Faithful readers might remember that we have had problems with foxes eating the cat food that Leah puts out in the driveway. Possums and raccoons have also treated the cat food as their own, personal buffet. Now we have another type of wildlife eating the cat food.
Daddy longlegs (opiliones) are an interesting arachnid. This one was eating a single piece of cat food that had spilled from the tray. Click on the image for a larger view where you can tell the daddy longlegs’ body from the piece of cat food. This one fed for quite a while, but at least it didn’t eat much.
I used to think that daddy-long-legs were herbivores until recently. Now I look at them a bit differently. They’re mostly scavengers, I’d wager, rather than rapacious carnivores. I’ imaging them running across a piece of dead animal or insect and taking advantage of the goodie. Your cats don’t have anything to worry about; how much could even a horde of d-l-ls eat?
That surprises me. Not sure why though because I never thought about it before. I think I must have just assumed they were herbivores. Very interesting. Great pic!
Scott — I once saw a daddy longlegs apparently feeding on a slug. I wonder how much damage that would do.
Robin — I think they must be opportunistic feeders.
Don’t know what it is about daddy longlegs. Snakes I respect but am not repulsed by. Spiders in general, especially those not crawling on me, are interesting. But daddy longlegs – they stimulate my paleomammalian brain and make me involuntarily leap back with a strangled scream.
Minnie — Ha! I don’t like to touch spiders, especially after taking a closeup of one and seeing what they look like up close. I’m more afraid of breaking a daddy longlegs.
Like Minnie, I’m repulsed by daddy longlegs, but it’s more a contemptuous thing – get offa me. But it may also be a father issue.
I’ve also seen them eating stray bits of cat food, both before and after they went through the cat. They do seem to be pretty opportunistic..
Wayne — I tend to agree on having them on me.