Spiders, of all varieties, also hate the smell of peppermint, so try spraying peppermint oil along your door frames to deter them.
Tip for preventing daddy long legs: Pour 1 cup white vinegar and 1/3 cup vanilla extract into a spray bottle and shake. Spray areas where the daddy long legs have been spotted indoors and out. The smell will repel the insects.
Use natural repellents: Certain essential oils such as peppermint, lavender, and tea tree oil are known to repel insects. Spraying a solution of essential oils and water around your home can help to keep daddy long legs at bay.
They are attracted to light, which means they enter homes at night when they see an open window, according to Wales Online.
They have a very broad diet that includes spiders and insects, including plant pests such as aphids. Daddy-longlegs also scavenge for dead insects and will eat bird droppings. In the fall, they can become a nuisance when they congregate in large clusters on trees and homes, usually around eves and windows.
Dead insects, rotting fruit, mushrooms, and animal drop- pings—these are just a few of the things that most daddy longlegs eat. Some catch small insects and other prey. Get a leg up on this amazing creature. It could be living in your own backyard!
Not considered pests, these arachnids are harmless to people and pets and beneficial to the environment. You can help return daddy longlegs to their rightful place by picking them up and placing them outside or gently sweeping them outside with a broom.
These arachnids are not known to bite humans and are not considered dangerous to either the health or structure of your home. Because harvestmen are considered beneficial pests, it's ok to leave them be if you find them lurking around your house.
Daddy longlegs can secrete a glue-like substance they use to trap prey, similar to how a spider spins a web to catch unsuspecting critters. They are most dormant during the day but will come out at night to hunt small bugs and arthropods such as ants, aphids, worms, and beetles.
Harvestmen – Daddy Longlegs Behaviors, Threats or Dangers
It is rare for harvestmen to be found in homes, and because they are nocturnal, being most active at night, they can be difficult to detect.
Spiders really don't like strong scents such as citrus, peppermint, tea-tree, lavender, rose or cinnamon. Add 15 to 20 drops of your chosen essential oil or a couple of capfuls of Zoflora fragrance to a spray bottle filled with water, and spritz around the house.
Spiders hate the smell of peppermint. Fill a spray bottle with water and 10-15 drops of peppermint essential oil and spray in places spiders tend to hide—under furniture, in closets, and in other corners and crevices of your house.
Vinegar Spray
Vinegar is used in many homemade cleaners, however not many people know, that vinegar is an excellent bugs and spiders repellent.
As Natural Living Ideas explains: "As vinegar contains acetic acid that harms them, using a diluted vinegar solution will help you to safely and successfully repel the eight-legged creatures." Alternatively, if you don't have any vinegar, a few drops of peppermint into a spray with water will have the same effect.
Daddy longlegs are prone to drying out, he says, so bunching together allows them to create a microenvironment. “It's kind of like body heat, but it's body humidity,” he says. “They are huddling together to maintain that.” Another possible reason could be for protection.
Daddy long legs can live in cracks around your home, as well as get in through crevices around doors and windows – so ensuring these are sealed up can help reduce the number you find indoors. Adding weather strips around doors and windows is an easy, inexpensive way to lessen cracks and cover over gaps.
The average life span of an adult daddy long legs can vary from 223-774 days and in that time the female may produce from two to eight egg sacs containing a mix of fertilised and unfertilised eggs.
The term "arachnid" refers to a group of animals that possess four pairs of legs, chelicerae (fang-like mouthparts) and appendages near the mouth called "pedipalps." The term "arachnophobia" refers to a fear of such animals.
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.
"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.
Daddy Longlegs have defensive stink glands that emit a foul smell that predators despise. This Arachnid also can camouflage extremely well with its surroundings. In the daytime Daddy Longlegs often hide cracks and crevices.
Daddy long legs spider - Pholcus phalangioides
A large spider, but with a very small greyish body and long thin legs. They prefer the warm and constant temperatures of our homes, garages and sheds, and are rarely found outdoors as they cannot survive winter temperatures.
It Can Live Almost Anywhere
Daddy Long Legs loves to make its home in our damp Florida soil, but it can thrive anywhere on earth except Antarctica. Down here, the spiders live as long as two years nesting under rocks and rotten wood.
Their chelicerae ("jaws") help tear apart their food which is mixed with digestive fluids. The opening of the mouth is wider than found with most other arachnids and this allows them to consume small pieces of solid food. Daddylonglegs also must have access to free water that they can drink.