Hobbies And Interests
Anatomy
Most Pholcidae have three eyes on each side of their round heads and two smaller eyes in the middle, while others only have a total of six eyes. They have four pairs of spindly legs that grow to about 2-inches long. You may find green, brown or gray daddy long legs spiders, but their bodies will always be divided into two distinct parts; the head, or cephalothorax, and abdomen.
Habitat
Because daddy longlegs are common house spiders, they have hitched rides in the luggage of many travelers through the years, and now they can be found anywhere in the world. You'll find these spiders in dark, damp spots within the house, such as the cellar, or outdoors in caves, under rocks or in animal burrows. They hang upside down from their messy, non-sticky silken webs, waiting for prey to enter.
Hunting
The carpenter spider will eat anything that falls into its web, including other spiders. A true predator, this species of spider will even invade other spiders' webs to eat their prey -- and sometimes eat the spider too. This spider's webs lack adhesive, so it spins an irregular pattern, designed to trap prey. The spiders then throw silk webbing to form a cocoon around the prey, and then they bite, injecting a paralyzing venom just before feeding.
Defense
Pholcidae can fall victim to birds, lizards, toads or other spiders. When the daddy longlegs spider is threatened, it will gyrate within its web to distract the intruder. If there is prey in the web already, the intruder may opt to eat what falls from the web and leave the spider alone. The gyration may also confuse the predator into leaving the web. If its gyration fails to ward off a predator, the daddy longlegs will attempt to flee the web.