Cellar Spider (Daddy Long-Legs)

What it looks like

• Tiny pale body with extremely long, thin legs
• Builds messy, tangled webs in basement and ceiling corners
• Vibrates rapidly in its web when disturbed (a defensive bluff)
• Often confused with harvestmen ('daddy long-legs') which aren't even spiders

Where you'll find it

• Basement and crawl space corners and ceilings
• Garages, closets, and undisturbed storage rooms
• Behind appliances, under furniture
• Outside under eaves and inside sheds

Behavior & biology

Cellar spiders eat other spiders — including brown recluse and black widow when they cross paths. Their tangled webs are messy but serve a purpose: they trap any insect that wanders by. They're harmless to humans and pets. The myth that cellar spiders have potent venom but fangs too short to bite humans has been thoroughly debunked.

Iowa activity calendar

Signs of an infestation

• Messy gray webs in basement corners and ceilings
• Long-legged spiders hanging upside-down in webs
• Egg sacs (the female carries hers in her jaws) appearing in spring and summer

Health & property risk

None. Cellar spiders are completely harmless and actually reduce other pest populations.

How we treat it

1. 1

   De-web

   We physically remove webs from corners and ceilings — this is the main visible improvement most homeowners want.

2. 2

   Light residual treatment

   A light perimeter spray reduces the prey insects feeding the cellar spider population.

3. 3

   Honest conversation

   We tell most homeowners cellar spiders are doing more good than harm. If you're not bothered by the webs, leaving them alone is a fine choice.

Why DIY usually fails

Vacuuming the webs and the spiders is the simplest and most effective approach. They'll come back unless you also reduce other indoor insect populations.

FAQ