What Happens if a Cellar Spider BITES You?

The daddy long legs is rumored to be the deadliest spider on the planet, but how dangerous is it really? In this episode of MyWildBackyard I'll be testing the bite of the cellar spider to determine just how bad this arachnid's venom is. It's time to find the truth about the cellar spider bite.

Here at MyWildBackyard we investigate the secrets of the natural world- secrets that can be hidden in our very own backyards! I want to share the incredible world of insects, spiders and other wildlife with you and inspire you to explore your curiosity. Get out there, and find your adventure!

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Main Camera: iPhone 13 Pro Max
Backup Camera: iPhone SE 2nd Gen
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Special thanks to these tracks and their artists for making this movie possible:

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

[nicholasyost]

Cellar spiders make great pets, in my opinion. Give them a place to hang where you can observe, and they'll be more than happy to show off for you. I love it when they "fall" down then you can let them crawl on your hands, they are EXTREMELY docile. These spiders are even better for the fact they'll go after the dangerous spiders, like the recluse, so you don't have to use pesticides in your house.

[Kathrynerius]

Cellar spiders are good boys. They're one of only two species of spiders I am 100% cool with and vibe with and let live and hang out when I see them. The other being jumping spiders. (those things are basically tiny dogs, lol)

Cellar spiders clean up after themselves, they remove the dead and clean old webs up from previous spiders, they also eat a shit ton of things you don't want in your house. Watched them take on a quarter sized wolf spider and win. When there's a cellar spider living around, there's never any flies or centipedes or other spiders or nothing around. They're extremely passive towards people, and never do anything aggressive. They're the most docile spider I know. I've never seen one be aggressive to a human ever. Good boys. They also

[TylerMerkleyMusic]

I've spent many nights sleeping in a cellar spider infested basement with cellar spiders building webs around the mattress on the floor and egg Sacks everywhere. Not once did I feel bothered by them, they just minded there business and I left them alone. They're pretty chill

[dfhdf]

ive been letting these guys live in the corners of my rooms for decades. at this point it's a comfort to see them always eventually appear no matter where i go and observing their stillness is calming

[flymachine]

My mild arachnophobia comes from an incident as a kid, I used to be fascinated and kept a pair of Button spiders in a Tupperware, one day I came home from school to hatched eggs and millions of hatchlings covering the bedroom, in my pillows, clothes, on the walls, in my bed, everywhere, they got into my head and haven’t left.

[witchypeoniflorallungs]

Commenting in memory of Sandra the Cellar Spider - she was a little bigger than this and much fatter as we had her in the corner of our porch and she’d eat all the pests. Ended up having two egg sacs and lots of babies. Even built a bond where we could go closed clean the messes of her web or any access, and even boop the babies. Lived with us for approx 2 years, came to us as a large adult, so can only presume she was at least 1 year old already if we go on their life expectancy. Every day we’d say morning to her, and we’re arachnophobic. Even warning visitors of her and to be nice to Sandy/Sange LOL.
Miss you, Sandra. You’ve helped teach more about spiders to us as well as become a family member x

[AllCanadianReptileGirl]

Great video Spencer! We relocate spiders we find in the house to the outdoors (by we, I mean my Dad). But the one spider we don’t encourage to live elsewhere, is the cellar spider. Not because I think they’re better/nicer than other spiders, but because they have a job. They eat the brown recluse spiders that stowed away in our boxes when we moved back to Canada from Virginia. So their rent is paid as long they’re pulling their weight. 😅

[DitieBun]

We get these all the time in the UK, from my experience they're completely harmless and mostly just do their own thing and feed on the local bugs.
Not sure how they get into the house, they kind of just appear in random corners of certain rooms, but I don't mind them

[skullsquad]

Most spiders have completely different body shapes, color patterns and leg types. It's really easy to distinguish them as long as you pay attention.

[Zuiken]

I once held a giant house spider, I found in the basement, as a pet and wanted to feed it a Cellar Spider..
It managed to get out of the giant house spiders web in an instant and sat in a corner of its terrarium - I left it there to see if it gets eaten.

The next day the way bigger giant house spider was wrapped up in a cocoon in the web of the Cellar Spider.
Which made me curious so I kept feeding it.

They are very deadly to any insect which does not manage to escape their web fast enough - they seem to catch pray by simply trowing their web at it until it cant move anymore and then bite which is how they seem to be capable of catching bugs much bigger then them.

The only Bug I found which was able to free itself consistently was surprisingly an Opilione because they seem to have enough power in their legs to rip the web apart.

[pauljs]

I think cellar spiders are more interesting for another aspect. I spent some time watching them in a basement bathroom, since I left them alone as they pick off most other bugs that enter the house uninvited. They're actually communal or possibly even form social groups in the cobwebs they build. Collectively sharing webs and tolerating if not cooperating with each other is not all that common among most spiders. (Most spiders don't tolerate interlopers, and females may even eat their suitors and mates.) The cellar spiders walk right past each other on the same webs with no signs of hostility to their own kind, and seem to respect "first-dibs" on whoever comes to collect pray caught in the shared webs.

That kind of thing might be worth a video in itself, although it would take time to get enough footage of the interactions between individuals of this type of spider.

[silasbeckmann]

The spider in my room watching me
👁👁👁👁👄👁👁👁👁

[MaybeItsMandelad]

I love these spiders, they are amazing and helpful. I never heard about them being dangerous here in Michigan, news to me! I doubt these are dangerous to people too, thanks for testing it out you are brave! Have you ever seen an earwig fly? Blew my mind 😅

[a.m.]

3:56 "it almost felt like, um"....*drops dead*

[vividvulpe]

Honestly, I love my cellar spiders. They are great to have in your house- they stay put, and take care of gnats and flys.

I am a first time home owner, and a pro painter. During my sheet rock prep while renovating, i made sure to catch each cellar spider mommy, and release them under my kitchen sink. They’ll go back up the wall and make new webs.

[Sweatyman]

Where I was from in California, they were absolutely everywhere, I knew they had a possibility to bite since they did have fangs, but figured their venom wasn't nearly as potent to humans as it were to insects so naturally I let them pretty much in most places in my house. They made great pest control and also kept black widow spiders out of my household, sometimes I would remove some of these spiders since their numbers got to high in the household, I would move them outside in very shaded places ( was largely afraid and still am of insects and spiders calling in my ear as it happened onetime with a fire ant crawling in my ear.) All in All, They were a great spider to have in the house since it always helped with controlling certain pest insects.

[ConsciousRobot]

I see A LOT of these guys when working in crawlspaces. I was under the impression that they could not bite and so I never feared them. But I'm happy to hear that they are likely not harmful. I used to be extremely arachniphobic but I've had to overcome this fear, obviously. I still get a little creeped out by the very large wolf spiders when I see them though.

[hellishhybrid]

I love cellar spiders. They're adorable. Their faces look like adorable little skulls. And the way they carry around their egg clusters is just too cute.

[multipleSpiders]

once you’ve seen their faces up close i don’t think they could be creepy anymore. they always look like they’re on the verge of tears 🥺

[archemax]

Hunh, the old factory I work in is covered with cellar spiders. I had no idea people thought they were dangerous.

They also do a little web shake dance when you get too close. Neat little guys.