I’m having to remove at least two Daddy long legs (Crane fly) from the house every day. If I open the door on an evening, there are always a number of them sleeping on the outside of it. There were a few buzzing around at my parents house in Bradford the other day.
Are we having an invasion? Has anyone else noticed a huge influx of crane fly?
An interesting symptom of this seems to be that spiders, due to their new diet of giant flies, are now growing much larger too. So now we have gianormous spiders skulking around hunting and eating even bigger flies. I fear for the lives of our cats, although they seem to be having fun hunting and catching the flies too.
UPDATE: In addition to Leeds and Bradford, I’ve now had reports of huge flies and spiders in Huddersfield too.
UPDATE: To repell these flies get some Citronella oil apply it around your doors and windows, perhaps dousing some small pieces of cloth. To get rid of ones that have already got in I just recommend catching them in your cupped hands and throwing them outside. If you’d prefer that the ones you miss don’t lay eggs all around your house, get some fly paper to catch those stragglers. Mass killing and torturing of them achieves nothing long term; you’ll just end up in Buddhist hell.
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I am that scared of them that when I checked up on google, I had to turn my pictures off! I can’t even cope with looking at pics of them!
Now come on, that is really phobic isn’t it! lol
Funny enough (well actually it wasn’t) I just found an earwig in my laundry basket but I coped with that!
In March-May we had a plague of millipedes of which most round here had never even seen one before!! the world is going mad and I am close behind :-D
I heard a couple of the blighters talking about there invasion plan the other day. Seems they want to take over the whole blasted world, and make it into one giant DLL nest.
Get them! Kill them! Save yourslelf and while you can!
Stupid flippin insects.
They also said that their random flying pattern is in fact a very sophisticated way or tormenting humans, as we don’t know where they are going next.
Kill them all!
I believe that bit about their flying pattern, that it is just to torment us! lol
I really don’t like killing anything but with these I make an exception! I liked the person who liked to chase them round the room with a lighter!! lol
Just what is their purpose in life????
(apart from to scare the crap out of me)!
All around the Forest of Dean and Gloucestershire….
Seriously, this is a good time to become an exterminator…
ONES HAVING BABIES IN MY ROOM I SWEAR.
i just pulled a leg of one of them.
if anyone needs sam the exterminators services, just gimme a bell.
eugh they gross!!!!
DDL are planning to take over the world they are working as undercover agents who with the help of Chineese restaurants will become the dominant species
omg!!! i have killed about 5 in my room tonight they piss me off lol they r so innoyin for some reson they is like a billion hanngin around my house at the moment lol
I’m from Bradford as well. Just having a quick look on internet about the little buggers cos theres literally hundreds of them round our sixth form if their not sat on the outside of the window they’ve got in some how and are flyin round aimlessly creeping people out. JEEZ THEY ARE SO ANNOYIN. I managed to catch one and pull every single leg off (which is hard when you get to the last one and there’s nothing to hold onto at the other side) but it could still fly it did for about a minute before dying of exhaustion and stress.
I’m ducking everywhere i walk now cuz the things just like flying at me.
And the spiders, seriously when is it going to stop i can’t get to sleep i can just here there wings scraping off the walls!
There has been one of my living wall for the past 2 hours, lazy annoying MASSIVE idiots.
Simon W, that is SICK. Either kill them outright or put them outside.
Y do they always insist on flying into your head? i dont mind them but i cant relax knowing one is guna come trundling into my head every 2 mins! i couldnt understand how evolution hadnt filtered them out, but (thanks to this website) i know they dont need to eat! genius! they will soon learn not to come near me tho!!
Thank God for the Internet!! Best laugh I have had in a long time reading this website! Like everyone else my own house is invaded when we leave the door open – but its good sport catching them in the hand (Score 1 point for a static capture – 5 points for one that is in flight) and chucking them back outside. I’m not religious or vege but doesn’t everything have a right to live wherever possible? Have had a few shed a leg or two though when caught to escape my clutches – does anyone know if these things feel pain or if they can regenerate a new leg?
I am sooo pleased it’s not just me – i was begining to think that i was in a neverending nightmare!! I have never known anything like it. I hate spiders but at least when they are on the floor or walls we can catch them or run for our lives!!! Which evil being created spiders with wings??
I live with a mate (both women) so we haven’t got a chance in hell of removing them as we are both terrified of the horrible things. We are having to just try to be brave until the blasted thing die . . . . and by that time we have a whole new family of DDL moved in!
I realise i sound ridiculous but PLEASE does anyone know what we can do to repel them so we can start living a normal life again!!!!
I live near Leicester and I counted 30 in my bathroom this morning! Where have they all come from? They even tried to have a bath with my husband last night, cheeky little buggers. The ones I killed in my bedroom have mysteriously vanished, do they disintegrate?
DLL’s usually disappear by end Sept…. however the eggs they are laying in your lawn will soon start to feed on your grass roots, turning it yellow and eventually killing it. The lave, having filled themselves for the winter hybernation on your lovely juicy grass will hatch around April when we will suffer round two of the DLL’s swarms. My garden is also overrun with tiny frogs… slimy dirty creatures… but I was happy to see one jump high and eat a DLL’s so hopefully this will help my lawn.
Feel awful though, have made the kids paranoid about them!!!! L.O.L.
To repell these flies get some Citronella oil apply it around your doors and windows, perhaps dousing some small pieces of cloth. To get rid of ones that have already got in I just recommend catching them in your cupped hands and throwing them outside. If you’d prefer that the ones you miss don’t lay eggs all around your house, get some fly paper to catch those stragglers. Mass killing and torturing of them achieves nothing long term; you’ll just end up in Buddhist hell.
I’m in Edinburgh and they are suddenly everywhere!!! I was at a bus stop yesterday and it was swamped in them! When will they just go away? They are in the house, car, supermarket and even in the kitchen sticking to the butter(quite funny as it makes it difficult to fly off)
When my brother was a kid he used to take their legs off and fire them like torpedos!!
maybe just maybe the reason they make our lives hell is because we deserve it we pull off there legs, how wrong is that, one day evolution will cause them to grow mouth pieces just so they can use their venom to poison us so we wont pull off their legs anymore, i am still terrified and want them dead but pleeeaaase guys dont pull their legs off its just mean.
Can’t believe this site exists!!! – i went searching for information wondering if daddy long-legses lived in nests (and if so, if there could be such a nest hidden somewhere in my house) as I just can’t figure how so many of them are getting in: I’ve removed 15 today in Leicester. Incidentally, there was a wasp’s nest at the back of my garden (until a week or so ago) which gives the lie to the idea that the increase is due to a lack of wasps! Luckily i don’t freak about catching the beasts in my hand to put them safely outside…
This is a crisis situation DLL are taking over the world they are scouts from another planet they will become the dominant species we all need to act now imagine what will happen with all these bastards breeding yikees !!
There are at least 10,000 attached to the drab grey metallic exterior of the two-storey buiding I work in so diligently each day. I love ’em – more interesting than work.
THEY ARE EVERYWHERE
Can someone please tell me how to get rid of these besides stamping on them!!
cats seem to love chasing these idiotic insects!! DAMN the’re stupid
Glad I found this site, im getting increasingly irrated by these little barsts! Im not scared of them but I find myself in a war everynight before I goto bed, Cause I just cant sleep with that horrible nise they make when flying against the wall. All they are is flying food.
I’ve noticed a huge influx in the population of these things in the last couple of years, specifically last year and this year.
I am more then afraid of them. Every time I see one, I shiver with fear and anger, my reflexes and sight are dulled, and I start breathing faster, experiencing heart palpatations. I just found two in my house downstairs, but I live with my parents who refuse to understand my fear. I try to exterminate them with “fly spray”, when parents aren’t around to stop me, but I can not bring myself to touch them.
WOW like everyone else was searching net for info on the pests! Totally agree! My solution-suck them up in the hoover!! Got in from work and had to perform this operation before I put the kettle on!! Have shut all windows(husband says we will suffocate) but they are still getting in!!!!
im also very scared of them! parents think im stupid, saying whos bigger u or the DDL? i cant b in the same room as one jus thinkin about the damn fly sends shivers dwn my spine!!!!!
DLL’s have caused absolute caos in my house this evening i have had to scream for my younger sister to come and shoo at least 25 of the nasty things out of the house. I have noticed a huge increase in them. My older sister thought it was hilarious to throw one at me earler which caused even more caos. I am petrified of them have had panic attacks over them does anyone know when they will go!!!!!
they sure are disturbing, in general i dont mind flies or aerial insects flying around, but these creatures are gigantic and almost move in an unorthodox manner causing noise too, extremely awkward, very irritating if your trying to sleep, i live in a semi-detached house and they seem to consume a huge amount of area outdoors. What is frustrating is the reason i went on holiday in the summer because i had proclaimed that leicester/england would be dissapointing in terms of sunshine, as i enjoyed the rays in the city of duba and i come back to this, i do not mean any disrespect to no-one but (it has nothing to do with hygiene) its seems like a third world country, actually thats a harsh comment, well its very frustrating and i hope these creatures dispurse far away from england, and i also ask when will this annoyance finish? hopefully before christmas. Abed Hossain, 16
try buying an UV fly zapper, like the food shops have, leave it on at night and the house will be clear of them a.m. if youre lucky – dont release them outside all you’ll do is add to the population – the grubs, so called leather jackets thrive on plant roots esp. long established grass land
Well it rained really heavily in Edinburgh last night and I’ve still seem them floating about looking for someone to annoy!!
Surely the skinny so and so’s wont be around much longer!!
how do I keep daddylong legs out of my home
Hmm,
Well I came looking for reassurance that I wasn’t mad and have discovered that I actually am mad but so is a huge percentage of the population.
I know they can’t hurt me, are smaller than me etc but I hate them, I hate them with a vengence. They are destrying my life. We send hours going up and downstairs at night to get rid of the ones that make the children scream then we climb into bed shattered and any chance of a sex life we have seems to be seriously hampered by the noise of the buggers hitting the wal and me trying to hide under the duvet leaving my partner outside until he has caught them
ROLL ON WINTER!!!!
Tesco delivered our weekly shopping to us in Worcestershire last night at 8:15pm along with about 50 DLLs. Our 6 month old kitties spent the whole night gleefully chasing the critters and munching on them but several still managed to evade the beasties’ jaws and flitted around our bedroom all flippin’ night. Glad others feel the need to rant about these dratted insects too!
Does anyone know what they are doing to make that noise, rubbing their legs together maybe??
It’s a creppy horror movie type noise.
for those people who cant cope with them and live with people who are likely to chase you with them, get yourselves a can of normal fly killer not the extra strong stuff as this for some reason isnt as effective on dlls but before you spray make sure you have an exit route spray then run run as fast as you can as their mental flying pattern gets speeded up and they will come and get you, if you have to take the kids to the park for example then sit ina spot where there are a lot of dragon flies as i dont know if they feed on dlls but there are less of them where the dragon flies are. believe it or not i dont sit and think of these things its years of being terrified of them, when you have a phobia you get a survival instinct kick in and the above are my top tips as well as keeping all windows closed,
Everybody needs to chill out. Yes there has been an increase in crane fly but there has also been an increase in spiders who lay webs that catch the crane fly. Nature takes care of itself if you leave it alone. Insecticides are bad and may contain harmful chemicals, these in turn affect other insects and so the cycle is messed up. Don’t panic let the spiders do their job, make their webs and catch the crane fly. Spiders webs are free whereas fly tape is not.
im terrified of dll. last nite i slept in ma mums bedroom coz there was 2 in my bedroom, and a couple of nights ago i slept downstairs on the sofa coz there was a dll and a wasp in my room. if anything i think its just the movement that freaks me out. i decided to research them to find out why there are so many at the moment, and it came up with a load of pictures- my skin began crawling. i got one on the floor in my living room at the moment, and i waz thinking about just grabbing it and throwing it out the window, but im also afraid of hurting it. (im wierd like that!)
If increased numbers of DLL means bigger spiders, does that mean we’ll soon be having giant cats and birds everywhere? It’s a plot by the Birds/Animals and Insects to reclaim the world and soon there’ll be blogs about annoying little creatures called homo sapiens!!
i cant believe how many there are. ive just spent at least half an hour chasing one round the room. ive kept my curtains closed cause its just so hot and i needed the window open. theres at least 10 trapped there now, what shal i do? they are driving me mad! i have to keep my flip flop to hand cause they freak me out!
I’m terrified of them as well. Can’t sleep at all because they’re always buzzing around in the bedroom and I can’t sleep with one in the room.
They’re so dratted hard to kill as well, you take your eye off it for a second and it’s gone.
I might try the vacuum cleaner route tonight.
I am seriously scared of these things, I have panic attacks just getting to my front door, its like a scene from The Birds except with crane flies!! I wack em and then vac em, The Bloke has to empty the hoover though!
Well, Although I do get at least one a day of the daddy long legs – I am being terrorised by gigantic spiders! I was beginning to think that there was some sort of radioactive waste under my house or something make them huge – so glad to see I am not the only one!
Oh, by the way – I am in Peterhead, Scotland
we are crawling with daddy long legs at least 10 on the window 10 in the house! can answer where the wasps are – here in fife with our daddy long legs! we have both the buggers!
Like so many on here I found this site whilst trying to research the little horrors.
We’re in Bradford and have between 5 and 10 everynight in the lounge. Best way to get rid of them is to stun them with a flip flop (who says they are only for Summer?) and either get the ten year old to remove them to the outside or the really peed off grown up to keep smacking them till they are dead! A good way to release the frustrations of the day!
I am so glad I am not the only one suffering. Me and the kids are petrified of anything that flies and spiders of whatever size!!! Hubby has been working away so I have had to be brave and attempt to get rid of them – hoover comes in handy, but if you have a dyson, you can see them still and that’s worse cause they may well escape from that!!! We have various splodges of dead ddl’s and spiders on walls and when hubby returns, his first job will be to remove these!! Can’t ever remember seeing so many of the bloody ddl’s, but am hoping the season won’t last long – will they just gradually decrease and then all die?
i hate daddy longlegs and i hate them flying in my room is there some sort of sprey to stop them from coming in ?????????????????????
I hate daddy longlegs. They are every where it is soooooo anoying. I wake up in the middle of the night with one hovering around me,in the end ihave to call my mum and she is really grumpy at night and make her catch the flippen thing. I hate this time of season. IT SUCKS.