Daddy long legs are everywhere at the moment. Show It is likely you have heard the flutter of their wings as the nights draw in, or spotted them nestled in the corner of your ceiling, or even spotted them on your bedside lamp. You wouldn't be alone in feeling like swarms of them are coming into your house, because it is peak daddy long leg season. READ MORE COVENTRY NEWS We've heard tales of people with eight of them in their room at once - and others have told us they're squashing several a day just to keep the house clear. Whether that's fair or not, it's true to say that people are seeing a lot of them at the moment. Daddy long legs are sometimes thought to be spiders, but they are in fact crane flies. There are 94 species of crane fly in the UK, and if it feels to you like the long legged critters have suddenly appeared from nowhere, you would be correct. Over the late summer, they hatch in their droves, and retreat to places of light and warmth (inside houses and our gardens) to find a mate. But are crane flies harmful, should you get rid of them and is it really true they contain poison? We spoke to Karl Curtis, director of reserves and community engagement at Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, who took a good look at some daddy long leg myths. "They are out this time of year because basically they are hatching out of our lawns and various places - they live a lot of their lives underground as a grub, as a larva, and then what they do is they hatch out over the summer," he said. "Probably now is the last throw of the dice, and what they do is they come out and looking to mate, lay eggs back into vegetation and then they die off." Many of us will be dealing with the clumsy creatures for the coming weeks - but should we kill them? "They often get confused with spiders but they're not, they're flies, they're really good food source for birds, they're really important to play their part so people should let them out their windows and not kill them," he said.  Mr Curtis also said that things like fly sprays are bad for the environment and other living things so should be avoided. And he confirmed that crane flies are definitely not poisonous, and shouldn't be feared. He said they have probably got a reputation for being poisonous as people mistakenly think they are cellar spiders. "The very long spindly spiders that you get in the corners of your room, they're called cellar spiders, those do pack a punch, but they are not dangerous to humans," he said. "[Crane flies] they're absolutely harmless. While the female has a point on the end of her abdomen, that's to lay eggs, it's not a stinger." He went on: "The reason they come into the house is for warmth and they are attracted to light so if the lights are on in the house they come inside, and they hatch out in the darker hours to avoid being eaten by birds.
You can get your Coventry news straight to your email inbox - and it's FREE! All you need to do is sign up here. The emails come out twice a day with the latest news and what's on stories from across Coventry. "They're not looking for shelter, they're out looking for a mate and then looking to lay eggs, they end up in houses because their favourite habitat is short grass and we have lawns." Daddy long legs lay eggs in the ground which can sit for a year. They grow, hatch out of the shell and pop out of your lawn. Are they harmful to dogs? "I don't think they pose any threat, unfortunately the worst-off organism in that scenario is the crane fly" Mr Curtis said. And why does it feel that at the moment there are swarms of them? "It benefits them all to come out at the same time," he said. "It's pointless to come out and there are no mates around, so that's why they all emerge around the same time, and hence that's why you see lots of them." And if you really shudder at the thought of them floating around for a long time, be assured that crane flies have a very short life span, so will be gone before you know it. Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is the leading local independent conservation organisation. Set up in 1970, they work to bring about nature’s recovery across Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull through practical action, education and influencing behavioural change. You can find out more on their website: https://www.warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ Keep up with all of the latest local news with our daily newsletter How fast do Daddy Long legs reproduce?It takes about a year for the baby spiders to develop from egg to adult. Male daddy longlegs typically live for about one year and die after mating. Females can live for three years.
Do Daddy Long legs lay eggs?Female daddy-longlegs lay their eggs in soil, under stones, or cracks in wood. The eggs are laid in the autumn and hatch in the spring. In the northern areas of the United States, daddy-longlegs live for only one year.
How do you get rid of daddy long legs nest?Vacuuming is the easiest way to remove any daddylonglegs that you find in your home. Vacuuming also helps to remove food sources from your carpets and furniture. Keep house dry.
How long do Daddy Long legs live?They live two to seven years unless stepped on. They groom themselves by sliding one leg at a time through their mouth, a practice called “leg threading.” Males have much longer legs than females. Their legs do not grow back if plucked off by predator.
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How many eggs do daddy long legs lay
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