Australians should stop milking spiders

[Marue]

Heard that they were urging people to catch more spiders to milk for anti venom, the average spider gets milked 100 times before being killed!

It just seems very inhumane to do that these days, surely with modern technology they should synthesise this?

it's worth bearing in mind that the male funnel web has a much longer life in captivity than he would in the wild, given that the female generally eats him after mating. I reckon that being milked is preferable to that....

I kill every spider I see and sorry, I don't care at all.

I also bleach the toilet and don't care about the bacteria I kill doing that, and I swat flies and use ant powder to kill ants. Where do you draw the line?

I quite like spiders but cannot muster together any concern on this topic.

Spiders aren't really a threat to our health in the way that fleas and flies and mosquitoes are, or any of those bugs that eat our crops. It sounds like harmful spider bites are pretty rare worldwide. What reason is there to kill them?

I thought that there were some fairly standard antimalarials out there that didn't require any further validation, Jassy?

I don't disagree with unavoidable animal research and I haven't actually said 'No, spider milking bad' because I think it has a place. I'm keen on leaving every other living thing to live its life as long as it doesn't threaten me with tooth and claw, or venom, or disease-spreading. It's impossible to not kill bacteria and I'd say it's remiss not to keep your house relatively clean so as to avoid illness.

Insofar as I can without degrading my own quality of life, I try to let things live.

I'm keen on leaving every other living thing to live its life as long as it doesn't threaten me with tooth and claw, or venom, or disease-spreading. It's impossible to not kill bacteria and I'd say it's remiss not to keep your house relatively clean so as to avoid illness

yeah this

Probably, if you don't mind things tested on animals in the past. Or hallucinations.

(Your overall position seems reasonable to me, though it differs from mine.)

This forum really goes to show that there are all types of people.

I don't give a tiny little rat's ass about spiders and I think they should all be killed, especially the bitey ones. Failing that, milking them seems pretty fucking sensible and you'd say so too if your child got bitten so jog on.

I couldn't give a shiny shite about spider welfare and any that are found in this house are clobbered.

My SIL lives in Sydney and is married to an Australian builder. One of her DH's friends was bitten by a funnel web which had been accidentally disturbed during a job they were working on.

Her DH called for an ambulance, and also managed to capture the spider in a container. The ambulance took his friend and said spider (securely contained in a plastic box with a couple of small holes for air) to hospital. Friend was given anti-venom and recovered quickly.

Spider was taken for milking. There had been warnings that the stocks of anti venom were very low that year for some reason, so spiders were needed if possible.

As a confirmed and dyed in the wool arachnophobe though, I must admit that the very thought is spine chilling.

If I was in a malaria zone, I'd be hopped up on quinine

limited efficacy, the prophylactic anti-malarials only protect up to about 60-80%. The better prophylactics have strong unpleasant side effects. Expensive to take long term.

make heavy use of mosquito nets

So you would be willing to kill the mozzies, right? Because the nets only work very well if they are impregnated with insecticide to actually kill the feckers. Physical barrier is good, but nets soon get holes in them. The mozzies are rapidly developing resistance to most of the chemicals used, although thankfully more chemicals are coming on market (all of them heavily tested on real girl mozzies). The best nets will be impregnated with several different insecticides.

If you lived in a malarial zone, and didn't have a passport out of there, you'd probably be too poor to afford prophylactic drugs, good nets, household insecticides or DEET spray, which you need the moment the sun goes down.

Maybe we need more spiders to eat the mosquitoes?

I think you'll find people bitten by a Sydney funnel web don't have a death wish, either, Contessa.

Unfortunately it's not a spur of the moment, it or me decision, in that case. The anti venom has to be synthesised, so the spiders have to be milked.

If you accept that a mosquito may have to die so it doesn't kill a person, surely it's hypocritical to say spiders shouldn't be milked for the same reason?

Re the aphids, I would also blast infested plants with water. Can't be pleasant for the aphids, though. Think about the shock we feel when police use water cannons on people.

And re your baby snails. Lucky old you that it's just a few baby snails. I'm talking about loads of slugs eating your lettuces. Do you choose to feed them, or you?

Sorry, Contessa, it took a long time to post, so you've really answered some of my points on your behalf.

I'd be interested to know what the OP's stance on this was, though. (You generously answered on behalf of vegans, but then you didn't start a thread on the evils of spider milking!)

which you need the moment the sun goes down for malaria. But don't forget to apply in the day like I did and get Dengue. Tropical diseases are nasty and anyone who has had one would happily kill a mosquito. If only to prevent a child catching the same dreadful disease.

Non-fact checked fact: mosquitoes have killed more people since time began than every other animal put together.

Sanity I've already said that I'm happy with spider milking, if it's generally done with as much attention to welfare as described upthread. I've never heard of it as a thing before now but it makes sense. I was having more of a conversation about welfare and live-and-let-live in general.

I'm aware that I am not being consistent in my principles wrt the aphids, but since I let DS do it once he'd have been very sad if told not to do it again. I paid the price for inconsistency there.

I did say upthread that if I had to subsist on the produce I'd grown then my attitude would probably be rather less forgiving.....

MedSchoolRat your name is funny in the context of this conversation/thread

I would probably change a lot of my ideas if I lived in a country where life was harder and survival was more of a challenge. As it is though, I live in plush comfort compared to the majority of the earth's population and have the luxury of choosing whether or not to kill things. Since I am fortunate enough to have a choice, I try not to kill them without a pressing reason.

No worries Sanity.

I'm not sure the op anticipated a vegan debate!!

5Foot5

I bet you need a very low stool.

Genuine lol

Wow

I've never met anyone who gives a fuck about poisonous spiders

MrsTP - your non-fact checked fact isn't that far off - malaria is said to have killed half the people who ever lived. here is a discussion of it - it's not 100% given that it's true, but it could be.

Fucking redbacks.

DS (almost 3) came to tell me that there was a spider on a toy. It was a redneck. He had been happily playing with the toy (which I had checked but obviously not properly) for about 15 minutes. I literally shudder to think.

I was regularly taking the bins out and then realised a redneck had made its home under the handle. I was very pregnant at the time.

We were on our farm last week playing in the dam when a 6ft snake slithered up to have a drink. It was metres from the DC.

If there was a nuclear option that killed ALL venemous snakes and spiders tomorrow I would press it without a second thought.

redback not redneck obvs.

redback not redneck obvs.

redback not redneck obvs.

What? There's less spiders in the wild and they're making anti-venom?

That sounds like an excellent plan.