Poll: Tolerance of (minor) wildlife

Mock Turtle · Nov 28, 2020

This happened recently, and of course I chose the second option, as I generally do with most wildlife other than clothes moths, tiny black flies, or mosquitoes, which tend to get option four if they don't already get zapped by my zapper. I would imagine things might be different regarding more dangerous critters. Any thoughts?

Secret Chief · Nov 28, 2020

My zapper only changes the channel.

Saint Frankenstein · Nov 28, 2020

I believe very strongly in live and let live. If they're not dangerous or bothering me, I don't bother them. They have just as much right to their lives as I do to mine. Besides, spiders can be very helpful with pest control.

JustGeorge · Nov 28, 2020

I'm biased on this one. Many sorts of spider bother me. If I was certain, and I mean certain, the spider was harmless(like a daddy long legs), I'd ignore it. I left a mother orb spider(very harmless) to make her 'nest' on my back porch, and had them moved(made husband do it) when it got ready to hatch(wasn't a wise place to keep the nest). But my husband's been bit by a few spiders we thought were harmless, and had major skin issues. So I may be a little 'squash quick' with spiders.

But really, it depends on the bug. I like ants. We don't kill ants, no matter where they are. It makes me happy to see them scurrying about. I don't mind a fly or two, as long as they're not reproducing. Beetles, earwigs, eh. Not bothersome.

JustGeorge · Nov 28, 2020

Saint Frankenstein said:
I believe very strongly in live and let live. If they're not dangerous or bothering me, I don't bother them. They have just as much right to their lives as I do to mine. Besides, spiders can be very helpful with pest control.

We had bed bugs years ago... really had a heck of a time with them. I caught some daddy long legs spiders and put them under the bed...

They didn't totally eradicate the problem, but they did help keep down numbers.

SigurdReginson · Nov 28, 2020

Ehhh... I'm just gonna capture it and put it outside. I like keeping a tidy home.

Anywhere else, though, and I would just leave it be.

Saint Frankenstein · Nov 28, 2020

JustGeorge said:
We had bed bugs years ago... really had a heck of a time with them. I caught some daddy long legs spiders and put them under the bed...

They didn't totally eradicate the problem, but they did help keep down numbers.

I've had beg bugs before. They're a plague. That's one species whose right to life I make a point to ignore. People have actually killed themselves over the psychological stress of a bed bug infestation.

MNoBody · Nov 28, 2020

if such creatures are not malicious or destructive, then what could possibly be the issue?
we live IN a web of life on spaceship earth, and all the living aspects are important for the life support system to function optimally....only crew that are malfunctioning would tamper with that overall system, since our lives DO depend on it working optimally.
given the current status reports I would say the crew are a bigger problem than the ship ever was.
suffering from broken brains apparently given the ignorant tampering with the life support system that has been going on.

Jedster · Nov 28, 2020

@Mock Turtle

I put other.
Yesterday we found a house spider about the size of my palm stuck in the bathroom sink.
I simply lifted it out on a piece of paper and released it to disappear under the floor boards.
Done this loads of times....we like spiders. It looked like this

JustGeorge · Nov 28, 2020

Saint Frankenstein said:
I've had beg bugs before. They're a plague. That's one species whose right to life I make a point to ignore. People have actually killed themselves over the psychological stress of a bed bug infestation.

We had them twice.

We managed to get rid of them both times with a sweater lint roller and duct tape(nothing else worked). Duct tape all cracks, and very diligently roll your sweater lint roller on all cracks and crevices of the mattress every day.

Oh, and just get rid of the bedframe and box spring. No saving it.

Valjean · Nov 28, 2020

Spider on the ceiling? Depends: How big? Harmless? What time of year,? &c.
A small spider on the ceiling I'd ignore. It's not going to bother me up there. If it comes down, though, my cat's not so merciful.

Last week found a small spider trapped in the kitchen sink, I put a piece of cardboard against the side as a ladder and it climbed out. It's too cold to let it outside, so I just let it wander off. Unfortunately found it crushed by something a few days later at the other end of the counter.

I did find a (venomous) black widow spider crawling on my arm one Autumn day many years ago. I shook it off and kept it in a fishbowl over the Winter, and let it go outside the next spring.

Bear Wild · Nov 28, 2020

Mock Turtle said:
This happened recently, and of course I chose the second option, as I generally do with most wildlife other than clothes moths, tiny black flies, or mosquitoes, which tend to get option four if they don't already get zapped by my zapper. I would imagine things might be different regarding more dangerous critters. Any thoughts?

Have you ever see the movie "Big little farm"? Humans want to be so in control of everything but we overestimate our understanding compared to millions of years of evolution creating balanced in far more complex and effective ways than we can.
But I do live in Texas and do remove scorpions and rattlesnakes out of my house. There are some extreme limits to live and let live in my house that I have difficulty accepting.

ChristineM · Nov 28, 2020

I'd catch it and let it go out side or in the outhouse if it's raining, which it usually is if a spider comes inside.

I'd do the same for most insects but draw the line at flies and wasps.

Also processionary catapicatapillers can be quite dangerous, their hairs causing necrosis so they get wrapped up in a tissue and "humanly" disposed of.

Saint Frankenstein · Nov 28, 2020

JustGeorge said:
We had them twice.

We managed to get rid of them both times with a sweater lint roller and duct tape(nothing else worked). Duct tape all cracks, and very diligently roll your sweater lint roller on all cracks and crevices of the mattress every day.

Oh, and just get rid of the bedframe and box spring. No saving it.

Great advice. However, you can't do much when you live in an apartment building and the landlord doesn't want to address it.

Twilight Hue · Nov 28, 2020

Mock Turtle said:
This happened recently, and of course I chose the second option, as I generally do with most wildlife other than clothes moths, tiny black flies, or mosquitoes, which tend to get option four if they don't already get zapped by my zapper. I would imagine things might be different regarding more dangerous critters. Any thoughts?

I put it in the cellar. Because of spiders and house centipedes, my house has very few buggy intrusions. They don't bother me all that much.

Augustus · Nov 28, 2020

It dead.

(Unless I miss it with a mop and it falls off the ceiling and I run shrieking from the room and sleep on the sofa for the next week)

Audie · Nov 28, 2020

Mock Turtle said:
This happened recently, and of course I chose the second option, as I generally do with most wildlife other than clothes moths, tiny black flies, or mosquitoes, which tend to get option four if they don't already get zapped by my zapper. I would imagine things might be different regarding more dangerous critters. Any thoughts?

At a little trailside shrine in Sai Kung I stopped to meditate, then noticed I was right there by a big brown cobra. It was very peaceful, just
watched me and flickered its tongue.

It's a nice memory for me.

Subduction Zone · Nov 28, 2020

Saint Frankenstein said:
I believe very strongly in live and let live. If they're not dangerous or bothering me, I don't bother them. They have just as much right to their lives as I do to mine. Besides, spiders can be very helpful with pest control.

Yes, people that complain of "spider bites" drive me crazy. Spiders generally do not have the ability to bite people. But do you know what they can bite? They can and do bite and feed on the insects that bite people.

Heyo · Nov 28, 2020

If I'm not on its menu (mosquitoes) or it doesn't annoy me (flies), it lives. If it mistakenly got inside (bees, wasps) I help them to get out.

Augustus · Nov 28, 2020

Saint Frankenstein said:
I believe very strongly in live and let live. If they're not dangerous or bothering me, I don't bother them. They have just as much right to their lives as I do to mine. Besides, spiders can be very helpful with pest control.

I once woke up with a spider on my face, so they are definitely bothering me

(if I'd slept a bit longer I'd have been no more than a desiccated corpse wrapped in a cocoon)

Poll: Tolerance of (minor) wildlife

You notice a large spider on the ceiling above your bed - it is not that dangerous. Do you:

Ignore it - live and let live

Catch it and release outside the house

Catch it and prepare a nice home for your new pet

Use lethal force to remove it

Other

Oh my, did I say that!

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