spiders if they are caught in their webs and have also been known to eat other spiders they may cohabit with in times of famine.
Do Daddy Long Legs Eat Cockroaches
So by now, you’ve realized that daddy long legs eat a wide variety of insects and food in your house as well as the fact that they may eat other spiders.
So, do daddy long legs eat cockroaches? Yes, daddy long legs do eat cockroaches even though cockroaches are much bigger than them they will feed on these pests if they manage to catch one in their web or come across a dead cockroach.
Even though cockroaches have exoskeletons, which means they have bones on the outside while their flesh organs are on the inside a daddy long leg will find a way to ingest a cockroach once it has gotten past their exoskeleton.
Related Questions
Do daddy long legs eat black widows? Yes, daddy long leg spiders will eat deadly venomous spiders, such as black widows and redbacks. While they may not go in search of these spiders they will eat them should they come in contact with them.
Do daddy long legs eat ants? Yes, daddy long leg spiders will eat ants should an ant find its way into the daddy long legs nest. Daddy long leg spiders feed on small insects like ants, beetles, and moths.
Do daddy long legs eat mosquitos? Yes, daddy long leg spiders will eat a mosquito should onefind its way into the daddy long legs nest. Daddy long leg spiders also feed on small insects like ants, beetles, and moths.
Check out some of our other articles
Are Daddy Long Legs Poisonous?
Do Silverfish Eat Paper and Books?
