Philosophy on Bug- and/or Spider-Killing

[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.

[rockybcn]

Now who could squash a ladybug??? I can´t even think about harming the little beauties! For some reason I have to take a daddylongleg outside and release it too. Most other spiders are considered squishable! I have a thing about checking the insides of my shoes if they havent been worn in awhile....just incase one of those lil freeloaders thinks it has squatters rights!

[Ldyluck88]

I might sound terrible, but I cannot stand bugs or spiders, flies or any crawley thing!! I have been bitten many times by spiders and I swell up like a balloon as I'm allergic. I won't bother them if they don't bother me. I don't go out of my way looking for them, but heaven help the ones who do occupy my space!!

[Rockinonahigh]

As a native born Louisisnanian I have seen some of the uglyest biggest bugs u will probly ever see...if u want to see an old butch move like Flojo just let a spider or snake pop out of nowhere cause im gonna be right behind Arwen geting out the door.Daddy longleggs are the exception as are lady bugs,anything else is termanated quickly.

[NJFemmie]

Kill Kill Kill!!
I do not like bugs. I do not like spiders.
I'm not going to sit there and figure out if it's poisonous or not - I smash it dead.
It's a big world out there - they don't need to be in my house.

[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.

[Rockinonahigh]

Bugs,snakes, critters and flying things have alllll the out doors to live in,my house No, not a chance..I use Anti Pest.