Size
3/4” body
Color
Pale
Description
Cellar Spiders have a small body with delicate long legs. Females lay eggs that they wrap in silk and guard protectively until the young hatch and emerge from the egg sac. The Cellar Spider’s web is not sticky but cast in such a haphazard fashion that it entraps the prey, enabling the Cellar Spider to quickly reach it, wrap it in silk, and inflict the fatal bite.
When threatened, the Cellar Spider will shake its web or drop to the ground to escape. When food is scarce, the Cellar Spider will locate another spider’s web and engage it enough to draw out the spider, which it will then capture for its own meal. The Cellar Spider is very quick and has been known to capture venomous spiders such as the Black Widow and Brown Recluse.
Control Advice
Sweep or vacuum webs, install tightly fitted screens to keep out the insects spiders prey on.
Active Seasons
The Cellar Spider can breed at any time of the year but is most active in warm weather.
Photo courtesy of Olaf Leillinger; olei@despammed.com