# Daddy Long Legs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 26, 1999, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946 "1999-06-26T13:34:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 1999, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/1 "1999-06-26T13:34:00Z")
Our friend Doug Yanega, in the Dept of Entomology (that’s insects, you ignoramus) at U of Cal, sends us comments on Dogster’s Mailbag item: Is a Daddy Long Legs the most poisonous spider?[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdaddy.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdaddy.html) Doug writes: \<\< I can PERSONALLY confirm that phalangids _can_ bite humans, since one bit me once on the ankle, obviously mistaking me for a piece of dead flesh. As already correctly mentioned, they have no venom, so I was vastly more surprised than I was injured. \>\> ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 1999, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/2 "1999-06-26T13:45:00Z")
I was taught that a Daddy Long Legs wasn’t a spider at all. Wrong number of legs or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 1999, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/3 "1999-06-26T16:29:00Z")
Umm, slythe? You might want to check out the aforementioned site, before you start teaching your grandmother to suck eggs. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 1999, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/4 "1999-06-26T16:36:00Z")
Whoopsie! I was wrong on ALL counts. I think I’ll just sit back and leave the egg-sucking to the experts. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/5 "1999-06-30T05:59:00Z")
Actually, the Daddy Long-Legs IS the most venomous spider in the world, but we do not see this lovely feature when it bites, Oh no, my friend, we see this feature only when an animal eats the thing. The Daddy Long-Legs has this “Last Laugh” Venom. When an animal east the Daddy Long-Legs, it secretes it’s venom into the animal, and kills it. Faster than a Sea Snake (the most poisonous snake in the world). that’s why it’s a “Last Laugh” kinda thing. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/6 "1999-06-30T06:54:00Z")
I want some of the drugs JonMal is taking. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 1999, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/7 "1999-06-30T06:54:00Z")
I want some of the drugs JonMal is taking. ---
**Author:** ![ADF-Sniper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@ADF-Sniper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ADF-Sniper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/8 "2004-10-25T11:09:05Z")
I have heard from a friend that kids do swallow them and end up sick. But hey this needs verifycation. Cheers Nath ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/9 "2004-10-25T18:13:19Z")
If that were the case, then most of my old Boy Scout troop would be dead by now. The common consensus was that they tasted a little like peppermint, though I never actually tried one myself. ---
**Author:** ![ADF-Sniper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@ADF-Sniper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ADF-Sniper)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/10 "2004-10-26T12:49:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If that were the case, then most of my old Boy Scout troop would be dead by now. The common consensus was that they tasted a little like peppermint, though I never actually tried one myself. Sorry I should not have said kids but infants. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/11 "2004-10-26T21:42:32Z")
Just to note that we normally don’t like resurrecting old threads. Note that all the people who originally posted to this are shown as “guests” – they didn’t register after the conversion to paid membership. So, they wouldn’t be able to respond if you were commenting on their poss. In this case, no big deal, since you’re sort of starting a new set of comments on the broader topic. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/12 "2004-10-31T06:09:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If that were the case, then most of my old Boy Scout troop would be dead by now. The common consensus was that they tasted a little like peppermint, though I never actually tried one myself. I was wondering what kids do for fun in Montana. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-long-legs/946/13 "2004-10-31T23:42:52Z")
Nah, I’m not from around here. That’s what kids did for fun in Ohio. Hereabouts, kids generally shoot things for fun.