So my friend just killed some woodlice. Do you keep your own morals to yourself when in other people's homes?

[lynnepot]

Just had a coffee at a friends house. We went into her conservatory and we noted there were three or four woodlice crawling around on the floor. She casually swept them up put them in an old ice cream tub outside, then went to the kitchen got some bleach and squirted the bleach over them. She did it so casually whilst telling me about how she dropped off her dd to the coach station last night for a school trip and without any hesitation of doing so in my presence. She didn't even talk about what she was doing. She just carried on chatting. I thought it was quite a mean thing to do really but it was her home and I didn't feel it was my place to comment on it. I walked home just now questioning myself whether we just have to accept other people have different moral thresholds and that we should just respect its her home and some people do things differently.

In my defense it's a panic response. I eat meat and wear leather too.

So is the problem? That the woodlice were killed full stop? Or that they were killed with bleach?

Depends who you ask!

How does using bleach make it an act of psychotic behaviour? The lady wanted the bugs dead. Her choice her home. Bleach was just a means to a way. Just as would have been stamping on them, which is hardly a dignified end for them in itself really.

Can't stop trying to work out how you drown a squirrel in a loft?

Agree about the loft. I'm fairly sure ours isn't water tight

Do you agree though it was the woman's house and her choice, and secondly that the bleach was just the means to the end though? It doesn't make this woman psychotic.

See, that would have troubled me and made me feel sad. I don't kill anything unless it's trying to kill me, and woodlice are such non threatening things.

I would have tried to rescue them and persuaded her not to cover them with bleach as that's just nasty. If I'd failed to persuade her, I'd feel guilty and horrible and would judge her. People who are frightened of harmless things are being silly. We're so disconnected from nature now and that is bad.

I guess it's similar to if I caught a rat in a box in my garden and then calmly drilled a hole in its head while chatting with my friend.

Like, usually I'd put down rat poison so it's just two means to the same end really, but drilling a hole in a live rat's head just seems a bit more insane, doesn't it?

The lady was obviously not frightened though. She picked up them easily enough to place them in the tub. She wanted them gone because she regarded them as pests, which in effect is what they are.

I try to avoid killing creepy crawlies if they are doing no harm. Bees, and most wasps/ flies, I'll try to let out of the window if I can. A woodlouse would just be returned to nature. Spiders, I tend to ignore, but sometimes they are sent out if they are making it hard to ignore.

I couldn't tolerate the 30+ slugs that came home on my tent after a soggy camping trip- they'd have made a disgusting mess all over the conservatory and ruined many plants in the garden. Random slugs here and there are allowed to exist as bird food. I have put boiling water onto maggots in the bottom of the wheelie bin. Hundreds of flies emerging from a smelly, germy place is not an attractive proposition. The wasps nest in the compost bin was destroyed after I discovered it when I was stung on the face while putting in the grass clippings. It was preventing use of the bin and a hazard to my children. This year's nest in a porch roof has been allowed to survive as it was not being a hazard.

Bleaching an innocuous creature like a woodlouse is not attractive behaviour.

I would definitely think less of anyone who did something like that tbh. My dd loves woodlice and has spent many happy hours in the garden making homes for them, they're harmless little creatures pouring bleach over them is so unnecessary and cruel.

Your decision to kill the maggots is no different to the lady's decision to kill the woodlice though.

I’m intrigued about squirrel lady. Firstly how did she managed to drown it, and secondly, why is drowning a squirrel worse than what pest control people do to them?

That sounds really weird I think I would have been shocked into saying something

redfruitgum yeah I can understand the angle you are coming from. Yes people are perfectly right to categorise woodlice as pests in their own homes. Personally I would have been content with evicting them outside. I did think using bleach was a peculiar way of killing them though especially when the outside drain was next to the tub. It would have been easier to just tip the woodlice down the drain.

unobtainable yeah she was very casual going about. She didn't even mention what she was doing or try to rationale what she was doing. She wad just 'urgh more bloody woodlice' and fetched the dustpan and brush and chatted away about the school trip whilst she carried on. I'm guessing this is just how she deal with bugs though and doesn't give it a second thought.

I still don't understand why there would have been less outrage at tipping said woodlice down a drain than killing them with bleach.

Also OP, you had a chance to raise an objection but you chose to sit there with your cuppa and just let her get on with it.

I think bleaching them was unnecessary and I wouldn’t have done it but I can’t bring myself to care about insects very much.

I think I would have an issue with someone judging me for / commenting on my pest control practices (unless it were to suggest a more effective or efficient method of pest control.

AFAIK, I’m not psychotic

Maggots? Oliver ? What????

Why are people killing woodlice full stop?! They are harmless, don't carry disease and don't damage houses etc. Why not just put them outside. I am utterly astounded that several people on here have mentioned killing them.

I think you should say to your friend that this upset you OP. If you don't say, none of this will cross your friends mind and she will continue to do it

I would definitely have said something. That us so cruel and no less so just because it was insects and not a cute puppy MissionItsPossible

Redgreen no-one would have a problem with the odd woodlouse indoors ready for their pet spider to prey on, but if you have the right environment you can end up with an en masse invasion and according to the google oracle they can reproduce asexually.

Also in the garden they eat strawberry plants and seedlings, so while fine in isolation if your garden is prone to them and you are lacking in blackbirds to predate them they may well be a pest (not to mention they give me the icks).

I don’t see the relevance of nappies producing maggots.

I always tie the plastic bags on all rubbish even nappies when the dc were in them very tight and I have never had maggots.

We are vegetarian/vegan so that might make a difference so no meat products which is what maggots grow on.

I have never had maggots do have never killed them

I don’t see the relevance of nappies producing maggots

Me either. What a random post that was.