Page 2 | Spiders! Eeeeekkk! Help!

MarianneOnAMotorcycle · 2022-10-03T13:38:36+00:00

I get so upset when I see all the posts about spiders being evil, stamping on them, burning them with a blow torch, burning the house down, etc. I saw this today and thought it would be a good perspective for all MN users to adopt! Peace and love.

SudocremOnEverything · 03/10/2022 15:13

Except… putting spiders outside is often a death sentence, rather than some lovely kindness. You’re not putting them back anywhere; you’re turfing them out, unprepared into the cold.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-19962187.amp

Bestcatmum · 03/10/2022 15:13

StewPots · 03/10/2022 14:59

I love spiders - fascinating and clever creatures who clean up the genuine pests! We have three tarantulas and watching them grow is so interesting - can’t wait till they are big enough to hold!

I don’t get the obsession with killing them. Australia has some seriously dangerous breeds yet Aussies manage to cope without killing them with a shoe. It’s cruel and unnecessary IMO.

I understand genuine arachnophobia but killing something just because you don’t like it? Nah. Get a glass & napkin ( along with a grip ) and release, instead of killing these amazing little creatures.

I'm wondering what my cats would do if they saw a tarantula, I genuinely have no idea.

littlepeas · 03/10/2022 15:15

It's horrible to kill spiders - in the UK they are almost completely harmless (and even false widows aren't exactly dangerous), so people kill them because they don't like how they look. I find the big ones a bit creepy, but they don't deserve to die because I'm being a baby about something that is a tiny fraction of my own size and will not hurt me.

KvotheTheBloodless · 03/10/2022 15:26

I dislike flies, spiders get rid of the buzzy little fuckers - I am in favour. I spotted a massive one eating a wasp caught in its web the other day. Since a wasp stung my little DS on the foot recently, I was vindictively delighted at one of its brethren's demise.

Unless you have severe arachnophobia (in which case, get some bloody therapy!) then it's very unreasonable and unnecessary to kill spiders. Aussie MNetters are exempt from spider-killing unreasonableness though, some of those antipodean spiders look like they could carry off a baby.

Sonyo · 03/10/2022 15:47

This reminds me of another poem:

I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn't
And she scared me
And I smashed her

I don't think I'm allowed
To kill something
Because I am frightened

It also saddens me when I see children shriek when they see a spider and immediately stamp on it because you know they must have learned that somewhere.

FurryDandelionSeekingMissile · 03/10/2022 16:12

Sonyo · 03/10/2022 15:47

This reminds me of another poem:

I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn't
And she scared me
And I smashed her

I don't think I'm allowed
To kill something
Because I am frightened

It also saddens me when I see children shriek when they see a spider and immediately stamp on it because you know they must have learned that somewhere.

I was the kid who used to run up to the groups of children in the infant school playground who were pointing at a large earthworm and screeching, "Uuurgh, a bloodsucker!" to try and rescue it before it was stamped on. So I sympathise with your POV.

I suppose, though, if the species isn't endangered and it's killed quickly, it doesn't technically do any real harm to kill them. I don't think they're capable of suffering as we would know it, and certainly not if they die instantly.

sistersisterIDonotmissyou · 03/10/2022 16:18

DismantledKing · 03/10/2022 14:46

House spiders have evolved to live in houses. If you put them outside they’ll probably die. Best to hit them with a shoe and get it over with.

Makes perfect sense to me!

Topseyt123 · 03/10/2022 16:33

Just clobber the fuckers. They creep me out and terrify me, so I really can't get het up and give a shit about spider welfare.

Other animals eat insects too. Geckos for instance, and I do quite like them. Better than spiders at any rate.

Topseyt123 · 03/10/2022 16:35

Just clobber the fuckers. They creep me out and terrify me, so I really can't get het up and give a shit about spider welfare.

Other animals eat insects too. Geckos for instance, and I do quite like them. Better than spiders at any rate.

Fizbosshoes · 03/10/2022 18:13

Sunnyqueen · 03/10/2022 14:50

I can't get rid of them myself so however the person getting rid of it wants to do it is fine by me. But really are their brains even developed enough to be aware they are alive anyway?

Same here. I have a massive phobia....actually reading the thread is making me nervous!!
I can't stay in the same room as a big spider and have to get someone else to get it for me.

And it's not that I don't know what to do - lots of people have showed me/explained it can't hurt me etc but I can't turn off the fear. My neighbour bought me a spider catcher but that still means being arms length away from it which if it was massive I can't do. (I'm OK with the spindly ones)
I'm fine with wasps and bees even massive ones and would happily use the glass/card method to catch them (even though they can potentially hurt me!) Just not spiders.

Original poster

MarianneOnAMotorcycle · 03/10/2022 23:41

littlepeas · 03/10/2022 15:15

It's horrible to kill spiders - in the UK they are almost completely harmless (and even false widows aren't exactly dangerous), so people kill them because they don't like how they look. I find the big ones a bit creepy, but they don't deserve to die because I'm being a baby about something that is a tiny fraction of my own size and will not hurt me.

This is very well put!

So what if they are "ugly" and you are afraid of them… does that give us justification to kill? (Is that a principle you wold want applied to yourself?!)

OP posts:

Original poster

MarianneOnAMotorcycle · 03/10/2022 23:45

I wonder... if one of us was walking along the street having just finished a hard day's work and all of a sudden we were scooped roughly into a glass vessell, driven to the next town and dumped out on the street and left there… how would we like it?

OP posts:

Original poster

MarianneOnAMotorcycle · 03/10/2022 23:48

I don't think they're capable of suffering as we would know it, and certainly not if they die instantly.

Those few seconds that it takes to "smash" a spider to death may seem like days to him, particularly in the context of his lifespan.
We have no idea how spiders perceive time.

OP posts:

Original poster

MarianneOnAMotorcycle · 03/10/2022 23:53

Bestcatmum · 03/10/2022 15:13

I'm wondering what my cats would do if they saw a tarantula, I genuinely have no idea.

Show quote history

Our cat caught a bat in the loft and brought it down to the sitting room so she could let it go and then catch it again. I will never forget the look of surprise on her face when her "mouse" flew off! Hahah!
(Yes cats can look surprised!)

OP posts:

2X4B523P · 03/10/2022 23:57

I leave them be, except for the giant house spiders I find in the bath. I help them out but invariably they’re back in the bath next time I go in the bathroom and help them out again. And repeat.

QueenCamilla · 04/10/2022 00:21

It's getting silly now with these spider threads recently. There are better "causes" out there you know... 🙄

I've killed absolute hundreds of them recently. I moved into a house with a serious infestation. They were eating each other anyway.

LizzieW1969 · 04/10/2022 08:08

I have no fear of spiders, so mostly I favour a live and let live approach. My 2 DDs are terrified of them, though, so my DH and I have to remove them regularly. Usually DH as he’s very tall and can reach the ones that are too high up for me. Yes, I do think it’s cruel to stamp on them.

I have an entirely different view about wasps, they terrify me! I don’t kill them myself as I’m nervous of only succeeding in making me angry, but I certainly don’t object to others killing them. 🤣

Fizbosshoes · 04/10/2022 08:17

MarianneOnAMotorcycle · 03/10/2022 23:45

I wonder... if one of us was walking along the street having just finished a hard day's work and all of a sudden we were scooped roughly into a glass vessell, driven to the next town and dumped out on the street and left there… how would we like it?

....I thought you were saying in your first post the glass/napkin although imo a napkin is not really man enough and card would be better approach was OK? Not that I use it because I couldn't be arms length away.

Ellnet · 04/10/2022 08:22

littlepeas · 03/10/2022 15:15

It's horrible to kill spiders - in the UK they are almost completely harmless (and even false widows aren't exactly dangerous), so people kill them because they don't like how they look. I find the big ones a bit creepy, but they don't deserve to die because I'm being a baby about something that is a tiny fraction of my own size and will not hurt me.

They’re not harmless to everyone, I’ve been hospitalised twice due to spider bites.

However, I don’t see many as my full house is Indorexed inside and out as I’m not taking the risk of swelling up like a balloon again. If I do see a randomer it’s squashed.

PineForestsAndSunshine · 04/10/2022 08:31

A quick death may be preferable to freezing to death in the garden in winter. However they are useful to have in the house, so best to live with them if you can.

Slightly off topic, but I am reminded of the summer I talked my then-young DD through trapping a spider under a glass and releasing it into the garden. The spider had barely exited the glass when our free-range chickens ran over and ripped it apart in front of us.

The positive side to this story is that DD's horror at the spider's unfortunate end outweighed her fear of the spiders themselves. They now get either left in situ or relocated to the utility room!