# are daddy longleg spiders good for anything?



## mamita (May 19, 2008)

besides falling on my head every single time I walk out the back door? if I had a nickle for every one we had.......well......maybe you'd be calling me 'Princess Abby'. ick.

ok...playtime over! gotta get outside to do a few chores. have a great day everyone!


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## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

They're good for smooshing under your shoes. I don't even know if my chickens eat them. (although I'm sure they do)


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## Kris in MI (May 30, 2002)

I don't know, but would like to! I was always told daddy longlegs are harmless, so I let them be. Those and the little skinny ones that seem to survive on air--I call them 'basement spiders' cuz that's always where they seem to live.


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## whatrset (Apr 13, 2010)

Average Daddy Longlegs eat a wide variety of foods, including: aphids, caterpillars, beetles, flies, mites, small slugs, snails, earthworms, spiders, other harvestmen, decaying plant and animal matter, bird droppings and fungi.


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

Are they good for anything? They increase the scream factor. :run:


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Oh, pu-LEASE!!! I hate big fluffy spiders like wolf spiders, but those little skinny daddy long legs, I play with them. It's a relief, because I show my DD that spiders aren't to be feared...though she has witnessed my dances when confronted with the calf-sized wolf spiders we have around here.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Oh, don't kill them. I hate spiders but these are not spiders. They eat lots of pests and don't bite you. 

DD plays with them as I used to. Of course, I also used to play with worms and name them after parents and siblings.


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## weedlady (Sep 26, 2005)

Kris in MI said:


> I don't know, but would like to! I was always told daddy longlegs are harmless, so I let them be. Those and the little skinny ones that seem to survive on air--I call them 'basement spiders' cuz that's always where they seem to live.


I call them basement spiders too!


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Every living creature has it's place (and it's job) in nature.


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## hippygirl (Apr 3, 2010)

I completely understand that all creatures play their part in the ecosystem, but, IMO, anything with more than 4 legs AND fur could have been conceived only in the mind of the devil himself...surely.


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## Immaculate Sublimity (Apr 30, 2003)

Ravenlost said:


> Every living creature has it's place (and it's job) in nature.


what is a mosquito's job?


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Well, they wouldn't be on this earth if they didn't have a purpose. Yes they are useful for something. we may not be able to see or understand it but it's true.


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

hippygirl said:


> ...could have been conceived only in the mind of the devil himself...surely.


And this is the very definition of the camel cricket. There is nothing more fearsome. Nothing.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Immaculate Sublimity said:


> what is a mosquito's job?


Bird food.


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## dezingg (Feb 25, 2010)

They're pretty useful for rounding up careless flying bugs!
If I get tired of them I catch them and put them outside.


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## shiandpete.1 (Aug 13, 2008)

Camel spider....do they have pinchers and see a yellowish color and can run like the wind? Here those are known as children of the earth.


BethW said:


> And this is the very definition of the camel cricket. There is nothing more fearsome. Nothing.


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## Nomad (Dec 19, 2002)

They were all over our farmhouse when I was a kid. Some got pretty big, but we never bothered them.

Nomad


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

My DS uses them to chase his sister around the house.


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## pattycake (May 16, 2010)

My mama always said if you step on a daddy long legs then the cows would dry up. I believed her. Anyone else ever heard this old saying?


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

Immaculate Sublimity said:


> what is a mosquito's job?


bat food


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## hippygirl (Apr 3, 2010)

shiandpete.1 said:


> Camel spider....do they have pinchers and see a yellowish color and can run like the wind? Here those are known as children of the earth.


ETA...

Well, it's too late for those who've already seen, but for those who follow...

*WARNING! PICTURE OF BIG, UGLY CREATURE CONCEIVED IN THE BOWELS OF SATAN HIMSELF TO FOLLOW* 
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Dear God in heaven!


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## suzfromWi (Jun 1, 2002)

Our old saying was, if you kill one it will rain soon after...


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## Jerngen (May 22, 2006)

I just heard Rose scream in my head when I saw that picture!!  

I am NOT a fan of spiders at all but daddy long legs aren't really spiders IMO. I even let them crawl on me when I'm outside.


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## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

Jerngen you heard me scream too! Oh please warn us if there are pics like that! eww!eww! eww! Its morning and i will have nightmares tonight over that!


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## mamita (May 19, 2008)

I don't ever kill them, just wondered if they had a purpose. they are the ONLY spider I'm not afraid of, but still don't like wearing them in my hair...lol!

that picture! I spit coffee all over my keyboard and got goosebumps!! if I saw a spider like that, I'd be screaming for days.


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## Immaculate Sublimity (Apr 30, 2003)

Ravenlost said:


> Bird food.





beaglebiz said:


> bat food


Someone overloaded the buffet here in michigan then, we dont have enough birds... or bats to contend with the amount of mosquitoes!:hysterical:


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

I have a picture of my husband with one of our tarrantulas on his head, I should try to find it....


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## TJN66 (Aug 29, 2004)

Oh snap...please warn me next time. All the animals are wondering why I screached like that! Uggg....that on my face would leave me dead from shock!


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## salmonslayer (Jan 4, 2009)

Everyone knows daddy long legs crawl into your ears at night and lays eggs right? :gaptooth:


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## hengal (Mar 7, 2005)

OMG - do you have any idea HOW SORRY I am that I saw that picture??????? Geesh - yes - warning next time please......ICK.

I've always heard that daddy longlegs are poisonous and could do harm to humans except for the fact that their mouths are so tiny they cannot bite us well enough. Anyone know if this is true? I've never minded them in the past, but I kinda look at them a little different now since I heard that....still leave them be though. They don't make me cringe like others do.


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## Nellie (Oct 18, 2006)

Hengal, I've read that, too. Any bug that eats other bugs, I figure is on my side.


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## gina kay (Sep 12, 2007)

I've always played with daddy long legs. Now when I see one in the house I gently put it outside away from the chickens. IMO if I can see the eyes of the spider then they better stay out of way but these don't bother me. My aunt told me she believes they are poisonous although their mouths are too small to do much damage. She swears she ahd some living in their bedroom and she'd wake up with bites on her and the skin would die off around the bite.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

The theory that they're poisonous but their mouths are to small to bite is a myth.


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## shiandpete.1 (Aug 13, 2008)

That picture was awful!!! Those are not what I am talking about...thank the good Lord that I do not have any sort of spider like that here! A child of the earth is a mix between a scorpion without the tail and stinger and a cricket in body shape but with 8 legs, 2 of the front ones with pinchers...next time I see one I will take a picture if I am fast enough. I am still cringing from that picture!


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## dezingg (Feb 25, 2010)

I try to determine if specific bugs are beneficial or detrimental and then react accordingly ... but you're not going to put a spider that big on my face ... yikes!


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## hippygirl (Apr 3, 2010)

I updated the post with the camel spider pic to include a warning.


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## TnMtngirl (Jun 30, 2002)

They eat my marigolds, that is the only thing I have aganist the ugly critters.


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## CherieOH (Jun 10, 2005)

I don't like spiders, but I've heard daddy longlegs are good bugs that eat bad bugs and that crickets inside the house were good luck, soooo I don't kill them. But I still don't want them IN my home, so I catch them and release them outside.

Great. Now I've got this silly song on my mind:

I woke up one morning
And looked upon the wall
The bedbugs and the beetles
Were having a game of ball.

The score was six to nothing
The bedbugs were ahead
A beetle hit a homer
And knocked me out of bed!

Oh there ainât no bugs on me
There ainât no bugs on me
There may be bugs on some of you mugs
But there ainât no bugs on me!


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## whatrset (Apr 13, 2010)

Immaculate Sublimity said:


> what is a mosquito's job?


The mosquito is on earth as a lesson in perseverence. If you want to do something outdoors, you must persevere and deal with the trials that they bring.


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## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

For Shia....
http://www.flowers.vg/flowers/child-of-the-earth.htm


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

RRR, AAACCCKKKK!!!! Wish I hadn't opened that thread.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

RamblinRoseRanc said:


> For Shia....
> http://www.flowers.vg/flowers/child-of-the-earth.htm


Cool! I wonder how long they live and if they sell them as pets anywhere.


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

and I thought TN had some wierd-do bugs


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## Peacock (Apr 12, 2006)

I like the way they whip around like crazy, swinging on their webs when you startle them. It's funny,


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

Daddy long legs don't bother me. Bout the only time I see them is when we're at the campfire. I just let them be.


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