Philosophy on Bug- and/or Spider-Killing

[Gemme]

Here's my theory:

They have the WHOLE outdoors and I have my little confined space. They know that if they cross the lines and come into my space, I shall hurt them. I do do it quickly, though. I know enough to expect to get bitten or at least annoyed by bugs and whatnot when I am in their space, so they should expect that when they cross over into enemy territory, that pain will soon follow.

I don't care about who eats what and how good or bad every one of those suckers is, they are in MY space and shall suffer the consequences for it.

[Sachita]

Remember that song? "I don't like spiders or snakes..."
I smash them. I dont like them and agree with Gemme.

[Sybelle]

So recently I had a spider do a ninja jump out of the bathroom drain. It was hairy. Way tooooo hairy. Can't have ambushing ninja spiders - so I turned on the water. It came up the side of the sink TOWARDS ME!!




No, no, no, no, no, no, no!



For the most part, if they will go peacefully - I'll put them outside via a jar. But, scare me in anyway or be a critter that stings - it is over quickly.

[Miss Scarlett]

Originally Posted by Sybelle

So recently I had a spider do a ninja jump out of the bathroom drain. It was hairy. Way tooooo hairy. Can't have ambushing ninja spiders - so I turned on the water. It came up the side of the sink TOWARDS ME!!




No, no, no, no, no, no, no!



For the most part, if they will go peacefully - I'll put them outside via a jar. But, scare me in anyway or be a critter that stings - it is over quickly.

OMG! I've had a similar spider encounter but yours reminds me of an old episode of "The Twilight Zone."

[Miss Scarlett]

I'm a catch and release girl. I've even been known to allow a spider to live happily in my kitchen by the back door. In that apartment I had a horrible problem with crickets and rolly-polly bugs coming in at the back door. When this garden spider took up residence I let it stay. It grew fat and sassy on a steady diet of crickets and rolly-pollys. The only drawback was I had to clean up the carcasses. When my cat moved in I evicted the spider because I didn't want it to fall victim to her.

I am deathly allergic to bees, wasps, hornets and yellow jackets. But I don't believe in killing them either.

[Rook]

Nope...
Newp newp newp.......
Bugs & I have an understanding...
Or at least, I believe we do.....
Outside?...Dat's yo' shit..Your world...Big bad wide World, if I walk out there barefoot, I had it comin', I deserve to Howl in Pain cuz u Bit my Big Toe in your Territory, my dumb-ass risks Anaphylactic Shock, if I don't duck and cover, or walk Sloooooooowly away from BumbleBees YellowJackets, Wasps etc, whatevah....
Now, having said that, bugs walk past my "fortified" Screen Door?
That's my fuckin' Territory, kiss your fuckin' ass Goodbye *MWAH* bye-bye...
Ticks, Fleas, Flies, roaches, Scorps, Spiders of any kind....Especially Fat, brown/black, big-ass kind that can possibly kill my Ferrets.
U crossed into my house, your Instinct should tell u "bad idea"...
It doesnt? tough...You're meetin' your maker if I find u...
I dont need nobody screaming bloody murder in the bathroom if a spider lands on their ass while heavily Soaped up....I dont need to encounter a Spider, roach, fire ant, anything with 6 or more legs and capable of Painfully biting me in my bed while I'm minding my business, or havin some intimate time...
My bed doesnt resemble grass, my shower doesnt resemble your Home....

I love insects, they're Fascinating, Reptiles as well...
I don't give any indication my Home is cozy enough for an insect, the occasional Grasshopper/Cricket hops in ? Kewl, Chirp away, if My ferrets pounce and munch on you? Sayonara, Protein for my babies...
LadyBugs? they're Awesome, bring Good Luck...
More than 100 on my ceiling? fuck that, especially...Especially when I'm being nice and Humanely removing them, and they let out this Astonishingly Stinky defense bomb....
Mosquitos always die horribly in my house, Those Bitches carry viruses {Only Females Suck Blood, to sustain their larvae}
Hornets, Wasps, Bees Will die a crunchy sudden Death if Indoors...Understand my point on this..I'm allergic...almost everyone that knows me in the Real World will understand my sudden Panic...
Mind u, I don't scream, Screaming only encourages the fuckers, I learned this at the tender age of 8....
I carefully just get the fuck outta dodge....if it's in the car, whoever's drivin better fuckin stop or do somethin'...Fast....
Some Bee's{Bumblebees , for instance, Yellow Jackets} don't lose their Stingers...regular garden variety honeybee, yeah they Do....but with my Luck? I'll probably bump into a Queen or 2...


If u ever dealt with fire ants invading your small lil home, as a child, u'll sympathize with why I dont anthropomorph any insect....
I'll gladly light Citronella on my Porch, I'll use Bug Zappy light if I can afford it when Camping.
Bug's are cool, Outside my sanctuary...

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by MsDemeanor

The one exception to the catch and release rule is scorpions. If a scorpion comes in the house, it's toast.

Swear to all the Gods, I alerted THREE counties every time I saw a freaking scorpion at Goofy's place. Nasty evil nasty evil NASTY EVIL f###ers.

Originally Posted by EzeeTiger

She forgot to mention lizards. There used to be an albino gecko lizard by our front door. She doesn't like lizards. She can't even watch the Geico commercials.

True story. My ex (big bad butch PE teacher) and I are in the house in south Louisiana. We see a tiny (2" max) house gecko. We try to herd it out. It panics and flips its tail up like a scorpion and runs AT us.

Both of us leap on the bed, clutching one another screaming our heads off.

I'm sure that gecko still hauls that story out at the gecko parties.

Originally Posted by Ms. Tabitha

They fly, I swear they have tail #'s and request permission to take off and land. They always seem to aim for YOU.

They are just down right NASTY!!

Palmetto bugs freak me the heck out. Even dead ones. Can' stan' em as Eliza says.

[Andrew, Jr.]

I put glasses on top of spiders or other creatures that I find, or the furkids find. When my neighbors come home or Rosie, they scoop them up and release them outside.

There are two insects I cannot stand: First, are bee's of any kind or breed or whatever. I hate them. They must die. I have been known to spray them with WD-40 (it melts their wings). I also have used my hair gel (American Crew). I have no idea of what that does to them. Second, the giant, green-eyed flies. The kind that hang out at the beach. OMG! I wish I knew how to get rid of them on the beautiful days at the beach. Those babies bite and bite hard enough to draw blood.

I have 3 cats (2 girls, 1 boy). I have been known to save mice from them. I put them in large cups, and release them in the habitat behind my house. I figure they can go out and fend for themselves from the owls and other large birds.

I believe in using exterminators. They are a god-send when dealing with those bee's. My neighbor used them when he had a bat in his chimney. The guy got the bat out and let it go free.

When I was younger, I was known to find animals and free them from construction sites. There is no reason to kill an animal because it is in someone's way or someone is afraid of it.

[Nina]

I always get spiders in my house...not like ten million and not all the time, but they come...I leave them alone...they leave me alone...it all works out...if they go into the bathtub and I am going to shower I assume they will scuttle away, I don't save them...well, maybe now and then I do...for the most part we just coexist...it works for us all...

ants on the other hand, who come in, are treated to my house specially made delights just for them...sugar and boric acid (is that right?---some kind of white powder) in little tin foil cups which I make and put out for their eating pleasure...they swarm and then away they go...it's good for them to go...I keep everything neurotically sealed in the cupboards...I dismay when the ants come...

what I Really don't like is when birds get in the house...I don't like being near birds...I did feed them for a while and that was a great joy...I made my own bird feed...then the rats came and the fucking pigeons came so no more feeding the back yard birds...sad...I digress, even for me...there was a blue jay that kept coming in through the kitchen window to eat my bulbs...it was crazy land for a while...I got screens for the window and put creative protective coverings over the bulbs when I transplanted them outside...so---Birds, they gotta go and gotta go fast...*I* don't get them out, they scare me, so that's the job for the old man...if he's not here when they are, he'll be here soon enough since it's a 9-1-1 situation for me...

not sure birds counted, I kinda went down then uninvited outside-ers who come into the house path...

[Kenna]

Originally Posted by Gemme

Here's my theory:

They have the WHOLE outdoors and I have my little confined space. They know that if they cross the lines and come into my space, I shall hurt them. I do do it quickly, though. I know enough to expect to get bitten or at least annoyed by bugs and whatnot when I am in their space, so they should expect that when they cross over into enemy territory, that pain will soon follow.

I don't care about who eats what and how good or bad every one of those suckers is, they are in MY space and shall suffer the consequences for it.

I had never really been scared of bugs - grew up with the mountains as my back yard and potty trained in an out house - unless they were poisonous or caused a threat of nasty bites. Until I was bitten by a very nasty spider that made me very sick for several weeks. The local college said it was a Wolf Spider?? Because I was so sick, I'm not scared of them, I HATE most of them. Especially the really ugly, hairy, long legged ones that I think may be poisonous. And I HATE stink bugs!!! It depends on what kinda bug it is, if I decide to SQUISH it! Now... if a snake crosses my path, except for black snakes or garter, I WILL chop it's head off! Were I grew up, there were always copperheads. NASTY mean things that will chase you. I will also take out a whole nest of yellow jackets or hornets. Thems just not nice bugs, the yellow jackets tend to attack in numbers... took me a week to get my hand to heal.

[Diva]

Here is what I do.

As a rule, I loathe spiders, bugs and snakes. But I do know that there are SOME bugs and spiders and snakes which are good for the outside.

I WILL kill the following: Scorpions, black widow spiders, fleas & ticks, brown recluse spiders, cockroaches (I might as well, they're gonna outlive us all ANYway...what's one less, right?) and poisonous snakes.

Ok, so I WON'T kill venomnous snakes as You won't see me that close to one to begin with. But those other things? Oh yeah, and I don't have one millisecond's worth of a problem doing it.

Everything else, I will scoop up and release them to the out of doors.

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by Diva

Here is what I do.

As a rule, I loathe spiders, bugs and snakes. But I do know that there are SOME bugs and spiders and snakes which are good for the outside.

I WILL kill the following: Scorpions, black widow spiders, fleas & ticks, brown recluse spiders, cockroaches (I might as well, they're gonna outlive us all ANYway...what's one less, right?) and poisonous snakes.

Ok, so I WON'T kill venomnous snakes as You won't see me that close to one to begin with. But those other things? Oh yeah, and I don't have one millisecond's worth of a problem doing it.

Everything else, I will scoop up and release them to the out of doors.

What Diva said except you need to add SHRIEKING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS if I have to do it myself.

Ask Goofy. I think his ears are permanently damaged from my living in his home.

And I love/adore/cherish snakes and can/will pick 'em up and move them around.

You can call me Stephanie Erwin. ha

[Passionaria]

It depends if it is a single bug that got "lost" or an invasion. A single bug gets picked up in a jar and released, and invading herds get vacuumed up.

Most bugs are looking for a food source, so I make sure there is not one that I am unaware of.

Some herbs will detour ants : black pepper, cinnamon, spearmint, peppermint.

Strong Orange peel based cleaners will stop most bugs in their tracks. Especially Spiders. It will kill Black Widows, or immobilize then so you can get em.

This is a native way I was taught, announce out loud to the critters that they need to go outside, this is your space, and include the consequences of not doing so. Leave them and escape route. I have done this with snakes, and it worked......Spiders seems to be a non compliant lot.

Pashi

[violaine]

love entomology, herpetology, and arachnology-

interesting beings all of them, but here are some of the ones i can admire from afar-

ticks, mites, and scorpions [arachnids] are not great to find indoors- or in the case of ticks and mites, using their chelicerae to burrow or tunnel on humans or pets can spread infection [bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi / lyme disease].

digging wasps can be really worrisome for gardeners. i love bees.

info on wasp-hornet-yellowjacket-bee

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/Pests/whatis.htm

cottonmouth water moccasins [pit vipers / hematoxic venoms]. i have been chased by these ill-tempered snakes on several occasions from water to land. luckily for me, they stood up to fight in the water giving advance warning to me and the dogs.

http://www.wf.net/~snake/moccasin.htm

[Emmy]

Nice to see that so many folks here let the spiders go! Ever since reading Charlotte's Web as a kid, I've been releasing them too, ha ha.

[Apocalipstic]

There are lots of poisonous and scary bugs, spiders and snakes in TN.

Spiders, if they are not Brown Recluses or something huge and poisonous, I just let them be...if left to my own devices, bugs too.

If it looks scary and Cynthia is around, I ask her to deal....she was a Nature Specialist with the Girl Scouts after all. Heh.

If, alas, I must deal with the bugs as I did several years ago when my then G/F was terrified of bugs and had to have them killed or she screamed incessantly....I got the 30 foot away wasp foam (or hair spray). I could then get far enough away from said bug to incapacitate it...proceeding from there with a swift burial at sea in the toilet.

On one occasion we were lying in bed when the shadow of a HUGE millipede flashed on the wall...hugeeeeeeeeeeee....while she jumped up and down on the bed screaming at the top of her lungs (and she had great projection) I threw the phone book across the room like a shirkin and trapped the thing, then I jumped up and down on the phone book for a good five minutes while she screamed "is it dead???". No, baby, it survived 220 lbs of fish jumping on it.

Once she called me at work (she worked an hour away) to tell em that a grasshopper was looking at her and trying to break in her car. Yeay...Good times.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Emmy

Nice to see that so many folks here let the spiders go! Ever since reading Charlotte's Web as a kid, I've been releasing them too, ha ha.

I will smash a spider so damn fast....if it scares me....its OVER. I did that to a snake in my garden once I felt bad after I had chased it around the place I was getting ready to plant with the lawn mower....it scared me! Finally beat it to death with a rake and threw it out into the road to be run over.
I still feel bad for it....but man that thing scared the hell out of me.

[Tuff Stuff]

I have this bad feeling that if reincarnation is real..i'll be reincarnated as a bug or spider..that should teach me,huh

No really,there are some bugs/insects i don't kill like ladybugs,grasshoppers,praying mantis,those are some i won't harm.

I haven't killed any bugs lately but i have killed tons of spiders,the biting ones for sure.

I have a crab spider in my bedroom,if he stays out of my way he'll live.

[Breathless]

well... My only question is.. Is it going to hurt me? If no, then I either move it or leave it alone.. Spiders are awesome..like watching them actually.. Mosquitos fall in the hurt me file, so they get smacked wracked and sprayed .. House flies fall in the gross file.. Same result as previous.. Bees.. Carefully escort out the door, (did you know there is a shortage ? They are dying off in alarming rates) snakes.. Rock.. And that's my other answer. 😀

[Daniela]

Originally Posted by Tuff Stuff

I have this bad feeling that if reincarnation is real..i'll be reincarnated as a bug or spider..that should teach me,huh

No really,there are some bugs/insects i don't kill like ladybugs,grasshoppers,praying mantis,those are some i won't harm.

I haven't killed any bugs lately but i have killed tons of spiders,the biting ones for sure.

I have a crab spider in my bedroom,if he stays out of my way he'll live.

If I came back as a bug, I'd probably want someone to kill me because I'd throw up every time I saw my arms and legs.