Is it ok to kill spiders?

[ChaosDragoness]

I'm a Lokean, a Neo-pagan worshiper of the Norse god Loki, and I personally don't kill spiders because of their connection with Him. (Spiders are one of the many animal forms this trickster takes among mortals) If I see one and it's not doing me any harm (which they usually don't) I let it chill because spiders are one of the forms that He takes and I believe that when Loki chooses to come by my place, He takes that form in order to watch over me and/or plan His next little trick on me.

It may sound crazy to a lot of you, but this is simply what I and many other Lokeans believe.

 

[FireDr@gon]

I'm a Lokean, a Neo-pagan worshiper of the Norse god Loki, and I personally don't kill spiders because of their connection with Him. (Spiders are one of the many animal forms this trickster takes among mortals) If I see one and it's not doing me any harm (which they usually don't) I let it chill because spiders are one of the forms that He takes and I believe that when Loki chooses to come by my place, He takes that form in order to watch over me and/or plan His next little trick on me.

It may sound crazy to a lot of you, but this is simply what I and many other Lokeans believe.

I struggled not to respond to this, but screw it. why do you only worship one norse god and not the whole pantheon? And how exactly do you "worship" it beyond not killings spiders?

 

[loc978]

Oh my dear god.

The mindless hypocrisy in this thread.

No, it's not okay to kill a spider that is no threat to you. Just like it is not okay to kill a puppy.
Just because it is not furry and looks at you with large beady eyes does not mean it is okay to kill it whenever it suits you.

Just because a being is not very likeable by it's looks and smaller than you does not mean you should kill it whenever you please. If we went by that logic, I could justify killing about half of the Escapist Forum. Yeah, suddenly makes a lot less sense, huh?

A spider is just an animal, albeit one that is not very likeable. However, they are useful.
They just sit in the corner of your room all day, chilling, catching everything that buzzes and is otherwise annoying.
Worst thing that could happen is that you eat one in your sleep (Great way to say thanks for the countless flies and other bugs he kept from buzzing around your ear at night), but it's not like you will notice when that happens anyway.

Bottomline: A spider is a living being, no different from a puppy. If you think it is okay to kill spiders, but it's not okay to kill puppies just because they look different, you're a horrible hypocrit and karma will strike back at you one way or the other.

How about we get a little more conscious about what we're doing, people?

That's... actually a pretty silly argument. Considering your average spider life span is around a year, and your average spider reproduction results in around 1000 offspring. A dog, on the other hand, lives 10ish years and births litters of around 4-10. We're a part of nature, like it or not... and humans are one of the longer-lived, slower breeding species, so yes, we can all kill spiders without thinking about it... without significantly affecting their population.

Does that mean we should kill every spider we see? No. Spiders are, in general, your friends. But one on your toilet paper? Sure.

...honestly, if you feel that way about spiders, you should protest every pest control company on the planet. People regularly hire those to commit spider genocide by gas in their cellar or garage. Thousands dead every time... without significantly affecting the overall local population.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

No way man, I love my spider bros.


Hell, I've saved more spiders than I've killed.

Spoiler

They're harmless, and they catch all the other annoying bugs.

 

[FireDr@gon]

That's... actually a pretty silly argument. Considering your average spider life span is around a year, and your average spider reproduction results in around 1000 offspring. A dog, on the other hand, lives 10ish years and births litters of around 4-10. We're a part of nature, like it or not... and humans are one of the longer-lived, slower breeding species, so yes, we can all kill spiders without thinking about it... without significantly affecting their population.

Does that mean we should kill every spider we see? No. Spiders are, in general, your friends. But one on your toilet paper? Sure.

...honestly, if you feel that way about spiders, you should protest every pest control company on the planet. People regularly hire those to commit spider genocide by gas in their cellar or garage. Thousands dead every time... without significantly affecting the overall local population.

By your logic, again, it would be fine to kill people that get in your way/annoy you because A; we're just animals too and B; it doesn't "significantly reduce their numbers" because there's billions of us and we live long enough to breed multiple times and infant mortality is pretty low among humans. It's not wrong to kill something just because you might endager the species as a whole, it's about killing being wrong. Why is this simple concept so difficult for people?

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

If they're inside your home and/or poisonous, then I would say yes.

If they are outside and/or not poisonous, I say let them be.

It's that simple.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

*chews gum for a bit*

....Nooooope. I can't say I can muster sympathy for bugs. I only have so many cares to give, and they do not go to bugs or curing a phobia that doesn't show up much because my house is pretty darn clean and doesn't attract vermin.

Everyone here who thinks it's murder should consider that you've probably stepped on thousands of ants by accident in your lifetime. Also, if I go into an animal's den/cave/etc. and sit around, odds are it will feel threatened and try to drive me off. If it's much bigger than me, it will quite possibly kill me if I don't listen and GTFO. Well, I certainly don't want freaking scary bugs in my house. I'm an animal too.

 

[loc978]

Oh my dear god.

The mindless hypocrisy in this thread.

No, it's not okay to kill a spider that is no threat to you. Just like it is not okay to kill a puppy.
Just because it is not furry and looks at you with large beady eyes does not mean it is okay to kill it whenever it suits you.

Just because a being is not very likeable by it's looks and smaller than you does not mean you should kill it whenever you please. If we went by that logic, I could justify killing about half of the Escapist Forum. Yeah, suddenly makes a lot less sense, huh?

A spider is just an animal, albeit one that is not very likeable. However, they are useful.
They just sit in the corner of your room all day, chilling, catching everything that buzzes and is otherwise annoying.
Worst thing that could happen is that you eat one in your sleep (Great way to say thanks for the countless flies and other bugs he kept from buzzing around your ear at night), but it's not like you will notice when that happens anyway.

Bottomline: A spider is a living being, no different from a puppy. If you think it is okay to kill spiders, but it's not okay to kill puppies just because they look different, you're a horrible hypocrit and karma will strike back at you one way or the other.

How about we get a little more conscious about what we're doing, people?

That's... actually a pretty silly argument. Considering your average spider life span is around a year, and your average spider reproduction results in around 1000 offspring. A dog, on the other hand, lives 10ish years and births litters of around 4-10. We're a part of nature, like it or not... and humans are one of the longer-lived, slower breeding species, so yes, we can all kill spiders without thinking about it... without significantly affecting their population.

Does that mean we should kill every spider we see? No. Spiders are, in general, your friends. But one on your toilet paper? Sure.

...honestly, if you feel that way about spiders, you should protest every pest control company on the planet. People regularly hire those to commit spider genocide by gas in their cellar or garage. Thousands dead every time... without significantly affecting the overall local population.

So because there's a lot of them we can kill them?

There's a lot of humans too (and plenty of dogs too, for that matter). I can kill a couple without affecting us too much. Actually, it would probably be a good thing considering how overpopulated the world seems to be getting. Does that make it okay to kill humans?

This isn't about threatening populations, it's about mindlessly killing living beings without second thought. Humans are just living beings. Do you kill them when they sit on your toilet roll?

Honestly, I don't care how many spiders people kill. I just wish people wouldn't be so damn ignorant about what they're doing. It doesn't occur to them that a spider is a living being just like a dog is, just "Oh it's inconvient that you are here and I am bigger than you, let me just kill you."

It's just unenlightened behavior, to say the least.

Pest control is in my eyes different, because in that case they're actually threatening to take over your house or whatever.
I fully understand the need for it when there's a thousand spiders in every corner of your house, or hundreds of rats.

By your logic, again, it would be fine to kill people that get in your way/annoy you because A; we're just animals too and B; it doesn't "significantly reduce their numbers" because there's billions of us and we live long enough to breed multiple times and infant mortality is pretty low among humans. It's not wrong to kill something just because you might endager the species as a whole, it's about killing being wrong. Why is this simple concept so difficult for people?

Because it's quite subjective, and from where I sit, you're wrong. Certainly there's some value to each life we snuff out, human or otherwise (yes, done that too. Would do it again in the same circumstances... not casually)... but the question is "how much?" I measure that by a scientific metric (ie. I'd wipe out hundreds of thousands of spiders to save one human... or hundreds of humans to save one blue whale). You say "enlightenment", I say "pseudo-religious bullshit".

Also, I actively encourage the wood spider population on my property... just not in the house.

Spoiler: as I was typing this, I noticed one of the little guys outside my window

...
and no, I'm not going to kill 'im.

 

[Someone Depressing]

If it's in my house, fucking stamp on it, twist my foot, then scrape up the remains and burn it.

But I have a rule.

If I'm outside, leave it alone. Because there are lots outside. And I might be eaten by entire swarms.

But really, I'm slowly overcoming that, bit by bit. I just hope we don't start worshipping the 8 legged wankers, and start to let scorpions sleep on our faces. The Egyptians did that to pretty much any animal that wandered on their front door, not just cats, and I wouldn't be suprised if most of the death rates were from disease.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yes? Sorry but with the OP statement in mind doesn't that apply to any other insect that you can killed aswell like a fly, moth etc or even an ant that we may step on being unaware of?

 

[weirdee]

i find that in the large scheme of things, unless you're actively making a point of killing all spiders, you're probably not going to be able to kill enough to make yourself spider hitler

that being said, i think i spend too much time/effort trying to get spiders to get back out of sight when they don't have enough perspective to flee in the direction i intended

 

[Lictor Face]

This honestly depends if you live in Australia or elsewhere.

If in Australia, take no chances man. I'm not sure how many potentially deadly spiders are in Australia, but I believe its a fair bit and some 'particularly' enjoy the domestic environment.


ELsewhere, the chances of having a giant spider in your home is pretty small. Most likely all you'll have are "good guy" jumping spiders and the occasional orb web building a lattice over your window. Those are fine imo.

 

[viking97]

Well, sure it's OKAY, but there's not really any reason to. I'd like to point out that we're about 1000 times their size. With the exception of the poisonous ones, they can't hurt us in the slightest.

I just put them outside if I catch them, or otherwise leave them alone. I used to play with them all the time when I was a kid, garden spiders are actually really friendly. That or really stupid.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

As far as I'm concerned, there's no value in any life.

What little manufactured value there is comes from the possibility to create and the level of intelligence/possible intelligence a creature has.

I also don't believe in terms like "Ok" in the phrase "Is it ok to do X"

Every moral system is different. A lot of people will say yes it is ok, a lot will say it isn't. The point is, it isn't up to us/them. It's up to you. Only you can determine what you feel bad about.
If you think it's ok, then yes, it is absolutely ok. If you think it isn't ok, then it simply isn't ok.

Also, 6 pages of posts about this? Seriously people?

and karma will strike back at you one way or the other.

This line actually makes me think your entire series of posts were created for the purpose of making fun of the people defending the spiders.

 

[Yuno Gasai]

Personally, I try not to.

Partially because I become cripplingly terrified if they get too close, and partially because I don't believe they deserve to die.

I'd rather set them outside where they can be happy and free and away from me than have to deal with squishy spider remains.

 

[Strazdas]

First of all i would like to state that i live in location that does not have spiders with deadly poison. the poisonous spiders here will give you a rash (that more often than not need no medical attention) and are usually far smaller (there are ones as big as a palm of the hand, but no monsters from australia). so my opinion may be biased a bit this way.

I NEVER kill spiders. i either ignore them or put them outside. it depends on situation. if it is by a window ill let it stay since hes useful there.
Main reas: spiders catch flies (i dont mind flies, i actually had a few as a pet), mosquitos and other similar creatures. Due to extensive fishing, the fish population has gone down, which mean the natural order of fish eating mosquito eggs have got damaged. result? at least 15 times increase in mosquito population that is BLOODY ANNOYING. so any mosquito caught by a spider is a win situation. the more spiders the better.

and if your killing spiders your part of the problem.

Spoiler: to anyone that says spiders are not cute

 

[lechat]

few months ago i put a huntsman spider:

Spoiler

the size of my face outside. it took me about 40 minuets of getting a bowl and piece of paper over it and i was scared shitless but these guys are the puppy dogs of the spider kingdom. even if you pick them up with your hands 99.9% of the time they wont bite you and if they do it won't kill you so i don't see why i should be it's judge jury and executioner.

i also have a funnel web living in my car door mirror. i draw the line at the bastards entering my house and will kill them but when i see him start to peek outside the mirror i just quickly roll up the window, cry a bit in terror and keep on driving.
needless to say i'm the sort of person who doesn't like killing things.

 

[Syzygy23]

Is it human? No? Then I'll kill it because it suits me. My ancestors didn't spend 20,000 years struggling their way up to the top of the food chain for me to pussy out about killing something that could threaten me.

That being said, the one thing that saves bugs from my wrath is not any sense of me being moral but because killing them tends to create a disgusting mess. I'd rather just remove them from my property than need to deal with disposing of the body and waste.

That's where my blood-lust comes from, like, my ancestors hunted fucking mammoth to extinction, this spider should be nothing more than a stain on my carpet

Contradicting that, my Buddhist philosophy kicks in, saying everything has an equal right to life, as long as that spiders doing its right spidery thing, and not organising mass genocide against jewish or gyspy or gay spiders then let it do its spidery thing.

In that case this sounds like a moral conflict that can only be solved internally. For future reference however, spider bites are actually rarely lethal to humans, with even the more infamous spiders such as the black widow and brown recluse only being life threatening to people with specific, pre-existing conditions, the very young or the very elderly.

Also take in to account that to pretty much every spider ever, you are Cthulhu to them. Like, night literally, a spiders vision normally doesn't even allow it to see you in your entirety. The mere sight of you sitting upon your cyclopean porcelain throne was probably enough to drive that spider to the brink of madness (relative to spiders of course)

few months ago i put a huntsman spider:

Spoiler

the size of my face outside. it took me about 40 minuets of getting a bowl and piece of paper over it and i was scared shitless but these guys are the puppy dogs of the spider kingdom. even if you pick them up with your hands 99.9% of the time they wont bite you and if they do it won't kill you so i don't see why i should be it's judge jury and executioner.

i also have a funnel web living in my car door mirror. i draw the line at the bastards entering my house and will kill them but when i see him start to peek outside the mirror i just quickly roll up the window, cry a bit in terror and keep on driving.
needless to say i'm the sort of person who doesn't like killing things.

Aww, that huntsman is kind of adorable in that picture. It's all relaxed looking, that's the kind of spider you could have a beer with, heh.

As for funnel webs, those guys are complete bastards I hear. Aggressive, with a very painful, sometimes toxic bite. I'd try to get that one to clear out if I were you, if not outright annihilate that sucker.

 

[Feedmeketamine]

Thats true, I think what im going to have to do is say theres 1 rule for spiders generally in the house, and then theres another for spiders when im taking a shit.

 

[TeamDei]

I try not to; depends how lazy I am that day.
Sometimes I'll see them run around my house and I'll be like "meh".
Other times I'll catch them and release them outside.
Few times I'll get annoyed and I'll kill them (I probably found those spiders in my bedroom).
And if they are outside, I leave them alone.