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.
Comments
well i am sitting at my computer at 6 in the morning as my baby has decided to wake early ,and have spotted one DLL HORRAY! IN MY ROOM ,so might have seen the last off them damm things.
but the sad thing is i have got the rest off the rooms to check before i even get down stairs .
After saying what i said yesterday about the horrible things i have to admit last night i didnt see one of them doing any press ups on my walls or dancing on the ceiling.
I think that maybe they are moving on. Also i havent seen a single spider…hopefully it is going to stay that way!!!
The daddy long legs seem to be reducing in quantity, which you might think is good news, but…
I have had to get somebody to remove 3 monster spiders from the house in the last 2 days!
They are enjoying themsleves with the glutton so much that they are now working it off in the gym!!
Still; better thans wasps though!!!
Julie xxx
Well they aren’t calming down yet in Edinburgh.
When I approach my front door in the evenings when its dark, there are always some of them hanging on to it trying to get in. I think it’s because the street light shines onto the door which is white and so is like a beacon for them!!!
Paint your house black to stop them coming in… Really big body parts on them these days..whats making them fatter and hairer?? Maybe the Sottish ones are on the whisky?
PS!! Huge slugs in my garden too – Do they eat slugs? that would explain why they are so fat!
Well another day (3rd one) and I haven’t seen a single DLL! maybe it is because here in Ireland the weather has been really crappy!
We have only had about 5 days nice weather in the last 8 weeks and now the temps have dropped too so hopefully it is Goodbye DLL’s for 2006?!
Does anyone live in a high rise flat, I was wondering if they fly up that high as if they don’t I may sell up and buy a flat on the top floor! lol
ive just been on cub camp in windsor Great Park and oh my God ive never seen so many DLL – im not scared of them but when the toilet block looks like a scene from “arachnophobia” but with wings but with wings you can appreciate why the kids chose to pee behind a tree! there must have been at least 50 of the buggers and then in the kitchen – well – i dont think any DLL got into the stew :)
right ive killed atleast 2 a night every night this week cept today … when i couldnt find any in my house :/ which is strange…. i just cleaned my room and there was about 10 i had to pick up and put in the bin it was horrible… my best method of killing them is using hairspray and deodrant and occasionally a lighter but its not a very good method i need some more :P also about the spider problem … the common garden spider grows to 10-13mm but on my way to college there is 3 with huge webs all around 3cm long which scares me cos any spider bigger than a 5p freaks me out :/ tbh this winter im gonna need alot of bug spray and spider killer….
I hate them, but as they are here i may as well enjoy killing them, i have been using a deodarant spray and lighter to make a flame thrower, that kills em really quick but a week ago i managed to burn some hairs on my arm so i decided it wasnt worth burning myself for the sake of those stupid pointless creatures, so then i took to catching them in a bottle and blowing some kind of herbal smoke into it and observing there reaction, (ok iv’e been getting em stoned!) they go really mad for a while then they chill out and mong, so they react much the same as humans! i also descovered when they mate they will not stop until they want, they got the right idea! doesnt matter how much you shake the bottle they will not seperate! i hate them as flies and i hate them as larvae too, ive only seen a cranefly larvae once (they are called leatherjackets) i found it whilst digging my allotment, think of a big fat grey leathery skined maggot n ya have a leatherjacket, i hate all maggots so i was disgusted to find this in my allotment, from that point onwards i decided i was at war with crane flies, and to win wars you have to know your enemey so i researched about them and now i will share the results of my research, firstly, annoying as they may be, crane flies are completely harmless to humans, they dont bite or sting, they dont even have mouths because they dont eat as adults, there only purpose is to have sex, they wont lay eggs in your house because they like to lay them in moist soil (unless you have moist soil in your house, not sure if they would lay eggs in a plant pot or something, they arnt quite as skanky as other flies, they dont go on poop or rotting flesh so not as germy as houselflies, so really my only reasons to hate themk are when they are in the larval stage, thats when they can be a pest to lawns and allotments, and i hate them getting near my face and i hate them landing on my teddy, this thing about them being the most poisonous things is total nonsense and has been proved wrong, when people refer to daddy long legs (thast what i call crane flies) some people are refering to a type of spider, in fact there are 3 insects that are called ddls, the crane fly, the daddy long legs spider and the harvestman which is a arachnid but not a true spider (its more closely related to a mite) harvestmen are those little round bodies with long spindly legs, NONE of the 3 things called ddls contain deadly poison, and my final titbit of info is if you want to know the difference between a male and female crane fly, look at the end of there abdomen, females have fatter abdomens which end in a point, ive seen someone here ask if it was a stinger, the answer is no, its a ovipositor, (for laying eggs) the makes have smaller blunter abdomes with a sort of nobble on the end.
hope i didnt bore anyone to death!
Everyone do daddy long legs impressions….run around with your chest stuck out and your arms flailing aimlessly by your side…if you can’t beat ’em join ’em. I’ve decided this morning that they’re actually quite sweet…kind of like the village idiot, but in insect form.
Marie says she didn’t have crane flies in Canada. I’m in Canada and we have always had a few each year. But this year we are inundated, at least where I live in Kitchener, Ontario. When I walk in my grass there are thousands of them that get stirred up. They always seem to come into the house hidden in my dog’s fur. Thank goodness we have screens on our windows otherwise there would be hundreds in the house. Hopefully they will die soon. But I worry about what will happen to the lawn next year.
I’ve just noticed the temps in the UK, 25c+, I’m not suprised you still have DLL’s there, it is only 12c here in the west of Ireland so I think all our DLL’s may have flown off to you lot! lol
I keep complaining about the cold weather here, but at least our DLL;s seem to have gone.
So chances are that yours will be gone in the next couple of weeks.
Brrr, off to put the central heating on!
i hate them
I wish more people were scared of them, it would make me feel better! My flatmates aren’t scared of them so they leave them to roam the hose freely while i’m on edge having a nervous breakdown. Everytime one of them opens the door for a fag they swarm in, great i’m paying in daddy long legs for her bad habit!
please will the just cease to exist then we we can move onto the spider problem
From Peterborough, in enfield at the moment
Striking from underground the Cranes have invaded our homes in a desperate bid to drive humanity to insanity.But never fear the Jedi are here:
Crane Wars
The Cranes Strike Back
Return of the Cranes
The Phantom Crane
The Crane Wars
Revenge of the Crane
As you’ve guessed we’re big Star wars fans in our home but we arn’t fans of the Crane Beasties. These creatures would install fear in even a Sith Lord.
Me and the kids have had great fun with our toy light sabres. At first the kids had serious worries when I jumped up and started waving one of these swords (with light and sound effects) around and swatting the Crane Beasties. Now they think it’s fun and so the Crane Wars have begun. The wife ain’t talking to me at the moment (peace at last) as a few of her ornaments became collateral casualties in this epic struggle…but the kids thing I’m the best..! We’ve named the mower the Millanium Falcon and hit the garden every day. I’ve never known the kids to want to help with mowing so much. No more Crane Beasties on our lawn…
So if you don’t care what the neighbours think of you when your diving around in your house brandishing a glowing humming Light Sabre then have fun and “Death to the Cranes”
It’s late, and I can’t sleep. Mainly due to the constant buzzing of DLLs. The damn things have infested every room in the house, looking at the lampshade above me I can see it’s full of the dead or dieing from the last few nights.
Tommorow I’m going hunting with the hoover.
I remember when I was a kid you’d always get a day during the summer when the air was full of flying ants. This is kind of like that, only these suckers are big, noisey and they’ve been here for weeks.
Not said this in a long time, but roll on winter.
One flew at my face last night as I was sat chatting in the kitchen! I nearly had a heart attack!!
Everyone was laughing at my reaction.
Yeah hilarious!! ……..Call me strange but I hate things flying at me!!
why have i become addicted to reading this site?
Infested in Tamworth too!
Just walking down my Garden and I disturbed literally hundreds of them in the grass, seemed to be small/young ones though.
Every morning, since late August, when I open the curtains in the front room there are at least 10 hanging onto the window at eye level, staring in at me.
The spiders are not only getting bigger by eating them, they’re getting braver too. I swear the one down the end of the garden has doubled in size in just under a week. Everytime I wreck its’ web within ten minutes it’s back – building a bigger one (to try and catch me I think).
Hadn’t really noticed lack of Wasps this year until now. They do have a purpose then!
Does anyone out there know if spiders would dare to actually walk onto your face in the night?? I’m worried that a spider might actually sit on me while I sleep. Given the size of them I think this is a real worry.
I bought some devices for the house that are supposed to keep insects and rodents out by sending out a high frequency sound that only affects them……dont buy one they are useless or the spiders in my hous wear earplugs!!!!
I live opposite the playing fields so at the mo there are more than the cats can eat and the spiders webs are clogged with them – saw a spider cutting one out yesterday – even they are fed up with them.
We need a TV special explaining about them. Questions I would like answered are:
Why are they called ‘Daddy’?
Why do they hang ‘dead fashion’ on one leg from the ceiling when they rest?
Is it possible that the can sting?
What do the eggs look like?
Why do leatherjackets seem to have no mouth yet manage to eat the lawn?
Why do they fly at people – can they not see?
Does a DLL hatch straight from a leatherjacket or is there an inbetween stage?
So many questions….
The DDL invasion is here in Milton Keynes too!!! I hate them they fly at me when im in the shower! I have found a way of killing/ preventing them a bit. I have a pony and the fly spray i use on him has citronella stuff and a whole host of other bug busting stuff.I sprayed it on him and a DDL landed on him and it died instantly so i sprayed the window frames of my bedroom and there have been less DDLs. I hope this helps!!!!
In answer to M (170) about “dare spiders walk on our face during the night”, it is said that in a lifetime a person can eat 10 spiders whilst they are asleep!! there, that has taken your mind of DLL’s for a moment hasn’t it?! LOL
OH NO!!!
I’m 13 and have a phobia DLL. My family really don’t sympethise and as I’m a christian I don’t believe in killing God’s creatures. I also really hate spiders and no one will come and rescue me. They all leave the windows and doors open and I am haunted every night. I keep falling asleep at school because I get so little sleep when they come into my room. Can someone please help me?
Dear H – why not ask your mum and dad to get you a mosquito net for your bed. They are very cheap and easy to put up. You won’t have to kill any DDLs but they won’t be able to get near you when you’re in bed, so at least you can get a good night’s sleep. Good luck.
H – I know exactly how you feel, because I am also terrified of them but my family (more specifically my Dad and brother) enjoyed taunting me about it.
I would suggest that you keep your bedroom window closed, at least from just before dusk until the next morning, and your door closed.
To stop the spiders, would your parents allow you to stick a draft excluder around your door? This would reduce the gaps and make it harder for them to get in.
I’m 30 now, and still terrified of DLLs. I’ve learnt to control my fear a little more over recent years, but I still can’t make myself go near enough to be able to remove it (whether by killing or any other means)
Has anyone successfully overcome a phobia of them, and if so, how?
They say that to overcome a phobia you need to confront your fear…HELLO, can you imagine having a DLL sat on your hand so you can get over your phobia? I think not!!
Instead I will just have to reply on my lovely future hubby to grab ’em and chuck out t’window! :-)
I had thought they had all vanished here in Ireland, but Alas, my dreams have just been shattered as I have just spotted a few of them in the….sob!
South Wales here, and love my house being open, plus the youngest always keeps back door open anyway.
Went to lock house up last night and over 20 in dining room, and several throughout rest of house. Almost end of September and still not slowing down. Even the cat is bored now.
These things or rather the lavae (leatherjacket) managed to eat my entire lawn last year, since many pesticides are now banned there is only one way to get rid of them, nematodes are tiny organisms that basically kill off the leather jacket and should be applied to your lawn roughly 2 weeks after you notice the crane flies so you need to act now.
Can’t believe I’ve just spent the last 20 mins reading this site or that so many people are posting!
Here in Essex we are still seeing huge amounts of the dastardly DLLs – I have about 4 of the things flying round my living room at the moment. They are definitely much bigger than normal. I can’t seem to find out why they hang from one leg when resting but have found out why their flying is erratic – their eyes are on top so they can only see upwards.
As for spiders, our garden spiders are massive but were like that before the DLLs hatched.
so they fly around everywhere, eat alot, shag alot – sounds like my boss :)
WANTED: Lots of kitchen roll or tissues
PURPOSE: for squashing daddy long legs between my fingers and feeling a sense of delight as I deposit them in the rubbish bin!!
Forgive my sins people but these pesky, bumbling little (or in some cases actually quite big!) creatures are causing me severe trauma so much so that I’m thinking of spending next September in Iceland (the country not the freezer centre that us mums go to!!) as I’m sure they don’t have them there!!!
I’ve tried the gentile, ladylike approach of politely asking my hubby to remove them from our house but having put about a million of them out, he’s now on strike!!! Having spent a night out of the marital bed because there was one whirring around my bedroom, watching me in a demonic fashion from the coving just waiting to twirl and whirl onto my face whilst I was sleeping, I decided that there was nothing for it – the beasts of Bristol had to go!!!
So there we have it, one traumatised 30 something mother driven to squashing creatures between bits of kitchen towel or tissues in order to return some sort of mental stability. Phew – that’s better – I confessed my sins – arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh there’s one on my landing, quick, get the protective gear – I’m after it …. !!!!
My Mum told me a story the other day how she swallowed a DLL by accident. (She calls them ”Genie Long legs”)… anyway she was running at top speed and just swallowed a DLL by accident. Apparently it tasted of cinamon!!
Nice :o)
i cant believe people converse on the topic of daddy long legs! all i wanted to know was if they actually fly or does it look like they do because they have such long legs. get a life people(no point in replying to this message because i wont return to read it).
Does anyone know why there has been a decrease in wasps…thus leading to this hellish plague of daddy long legs…bad in Brighton!!!! nice to know others care too!
Work this out… how come my arachnophobic wife doesn’t show the slightest fear of DLLs…? Big hairy spider (gorged on DLLs no doubt) in the bath and it’s panic stations, but no such trepidation when the DLLs invade…. hmmm?
Our garden is alive with ’em! They stick to the wall shortly after emerging from the ground; last night I reckon there about 15 to 20 per square foot. I left the house this morning and was immediately smacked around the head by 20 or so that had been attracted to the hall light. Maybe I should get some mozzie nets and shroud the house for the next two weeks…
Please, please, please someone invent a quick and convenient DLL killer… I love my wife to bits, but this has to end! From the minute I walk through the door I have regular spine tingerling screaming sessions followed by mudane DLL termination duties where a complete total killing spree can last up to 45 minutes.. I have noticed that a lot of people have mentioned that its not hard to kill these things, but I am convinced they have a built in defence mechanism for shoes and trainers, you can tred, stamp and jump on these blighters and they still carry on there random flight path!! It’s like they have been to rubber sole school “ok this one coming down is a nikey, to the left, thats it” or “center! center! new shape reebok coming down… nice one! wait for him to lift and off I go!” – Seriously… for the love of god! I must have broken two cups, 4 glasses and scared the living sh#t out of the cat (lazy arse) countless times… C’mon inventors… I wanna see your new invention on the Dragons Den.. I’d buy it!
Here in Essex, we seem to still have a big problem with DLL’s so much so that my Daughter’s Teacher has assigned homework to find out the purpose of DLL’s. Well, has anyone got an idea why DLL are on this earth apart from annoying the hellout of us?
Hope someone has the answer.
Their uses are as follows:
1. Cleaning the dust from inside the lampshades as they flutter within.
2. Food for cats, spiders and wasps.
3. Making more DLL’s.
Sorry – that is the best I can do!
Ian
Thanks Ian,
That’s more information than I had two minutes ago.
I did think that my house was not looking so dusty at the moment, now I know why. “Dusting Daddy Long Legs” – a great use!
Mandy
has any body watched gervais ANIMAL dvd its great a great passage about the daddy long legs
and why god mad them the way they are
its their own fault.
bit of subject but whats with green flies they always end up in your mouth.
walk down the road a dll hits you in your face and as soon as you open your mouth BANG a suicidal green flie goes dive bombing down your throat. they double team you. pure evil creatures both of them sent by the devil to make mans life hell.
and spiders scare me and the missus so i have to catch them (takes about an hour) jumping back and shouting as it moves and free it (she wont let me kill as they are a living creature.
I heard some where that to kill them and keep them out of your home to purchase a outdoor candle (them big tourch ones) and light it and leave for the night the stupid B*s***ds fly straight to it (not tested just what i heard)
As our kids run across the lawn, something like a kajillion of these DLL’s rise up. From the site I see that the cold weather will help, but what about the larve they are depositing? Any ideas on how to kill them so they don’t return? Any ideas how to get rid of them now? harmless or not, they will scare the daylight out of our 150 guests next weekend.
looks like the site is getting a bit boring now and no one is posting anything… to be fair i havent seen any of them i thinkn that they are gone now!
….This is Queen DLL.. our numbers are much less now hence the reason this site is now quiet!! We have however, made sure that our army will be ready to rise again and swoop upon your lawns and homes. We will return next year to scare you some more and keep you from sleep!! We will RETURN!!! Queen D xxx
can daddy long legs pierce our skin and give us a reaction
can a daddy long legs kill me?
This was a very interesting read and the answer that i was looking for never really got answered; what about the remains of my poor lawn? Will it ever recover or will i just have to concrete the lot and paint it green….love to see the buggers eat their way through that. Nemetodes sound disgusting and in february is it too late? Good luck to all who contributed, in attempting to mow your grass this year….cos you’re not going to have any!!!
i am doing a project in middle school about crane flys and i’ve noticed that not many people have web pages about them due to the fact that nobody HARDLY knows what they are,i think there should be more articles about crane flys.please say something on this page if you agree with me.