Philosophy on Bug- and/or Spider-Killing

[Nat]

What is your philosophy on bug- and/or spider-killing?

I think of spiders as very good and often useful creatures (because they eat bugs, I guess), and I do my best not to mess with them. I leave them alone in my house, and if I'm somewhere where somebody wants a spider gone or is intending to kill it, I will volunteer to catch it and put it outside. It really bothers me to see them killed.

Luckily I'm not faced with any sort of bug infestation, or I might resort to killing them. I'm not interested in cohabitating with any infestation of bugs. Except for fleas and mosquitos, I try not to kill them. I had a gnat land on me the other day, and I just reached over and smooshed it. Then I felt bad. It was a mindless action, but he or she wasn't going to hurt me.

I'm curious to know how others handle bugs and spiders in the home or other indoor areas.

[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.

[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...

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Queerasfck]

I don't kill. I catch and then train them for a pet circus which I am diligently working on in all my free time. They all have cute outfits that match which my lovely partner has hand sewn with fabrics made from fine organic materials we have gathered from our trips abroad.

[weatherboi]

spiders and bugs yayyyyyy!!!!

I am not a fan of the roach family at all!!!!!

[sharkchomp]

Spiders get a free ride in the large plastic cup to the great outdoors, unless 'lightning' Scooby gets them first. Then I can find them dead, in a little ball on my comforter usually near my pillow. Thanks pal! In my last house, I had a little spider under the window sill above my sink. He (or his descendants) lived there all the while that I lived there.

Bugs usually don't have a chance in my house. If 'lightning' Scooby doesn't get them, then 'scootn' Vegas gets them - she dives onto them and scoots on her back across the floor, effectively squishing them without getting biten or stung.

Flying insects are [usually] effectively eliminated, although the troops occassionally sustain some casualties. If 'lightning' Scooby gets stung too many times, then he calls for the Commander [me] and I bring down the 'magazine' of death.

~~~shark~~~~~~~