Is It True That Daddy Long Legs Are Venomous and dangerous? They seem pretty harmless to me. ?

Question

A Friend Of Mine Told Me That Daddy Long Legs Are Venomous And Are Dangerous If You Pick Them Up. He Seemed Pretty Sure What He Was Talking About, It Sounded Convincing, Is This True Or Not?

[We live in Canada]

Answer 1

no, there are two species that people get confused with because they look alike,one can bite one can't.you know the difference,daddy long legs that look like more of an insect and the ones that just dangle their big legs around.they are not deadly to humans unless you are allergic.

Answer 2

The term 'daddy-long-legs' is commonly used to refer to three different animals - spiders of the family Pholcidae, harvestmen (which are arachnids, but not spiders), and crane flies (which are insects). None of these animals is dangerous to humans. Whilst all spiders possess venom with which to kill their prey, few are harmful to humans. The daddy-long-legs spiders found where I live (UK) have fangs too small to penetrate human skin. I believe some species found in North America can penetrate the skin, but have venom too mild to do you any harm. Harvestmen and crane flies have no fangs or venom and cannot hurt you in any way.

Answer 3

I watched a Mythbusters episode where they experimented with daddy long legs.  They couldn't get them to bite and when one finally did there was no bad reaction at all.  So they decided that the whole thing was just a myth.

Answer 4

Hey, i heard that as well but i think it was something like that they are supposed to have loads of venom but they dont bite or something so were safe! :)

Answer 5

Daddy long legs are the most dangerous spider in North America (and one of the most poisonous in the world.)

But don't worry - they're far too small to deliver the poison to humans.  Their mouths are too small, and their fangs are too short to penetrate human skin.  You're perfectly safe.

And if you were to remove the venom from the spiders, you'd need quite a few (a few hundred really) in order to even harm someone.  So don't worry, they really are harmless.

Answer 6

Actually, if memory serves me correctly they are the most poisonous spider on earth. At least that is what I was always told. BUT they do not have the ability to bite you, so nothing to fear :)  

Answer 7

An urban legend claims that the harvestman is the most venomous animal in the world, but possesses fangs too short or a mouth too round and small to bite a human and therefore is not dangerous. (The same myth applies to the cellar spider, which is also called a daddy longlegs.) This is untrue on several counts. None of the known species have venom glands or fangs, instead having chelicerae. The size of its mouth varies by species, but even those with relatively large jaws hardly ever bite humans or other large creatures, even in self-defense. The few known cases of actual bites did not involve envenomation, and had no lasting effect.

Harvestmen are eight-legged invertebrate animals belonging to the order Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) in the class Arachnida, in the subphylum Chelicerata of the phylum Arthropoda.

In some places, harvestmen are known by the name "daddy longlegs" or "granddaddy longlegs", but this name is also used for two other unrelated arthropods: the crane fly (Tipulidae) and the cellar spider (Pholcidae).

These arachnids are known for their exceptionally long walking legs, compared to body size, although there are also short-legged species. The difference between harvestmen and spiders is that in harvestmen the two main body sections (the abdomen with ten segments and cephalothorax, or prosoma and opisthosoma) are nearly joined, so that they appear to be one oval structure; they also have no venom or silk glands.

Answer 8

Also known as 'harvestman', the daddy long-legs (technically not a true spider) eats other bugs and can't possibly hurt people.  

Answer 9

Apparently, in the UK and Canada, Daddy Longlegs is the common name for crane flies, and they're harmless.  The spiders known by the same name do contain venom but they are also harmless to humans.