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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Spider killer?

84 replies

ClaireAccessory · 16/06/2015 23:35

I know I should be kind to all of mother natures creatures and set a good example for dd but when there is a spider in my home it is going to get squished! How do you deal with them, do you gently put them outside or squash the feckers flat?

OP posts:
kslatts · 17/06/2015 22:10

I just leave them to roam around the house. Dd2 doesn't like them so if she has one in her bedroom I will put it outside.

MidniteScribbler · 17/06/2015 22:12

I'm in Australia. Where most of the wildlife want to either kill you or jump in front of your car.

TheImprobableGirl · 17/06/2015 22:14

Oh fuck offffffff!

My house is a graveyard for spiders, flies, woodlice, and various other 'minibeasts'

They get squashed. Usually with a shoe or other hard Implement. Dp has just got round to changing lightbulbs, he could not physically deal with a spider. He would cry

TheImprobableGirl · 17/06/2015 22:17

Sorry newflipflops X X X

(three kisses from a VERY non-kissy mumsnetter.... Potentially something to do with the bottle and a half of wine I've consumes)

Raveismyera · 17/06/2015 22:17

I used to kill them until a traumatic and prolonged drowning incident in the bathroom sink put me off the old murdering. Now I chuck them
Out the window. It's just as bad since house spiders can't live outside and die anyway

sunnyawry · 17/06/2015 22:26

Rave- drowning incident?

snowaccidentprone · 17/06/2015 22:34

I don't mind spiders. I just leave them alone. They capture and eat yucky bugs like flies, so I don't do anything with them.

The ones in your house are house spiders and do not survive outside.

The larger ones I usually name - like James or Cecil. Neither ds1 or 2 are bothered by spiders either, though ds1's gf is terrified of them.

I am in the UK though, so no black widows etc to deal with!

Idontseeanydragons · 17/06/2015 22:36

I trained myself over the years to out them outside. When the little feckers run across the wooden floor with what sound like big boots on so I can actually HEAR them though I have to remind myself not to revert to old ways - ie scream and throw something at them Grin
My Grandad shouted at me for killing a spider, he gave them names instead and moved them somewhere away from Grandma!

Raveismyera · 17/06/2015 22:50

I had 2 very large very stupid fuckers in my bathroom sink. I made them loo roll ladders and everyfink. They were totally dim. After a week or so, they still hadn't moved and weirdly, a number of their legs had fallen off Shock at this point it seemed kinder to kill them. However I couldn't wallop them with a shoe as it would potentially smash the sink. So I drowned them. Only they fought for their little lives Sad but once I started I had to see it through. Poor spiders.

DandelionDaydream · 17/06/2015 22:51

The cats usually get them first so we don't have many but if its left to me then small ones can stay, medium get whack with a flip flop, big ones get a huge dose of spray as i cannot bear the crunching sound if you whack them.
I hate the massive ones that gallop across the floors and cant settle if I know there is one in the room.
DD also hates them with a passion and gets panicky if she knows they are in the house she's even worse with daddy long legs so they have to go.

Ludways · 17/06/2015 23:15

I'm like Delphine, I used to be terrified of them and now I'm just not. I usually just leave them but occasionally liberate them to the garden. Very upset to read that I'm throwing them out to almost certain death.

Moomintroll85 · 17/06/2015 23:23

They don't bother me really. I grew up with an extreme arachnophobe mother so was the spider-getter-ridder from a very young age. DP is also terrified of them so my role continues.

I always tell him they're just living their lives and we should leave them be but he doesn't listen. If I don't act quickly enough he'll go at them with a shoe, the adrenaline takes over and we end up with dents and holes in the walls (and shoes he refuses to wear). He's usually very relaxed but spiders make him flip OUT!

Original poster
ClaireAccessory · 18/06/2015 00:42

Think the TheImprobableGirl has the same attitude to uncerimonious squashing as me :P shoe in hand... SPLAT!

OP posts:
YorkGirl2015 · 18/06/2015 00:58

My phobia is so bad that I think I should hide this thread because the even the sight of the s word gives me a panic attack

Baffled2012 · 18/06/2015 01:01

Kill them. Otherwise they multiply! And putting them outside ...well when it gets cold they come straight back in ....after telling their mates how great it is at yours!

Shaunababy63 · 18/06/2015 01:03

Im the same Claire, haha feel bad readin through these comments but what can I say, Im a squisher :P

Bluepetra · 18/06/2015 01:03

I have arachnophobia and the fight or flight kicks in so I kill ! I have to as I can't leave them it just makes my fear worse. I've become quite quick at it over the years, if I can't successfully flatten them I'll Hoover it up.

Bahh · 18/06/2015 01:22

I have my mother to thank for my extreme spider fear. Vividly remember her stuck at the top of our stairs because there was a spider above her head on the wall, continuously screaming for several minutes. I was only about 7, really upset me. As an adult I know it's completely stupid and they can't do anything to me and they're more scared of me blah blah blah I just CANNOT, I'm sorry. I've had some hideous experiences in this house, only about a month ago I woke up and (nakedly) carried my towel to the bathroom to shower, at which point a giant disgusting thick black spider dropped out of my towel and started running around the room. I'm a screaming crying mess and have no coping mechanism or self control whatsoever. OH squashed it. And it took us both about two weeks to clear up the mess. Gives me shivers just thinking about it. I don't know if I care whether or not it makes me/us bad people.

Bahh · 18/06/2015 01:25

Also remember the one time we hoovered one up. That was probably about six months ago, and we haven't used the hoover since. And actually have hired a cleaner to do it instead. In case it's still in there. Or has crawled out into the cupboard where we keep the hoover. Never doing that again!

perfectlybroken · 18/06/2015 01:31

I used to be soooo scared of spiders. But I logically know they are nice. So I got a humane spider catcher and used that for a while. But where we live now we have ALOT of spiders, and I think if I didn't kill them we would be having some kind of house share situation. So I'm afraid it's squishy spiders here, unless DH gets there first and evicts them.

Lovepancakes · 18/06/2015 07:45

Bahh I wouldn't have enjoyed that either! It reminded me she was once ironing and a huge wet patch mysteriously appeared on a sheet (I mean huge) which turned out to have been from a spider having crawled it and getting ironed too. I felt almost sick when saw its poor legs as not keen on big ones

Nibledbyducks · 18/06/2015 08:35

I don't like them, DD doesn't like them, and DS2 hates them, but family rule is you can't kill things just because you don't like them.

lljkk · 18/06/2015 09:10

DC & DH catch spiders with their hands & put them out.
I use paper & a pot because I'm a wimp.
Spiders are A M A Z I N G.

Original poster
ClaireAccessory · 18/06/2015 18:32

Lovepancakes oh god i wouldve been sick! Did you not hear it when you ironed him? Also fitting name since he essentially got pancaked!

OP posts:
ihategeorgeosborne · 18/06/2015 18:48

I don't like spiders particularly, but I don't kill them. I just put them outside in a glass or get dh to do it. I don't like killing anything. If I accidentally tread on a snail in the dark I feel guilty. I saw a big bee on the pavement the other day and picked it up with a leaf and put it on a flower. I also rescued a caterpillar from the road and returned it to safety. The dc think I'm awesome Grin

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