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Welcome again to the Faith Pest Control Podcast. I’m Mike Stewart. I’m your host today for a another episode of the Faith Pest Control podcast a public service for all the fine folks of Jasper, Georgia, Blue Ridge, Georgia, Ellijay, Georgia and pretty much anywhere in the North Georgia mountains. If you have pest problems you want to know about fate pest control. You want to know that they can solve your problem and the man that solves the problem. The Pest expert Fred Talley is here today to talk about something I always had an interest knowing more about grand daddy long legs. grand daddy long leg longlegs spiders. I used to see them when I was a kid, they had these big, long, thin legs and little, I think that little brown tannish brown bodies. And for some reason, as a kid, I wasn’t ever scared of them. I actually liked them play with. But I want to know what’s going on with them? Are they a problem? Are they a nuisance? Some people don’t want you you definitely don’t want them crawling around your house. So Fred, tell us all about the grand daddy long legs.
All right, Mikey. I’m sure most people are aware of the many things that have been said about granddaddy long legs. You’re you’ve most likely heard or you may believe that these strange looking creatures are spiders and that they’re so venomous, that we’re actually lucky that their fangs aren’t long enough to penetrate our skin to do us harm. This actually begs the question though, are they really poisonous? Or are they dangerous? And are they even really spiders? Not not knowing really where the the mists came from or originated from? One thing I do know for sure is that granddaddy long legs as we know them. They are arachnids, but they are not spiders. They are known as harvest men. And they are not poisonous. They are venomous, but not poisonous. They’re not really known to bite humans, and they’re not actually a threat to you inside your home. They can bite humans. But the reality is the chance of them doing so is so limited, that it’s almost zero, and their venom is really not that harmful. Like I said they’re called harvestman, and as a harvestman, as opposed to spiders, they only have one pair of eyes spiders have six or eight pairs of eyes. The harvestman is incapable actually of weaving a web and they do they actually don’t have the built evens ability to even spin silk as Potter spiders do. harvestman ambush their prey as opposed to catching him catching them in a trap. They do have eight legs like a spider. However, one of the unique features of the harvest men is that they can self amputate one or more of their legs as their protection against predators. The tragedy and those that the the the the legs that they self amputate do not regrow once they’ve been amputated. They are called harvestman, because they are most often seen in large numbers during the fall around harvest time. I have been asked in the past, if a granddaddy long legs in the daddy long legs are like father and son, but they’re actually one and the same. There’s no difference. Some people call them the granddaddy long legs, other people just call them daddy long legs. Now in reality, you, you might as well just be more afraid of being bitten by a ladybug or stinkbug than being bitten by granddaddy long legs, they are most likely more afraid of you than you are of them. As I said earlier, they have no means of subduing their prey, such as venom glands, or they are using their fangs. They don’t spin away. They don’t trap their prey. They they actually feed mainly on rotting animals in rotting plants. Occasionally, they will kill some tiny species when an opportunity presents itself but typically it’s the rotting animals in rotting plants. They do will however use their Fang like math mouthparts to grasp and chew their food Food. I’m sure you’ve heard math and granddaddy long legs is one of the most venomous spiders out there. However, their fangs are just, they’re just too tiny to penetrate the human skin. That’s as far as being the most venomous is actually a myth. It is possible, like I said, how we’re very unlikely to be bitten by granddaddy long legs. They may be unsightly, and an annoyance. But granddaddy long legs are not dangerous to humans, they cause no noticeable damage to your home, or its contents thinking fabric hear stuff like carpet, rugs, curtains, clothes, linens, they don’t damage those at all. In certain I’m certain this will come as a shock to you. harvestman is sometimes referred to as the granddaddy long legs or Daddy Daddy Long Legs, because they’re because of their long legs. This, their long legs actually allow them to move quickly and to be able to readily avoid their predators. If you pick one up, one of the most frightening things that will probably happen is that while trying to flee or free themself, one or more of their legs are probably going to fall off. This is the process is known as autonomy is which Webster definition means the casting off of a body part by an animal that’s being threatened. Think of a lizard here shedding their tail to escape a predator. The act the legs of harvest, men are actually vital sensory organs. And so because of this, the loss of any leg can be devastating. If fleeing the harvest woman does have a last ditch defense mechanism. If trying to flee fails, they can. One is they can relate to foul smelling and foul tasting. Compound this and very unappealing to their predators. But the other thing is they can stop and kind of curl up into a ball. They are actually very beneficial in your home, around your home and or garden because they’re omnivores, and they’ll eat spiders, insects, worms, snails, and fungi. Like I said, the rotting plants and bird droppings. They’re primarily nocturnal, so they’re more active at night. And they prefer to hang out in your in the house they prefer to hang out in your basement, or your cellar or crawlspaces garages. place where people aren’t there all the time. So I do want to address the subject here of poisonous versus venomous. This actually, most people confuse it a lot. Most spiders may be venomous in the sense that they can harm you by injecting their venom into you. But they are not poisonous because they do not affect you. When you touch or ingest them. Yes, there are creatures or cultures I mean, that will enjoy a tasty spider snack on occasion. Harvest men have the fang like mouthparts but they do not inject any type of venom into their prey as a spider does. And and they’re you know, they’re just not poisonous. I occasionally will get a call from a distraught customer telling that telling me that their pet has eaten Daddy Long Legs. There’s typically nothing to worry about. If this happens harvest men are not poisonous to mammals, so it’s unlikely your pet will have any negative reactions. These they however, do have some unusual protection mechanisms against predators. Like I said earlier, they have the stink glands that they use to deter a predator as well as a tendency to curl up in a ball and play dead. In general granddog long legs are harmless harmless to humans, but can become a nuisance when they tend to cluster to totally avoid any type of bite it’s normally best to just leave them alone. If you’re not causing if they’re not causing any issues. It fate pest control we offer a free consultation and 100% make you happy money back guarantee. If you hire fast pest control to get rid of your bug problem at the end of 30 days. If you’re not 100%, happy, we will come back and retreat your home for free. And we’ll keep on trading it for free until you tell us that you are happy. That still doesn’t make you happy. We’ll give back every penny you spent on the original treatment. Plus, we’ll pay you an additional $25 for your time and trouble just for fooling with us. Bottom line is I want you to be happy with the service we provide or you won’t pay a penny period. Do you feel like what I’ve said makes sense. Please call faith pest control today to 770-823-9202 and asked to speak to me, Fred tally. I’ll be more than happy to speak with you and answer any questions you may have.
Well, thank you, Fred. Now I know that daddy long leg was okay for me to play with as a child and he wasn’t dangerous. We used to we used to love to see those. Those was the one spider or we thought it was a spider now we know it’s a harvestman that we weren’t scared of the little the little black real spiders whatever the different ones we saw. They did scare me But Daddy Long Legs was always felt like he was my friend. And it was a it’s it looks like it’s a useful arachnids to have around your home because it eats all of those other pests. So great information about the granddaddy long leg or the daddy long legs. And it’s a harvest one, it’s not a spider. And we do this podcast as a public service for all the fine folks in Jasper Georgia. Blue Ridge, Georgia Ellijay, Georgia, you know, anywhere in the north Georgia mountains. Hey, share this podcast. It’s it’s so that you can be educated but water pests and water not pest and what to do if you do have a pest. You can actually call Fred and ask him questions anytime. But be sure to share like and subscribe to this podcast. You can find this podcast and in Apple, Google of Spotify or Amazon. And like I say we do it to help you be educated about what pests are going on in the north Georgia mountains. So until next time, this is Mike Stewart for the faith pest control podcast.
