The fastest way to get rid of daddy long legs is to vacuum them up, remove their webs, and then cut off what attracts them: moisture, clutter, and easy entry points. Most people see results within a few weeks of consistent effort. Before you start, it helps to know what you’re actually dealing with, because “daddy long legs” refers to three completely different creatures, and each one calls for a slightly different approach.
Which “Daddy Long Legs” Do You Have?
Three animals share this nickname, and they’re not closely related. The one in your home is almost certainly either a cellar spider or a harvestman, but knowing which helps you target your approach.
- Cellar spiders are true spiders with two distinct body segments, eight eyes, and messy, irregular webs. These are the lanky spiders dangling in corners of basements, garages, and bathrooms. They have venom, but it’s medically insignificant to humans. A researcher at UC Riverside described being bitten and having nothing more than a small mark for a day or two.
- Harvestmen look like spiders but aren’t. Their body appears as a single round segment because the two parts are fused together, and they only have two eyes. They don’t spin webs, don’t have fangs, and don’t have venom glands. You’ll find them outdoors in leaf litter, gardens, and around foundations.
- Crane flies are the ones that look like giant mosquitoes. They’re insects with six legs and wings, they don’t bite, and they typically live only a few days as adults. If these are your problem, they’re seasonal and will disappear on their own. Turning off porch lights at night reduces how many fly inside.
The rest of this article focuses on cellar spiders and harvestmen, since those are the daddy long legs that actually take up residence in homes.
Why You Might Want to Keep Them
Cellar spiders are genuinely useful pest controllers. They eat mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and other small insects. More impressively, they actively hunt other spiders, including species you’d rather not have around. Cellar spiders prey on funnel weaver spiders, huntsman spiders, house spiders, and even venomous species like redback spiders and false widows. They do this by invading another spider’s web and vibrating it to mimic trapped prey, luring the host spider close enough to attack.
If you live in an area with hobo spiders or widow spiders, a few cellar spiders in your basement may actually be keeping those populations in check. That said, heavy infestations create webs everywhere and aren’t something most people want to live with. Here’s how to deal with them.
Vacuum and De-Web Regularly
A vacuum with a hose attachment is the single most effective tool for immediate removal. Suck up the spiders, their webs, and any egg sacs you can see. Pay special attention to ceiling corners, behind furniture, under stairs, around window frames, and anywhere pipes or ducts run along walls. Cellar spiders build webs in spots that stay undisturbed, so the places you don’t normally clean are exactly where they’ll be.
Consistency matters more than thoroughness on any single day. Pest control professionals recommend de-webbing every three months as a baseline, but if you’re dealing with an active infestation, doing a pass with the vacuum every one to two weeks will make a noticeable difference. Spiders that keep losing their webs and egg sacs will either die or move elsewhere. Once the population drops, you can shift to quarterly maintenance.
Reduce Moisture and Humidity
Cellar spiders and harvestmen both gravitate toward damp environments. Basements, crawl spaces, and bathrooms are hotspots precisely because of the humidity. Reducing moisture makes these areas far less appealing.
Start by fixing any leaky pipes or faucets, especially in basements and under sinks. Make sure your foundation has proper drainage so water flows away from the house rather than pooling near it. A dehumidifier in a damp basement can shift the environment enough to discourage spiders from settling in. Improving ventilation helps too: opening vents in crawl spaces, running exhaust fans in bathrooms, and making sure dryer vents aren’t pumping moist air into enclosed areas.
Seal Entry Points
Spiders get inside through surprisingly small gaps. A thorough inspection of your home’s exterior and interior can reveal dozens of potential entry points you’ve never noticed.
Use caulk or sealant on small cracks around window frames, door frames, and foundation walls. Larger gaps around pipes, cables, and utility lines where they enter the building often need expanding foam. Install or replace weather stripping around doors and windows, particularly basement doors and garage entries. Check dryer vents, exhaust fan covers, and any other openings that lead outside.
Eliminate Hiding Spots
Both cellar spiders and harvestmen seek out cluttered, undisturbed spaces. Inside the house, this means storage boxes piled in corners, rarely moved furniture, and basements full of old belongings. Decluttering these areas and storing items in sealed plastic containers rather than open cardboard boxes removes the sheltered spots they need.
Outside, clear away piles of debris, rocks, and wood from around your foundation. Store firewood away from the house and off the ground. Trim back any vegetation that touches the building, including ivy, shrubs, and overhanging branches. Plants growing against exterior walls create a humid microclimate and give spiders a direct bridge into your home. Even moving potted plants a foot or two away from the foundation can help.
Natural Deterrents
Peppermint oil is the most popular home remedy for spider repellent. The scientific evidence is limited, but there’s enough anecdotal support that it’s worth trying as a supplement to other methods. Mix about five drops of peppermint oil with water in a 16-ounce spray bottle, add a small squirt of dish soap to help it mix, and spray it around baseboards, window frames, doorways, and corners where you’ve seen activity. The active compounds in peppermint oil act as fumigants, which may explain the repellent effect.
Other essential oils people report success with include eucalyptus, tea tree, lavender, lemon, and citronella. Cedar is another option: spreading cedar mulch around your home’s perimeter or placing cedar sachets in closets and drawers may help discourage spiders from settling in those areas. None of these are guaranteed solutions on their own, but they’re nontoxic and easy to apply alongside the more effective strategies above.
When to Call a Professional
Most daddy long legs situations don’t require professional help. Vacuuming, reducing moisture, and sealing entry points will handle typical populations within a few weeks. But if you’re dealing with a large infestation that keeps coming back, or if the spiders are spread through hard-to-reach crawl spaces and wall voids, a professional exterminator can apply treatments in places you can’t easily access.
A one-time spider treatment typically costs $100 to $300, with the national average around $300. For ongoing prevention, quarterly service runs $350 to $750 per year. The most common professional methods include spot spraying or applying insecticidal dust in areas where spiders concentrate. For severe infestations in larger spaces, fumigation may be recommended, which starts around $300 to $500 and can go higher depending on the area being treated. Many companies charge $100 to $150 for an initial inspection but waive that fee if you proceed with treatment.
As a rough guide, professional treatment runs about $0.15 to $0.20 per square foot, though most companies have a minimum fee regardless of how small the job is.
A Simple Removal Plan
If you want a straightforward approach, here’s the order that works best:
- Week one: Vacuum up all visible spiders, webs, and egg sacs throughout the house. Focus on basements, garages, bathrooms, and storage areas.
- Week one to two: Fix moisture problems. Repair leaks, set up a dehumidifier, improve ventilation in damp spaces.
- Week two to three: Seal entry points around the exterior. Caulk cracks, foam gaps around pipes, replace worn weather stripping.
- Ongoing: Declutter storage areas, trim vegetation away from the house, and vacuum or de-web every two to four weeks until the population drops. Then shift to quarterly maintenance.
Most households see a significant reduction within three to four weeks of starting this routine. The spiders aren’t hard to eliminate once you remove the conditions they need: moisture, shelter, and a steady food supply of smaller insects.