So how do you feel about house spiders?

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Well just the other day I was doing something at my desk, thought i knocked something off my desk onto my leg...and looked down to see a huge spider that must have dropped from the ceiling, my brother said he heard it drop and was across the room. So I brushed it off in kind of a panic and it ran away to some corner, after which I calmed down laughed about it being a ninja spider and went back to what I was doing. Then earlier there was a spider trapped in my bathroom sink, who could not climb out...tried to get him with a cup to put outside(no don't really like to touch them) but he just panicked and I didn't want to get bit or climbed on so I just put some toilet paper over the sink so he could climb out...I figure if I see it again I can put it outside, when it hasn't been trying to escape the sink for an hour.

Anyways I know most types don't bite unprovoked, so I see no sense in killing them unless they are vicious, especially since they kill even creepier things you sometimes find in basements so those are less likely to bother me...and of course flies. Of course my cats sort of like to hunt the spiders sometimes, encourages them to stay hidden rather than creeping around. So yeah I will put them outside, but i can't always catch them...especially if they startle me and then I am too busy recovering from that and they run away and hide somewhere. If they are outside I find them interesting to watch, the other day I was sitting outside to smoke and one of these crawled on me:

So I brushed it off, and it landed in a spider web with a spider....who proceeded to devour it, that was interesting.

I do like the little jumping spiders though:

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 18 Jul 2015, 3:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

I react in a fairly similar way. If I see one in the bath or climbing the wall, I try to usher it into a jar using a sheet of paper or something, then put it outside. If it's winter, I usually let them stay in the house. I don't think any dangerous spiders are resident in the UK.

I smash spiders to smithereens inside the house just like I would flies, bees, or anything else creepy-crawley. Outside I tend to leave them alone unless I forsee an entryway indoors. FWIW, sweetleaf, I'm also in Colorado, and do have one cat in my house, so maybe I'm trying to compete?

Harvestmen (Opiliones, the one with the long legs) are arachnids, but technically not spiders. They have no venom, no silk and nor even the capability to pierce human skin. They may look icky, but they are entirely harmless.

If I might make a friendly suggestion; do try to leave bees and spiders alive, they're both animals that do more good than harm. If not the spiders, then at least the bees; they're hugely beneficial, and seem to be going through a cyclical decline that we've yet to explain. If anyone in the household is allergic, I understand if you don't want to take the risk, but on the whole: if a flying striped bug has hair, it's probably your friend.

As for OT: Spiders and bees I try to let out alive. House flies I avoid killing for fear of spreading disease around. Mosqitoes, wasps, ticks, gadflies and any other creature that will actively pursue harming me and mine, are fair game.

I agree that bees should never be harmed -- there is a crisis decline going on and we should be trying to save this species; they are beneficial in profound ways that are part of the chain, and there are going to be real problems if bees actually get wiped out.

I also agree that things that will actively harm me such as mosquitos, are fair game if in the house with me.

Everything else I rescue and put outside, including spiders. They're just trying to live their life cycle and if I don't have to interfere I'd rather assist.

I let them live, ill clear away visible webs in the house, but they are harmless here, the only one with the ability to pierce human skin is the Woodlouse spider, and I usually wear work gloves when handling rotten wood etc.

How does letting them live reduce the spread of disease?

RE:Bees...
Yes, I do get big-@$$ welts if I get bit/stung by bees, so IMO, it is indeed benificial to me to destroy them if they get INDOORS and perhaps can pose a threat.
RE:Flies...
I have SPD, and the buzzing noise and nipping sensation (especially around the legs) is annoying enough for me to go out and buy a flying insect killer from ACE hardware (in the U.S.) which leaves such pests dead in minutes and poses no threat to my pets in the house (of which I can tell don't like flying insects either).
F.Y.I. I have a Budhaist friend that won't even kill a fly in his house, he'll try to catch it and throw it outside and in the winter months I have to tease him because if I was a fly I would rather be smashed to death instantly than to be returned outside to die gradually by freezing to death.

All fair enough.




Because flies, like pigs, subvert the general perception of themselves in actually being very cleanly creatures. They carefully keep all the filth they eat inside themselves (I'm sure you've seen flies groom themselves). Swatting them not only smears bug viscera over whatever surface you smash them on, but also runs the risk of airbursting a cloud of whatever said bug has been feasting on into your immediate surrounding, risking unwholesome microflora/fauna taking root near you or in you. Keeping them intact circumnavigates this risk.




Flies are remarkable survivors, and a fly thrown outside will probably find shelter quickly. I had an infestation of cluster flies a few years back: they live as parasites on earthworms, and hatch as adults in the fall, whereupon they will try to get inside to hibernate over winter. They're bigger than houseflies, kinda lumbering flyers (think tired bumblebee), and less than amusing when you have 40+ of them in your apartment. Luckily, I found and taped the ventilation hatch they used to get in, and RADARed the remaining encroachers.

Also, buddhism is a bit funny with regards to animals; stricter sects have the whole "don't kill anything ever" teachings, but the step down from that, which I think should be "If you kill, kill quickly and painlessly", is in fact "if you kill, don't do it near me."

Is there no way to guide the bee out of the window without killing it?

I get that being stung can cause any amount of problems, from nasty welts (I get those too, bee stings are excruciatingly painful on me) to actually allergic shock that can be life threatening.

I too react very badly to bee stings.

But can't you try to get the bee outside rather than just kill it in your house? There is genuinely a crisis and I'd rather attempt a middle ground in which I protect myself in a way that doesn't meant the final solution for the bee.

Ah ha, I steralise the area afterwards, but I had not viewed their bodies as containers for potential clouds of nastiness, so it seems that I should stop removing webs or just invest in some fly traps!


Bee stings give me welts too, I once was stung at my waistline... a very difficult place to have a welt. What I have learned about bees, is that when trapped, they just want to get back to work, and are not interested in anything else, nor do they want to be obstructed. I have seen people stroke a bees back, they key thing was that it did not feel threatened, like when you swipe or try to swot them and miss, this puts them on high alert/defensive and much more likely to sting.

Sylvia Plath's father, if I'm not mistaken, was a beekeeper.

The Arrival of the Bee Box "It is like a Roman mob, Small, taken one by one, but my god, together!"Link

So what do you do with house spiders Kraftie?

Similar to what you do. I get rid of the webs. I don't kill the spider (though I have done so in the past out of some vague fear).

They have their uses and places. Used to live in the tropics, so they help thin the held.

It's the hunting spiders I'm not too keen on... with their powerful (painful) venom and s**t...

Only yesterday I talked about spiders with someone at work. We agreed that spiders are our friends and should try not to kill them. Even red-back spiders, which are very common here and are said to be very venomous, seem to be rather shy and only bite humans when they cannot run away. But I do get rid of red-backs (without killing them) as they are dangerous. My house is full of spiders because I don't really mind them. Currently there's one huge huntsman spider on the wall. I'm worried about stepping on it if it crawls where I walk. My kitchen sink is a spider trap, too.

When I kill annoying insects etc (flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches etc), I don't want to squash them, as the mess is gross. I usually use a fresh plastic bag or a clear plastic cup to catch them.

Bees seem to die quickly when they are trapped in a house. Some years ago bees made a nest between the inside and outside walls and some found a way inside the house. About 30 bees came inside and they all seemed to have tried to get out from the same window, failed, died and dropped on the floor. So I found a pile of dead bees there. They kept doing it and we eventually sealed the entry hole.

I used to put all spiders outside or leave them alone. Now I have a toddler who lives indoors but also plays in my yard, so I kill them. I feel bad about it, but I'm not clear on all the ones that are venomous and I can't have them bite my little boy. I'd have to walk them all across the street to relocate them at this point.

I'm pleased however, that when he has found a spider he's been very careful. Hasn't tried to pick one up or hurt one. I lead him away before I smoosh them so he doesn't see it.