Is it ok to kill spiders?

[LegendaryVKickr]

It is always ok. As an arachnophobic, I may be slightly biased when I say this, but I think it's never acceptable to let them live. Think of all those legs, crawling on you while you sleep...all those eyes watching you. There you go, now you feel disgusted and creeped out, not guilty. Imagine if you had let it live, it could have done that!!

 

[GundamSentinel]

If one assumes the human hubris that the worth of any animal is less than the worth of a human being, then maybe. I wouldn't blame you for it, people find spiders scary, it's a natural thing.

Personally, I always try to catch any animal that bothers me alive and release it somewhere out of the way. Then again, I'm rarely confronted by huge spiders where I live, so who am I to judge?

 

[Flames66]

Recently I was very stressed about something and found a maHOOsive Spider in between some clothes I was moving. As usual I tried to get cup and paper and put it outside, but I slid the cup too quickly and severed one of it's legs. I felt terrible about it. The leg is still sitting there, on my bathroom floor, as a reminder of my accidental cruelty.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

as long as it's quick, painless and thorough, it's okay, he won't have suffered.

Usually I wouldn't have a problem with spiders living in my house as long as they catch flies and musquitoes, which they suck at catching for some reason, so they don't earn their keep.

 

[Cazza]

If there was a spider the size of a giant and it saw you near it's place it would probably kill you. I guess the point here is it would then eat you which I doubt you ate it.

It's natural to protect your territory from creatures you don't like.

 

[Neonit]

I have had issue with high amount of mosquitoes. Right now i have an entire TRIBE of spiders living right by my window (on the outside). Each morning i open the window a little more (because its cold at night) and each time i see part of their nets being broken. No mosquitoes though. Its the natural, self-cleaning mosquito net. Looks nice too, when its wet.

As long as they are somewhere where i dont mind them (the dark corners of my room) i leave them be.

If they enter "my territory" i do the same most territorial animals do. Fight or flight.

Generally spiders are one of very few insects that i kinda respect, because of the mosquitoes. And im living in a student apartment, so i guess im more used to insects (nah its not that bad....) Any other insect is fair game.

Then again, if a girl starts screaming... i have to do my duty, you know?

 

[teqrevisited]

I'd like to reiterate a previous statement I made about spiders:
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Fuck spiders. Fuck them and the way they move their legs, fuck their ability to multiply by the million and fuck their eight, beady little black eyes that offer unblinking, soulless glimpses of the blackest depths of hell itself.
-

I wouldn't kill them if they didn't scare the shit out of me. Once I had one disappear under my bed the night before an interview. I spent an hour looking for the bloody thing before I gave up and went downstairs to sleep on the sofa.

 

[jurnag12]

On a conceptual level, I have nothing against spiders. They're a lot better to have than not, since they keep other crap away, and they generally keep to themselves. I'd probably be the kind of guy that puts them outside whenever he finds them.

However, this is prevented by...

Arachnophobia. Which I've got so bad that any spider I see I either run away from or try to kill with the most excessive use of force possibly, usually before I realize it. I am not joking in the slightest when I say that I was once walking through my room, saw a rather big spider on the wall, and, out of reflex, threw my goddamn desk chair at it.
The very sight of them gives me nightmares, to the point that even looking at the spider-bro comics higher up the page made me curl up into a ball on my chair and inspect every corner of the room from my chair to make sure no spiders are present.

I'm pretty sure me and spiders could be pretty good friends, but every time I see one my goddamn ancestral memories kick in and make me murder all arthropods in the vicinity or just get the fuck out of there.

 

[lunavixen]

Considering my phobia of spiders, they must die or I can't sleep and it causes me a panic attack to boot... Especially sucks for me considering I live in Australia where a lot of the venemous ones live T_T. If they're out of sight, they can stay in the house, but as soon as i've seen one, it has to die or I severely panic.

We've had spiders the size of dinner plates you know... just so you know...

 

[siomasm]

Got no love for the loathsome critters, except for maybe some of the smaller, fuzzier jumping variety.
"What if I told you, there are more bugs to eat outside my house than in?" Morphious meme I saw comes to mind. Ultimately if the tables were turned, they would undoubtedly kill me, being the savage little killing machines that they are. They go beyond being creepy in mere appearance when you really consider the horror of any creature they consume through the methods they use.

-shivers-

No reason not to protect your territory. Wouldn't life be much better if spiders were removed from the eco-system and replaced with...hell I don't know. Tree frogs? Geckos? Finches?

 

[bojackx]

I like spiders; they're much easier to catch than flies and they don't bite unless you're seriously posing a threat.

If I'm hanging out in my room and I see a spider, that guy is being set free outside, even if he's running about everywhere so instead of opening my window behind my blinds and risking him crawling under my bed as I go to release him, I go all the way downstairs to let him out the door.

I live in England and anyone who's shit scared of spiders here really needs to man up.

 

[Scappo]

What most people don't know is that spiders are actually the trapped souls of all those who have murdered, raped and tortured people in the past. It's the universe's way of ensuring they'll suffer for an extended period of time.

It is absolutely right, and just, to kill spiders without pain, fear, or regret. The universe will reward you handsomely for carrying out the death sentence for it .

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

If there's a fucking black widow scuttling around your house, it probably is a threat to you. Daddy long legs cant bite you and will eat any other bugs that happen to show up in your house so I actually let those stick around. Your call really what's right and wrong.

 

[piinyouri]

Spoiler

Of course it's not okay to kill them, you unfeeling brutes! Spiderbros have your back! They're just trying to help you!

Seriously though, fuck spiders.

Oh my god...that is...that made me laugh. And I'm arachnophobic, have no remorse for anything that buzzes, crawls or slithers, and have no compunctions over killing anything that invades my personal sacred space, but that was great.

The line with furniture polish really got me. Someone certainly knows what they are talking about. (I've used hairspray, febreeze, anything I can spray I figure if I coat something in it it will die eventually.

My name is pi and I am going to insect hell.

 

[freedash22]

No. It is not okay to kill spiders just because they look scary (unless they are poisonous). I live in the Philippines and there is a Huntsman Spider living in the house and that critter is almost is as big as my hand. I leave it alone. It used to freak me out but I trained myself to tolerate it because I knew it was the only way. I knew it would never harm me. It would show up in unexpected places and even in the bathroom, kitchen or closet at night. Every time I saw that thing grabbing an insect kill, it felt good.

I would kill cockroaches and other bugs but I leave spiders alone because they hunt down and eat the more dangerous insects like mosquitoes and cockroaches which carry diseases and parasites. They also serve as a deterrent to termites and ants. And they'll protect you for free. I don't need harmful insecticides anymore as they keep the biodiversity of the house to a minimum.

I really think house spiders deserve a chance.

 

[EHKOS]

Usually I'll let them go about their business and never see them again. I also have gnats, and they only swarm me at certain times in certain areas of my apartment, so I let them be. I have a few rules, to kill a spider/insect it must be my definition of large, it must be on the wall or floor, and it must gross me out. Any two out of three spells their death. My dad once had to kill a huge cockroach with a screwdriver.

 

[Legion]

I don't generally agree with it, and wish people wouldn't do it. I don't like spiders either, but I try and avoid harming them whenever possible. I don't judge people too harshly if they do, because some people are genuinely afraid of them and I can understand why somebody might react like that.

I think it is much better to simply pick them up using something like a rolled up paper/magazine and let them outside.

If it is venomous like in other countries or else harmful I can understand it a lot more. I have no objection to killing wasps, gnats or flies for example.