Comments on: Cellar Spider, and Spider Cages

By: Tim Eisele

Tim Eisele — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:13:39 +0000

macy jamal: I’m afraid you’ve been taken in by a myth. See this site, for example:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/longlegs.asp

Basically, there is no record of anyone ever actually testing this spider’s venom for toxicity. So, for the people claiming it is highly toxic – how would they know?

By: macy jamal

macy jamal — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:24:17 +0000

these are actually the most poisonous spiders in the world, but cant bite humans because their fangs are to small

By: Tim Eisele

Tim Eisele — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:03:19 +0000

Thanks, Roberto. Since taking these pictures, I’ve upgraded my camera considerably, so it’s probably time to re-shoot these particular spiders. In particular, I’ve got a flash solution that really takes care of most of my lighting issues.

By: Roberto Granados

Roberto Granados — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:09:49 +0000

Hello,
I really like your website,and I find a lot of useful information in it.
Where I live,in Northern California,we have another species of cellar
spider,the Marbled cellar spider(Holocnemus pluchei).They look pretty much
like Pholcus phalangioides,except they have pretty brown patterns on the
abdomen.

About shooting photos of them:
I encountered the same lighting problem,but figured out an easy way to solve it.
You can use a higher exposure or contrast,but for very dark areas,you can shine a
desk lamp on the spider and change the white balance to “incandescent”.
That should solve the problem.

By: Tim Eisele

Tim Eisele — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:23:38 +0000

Nice poem, thanks! I especially like the last two lines.

By: John Hardin

John Hardin — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:07:05 +0000

Ode To A Daddy Long-Legs Spider

While Pholcus phalangiodes
May incite anxieties
We’ve nothing at all to fear
From this little spider here
In her web up in the corner
There’s no reason we should scorn her
She’s been with us since we were apes
And caught more flies than sticky tapes
We wreck her home each time we dust
But she’s never harmed a one of us
For long ago she realized
Our homes are warm and we draw flies

By: Zainab al-Ashkar

Zainab al-Ashkar — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 17:29:53 +0000

Hey I just happened onto this site and noticed this article and I have to say that it softened my attitudes towards Pholcids- a bit. For some reason, I have been able to tolerate most spiders, I even think some species are kind of cute, like the brown Steatoda house spider, but I never liked Pholcids. Just the sight of a full-grown one was enough to send me into a fit of panic. In fact 2 months ago I was hospitalized for this very thing…I was surprised by a two-incher in my kitchen cabinet and I lost my breath and couldn’t catch it back. My husband thankfully was nearby. It’s just this particular kind that I fear more than the devil himself. I can’t for the life of me figure out why, but I need to because we’re now being overrun by them. My next door neighbors have hundreds in their place. We were invited to dinner one night and I counted over 300 just in the living room. There were almost that many in the kitchen. Needless to say my husband and I quickly found an “emergency” we had to tend to.

By: Tim Eisele

Tim Eisele — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:29:42 +0000

Nope. Even assuming that a cellar spider like this one did bite you (which is pretty unlikely), there's no indication that their venom is anything special, and you probably woudn't notice it any more than a mosquito bite. And if you mean the other main kind of "grand daddy long legs" (Harvestmen), they don't even have venom.

By: timothy sheppard

timothy sheppard — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:48:20 +0000

are grand daddy long legs posinus or deadly

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:47:35 +0000

Well I just flushed a big one – spider that is. She had a big butt that I assumed was chock-full of babies. I live in a finished basement, so I have to get rid of them. Otherwise they’ll crawl up my nose and sit in my earholes when I sleep.