Do you kill insects in your house? Which ones?

Mr Rhode Island Red

Saw a woodlouse having a stroll across the kitchen floor the last night. Sure, I could have killed him, but I didn't because woodlouse are sound and don't really cause any damage or trouble. Modest, non-intrusive "don't-mind-me" kinda guy.

But the wasp that flew in the window today got rekt, because wasps are a nuisance, going around the place stinging people and the like. Always outstaying their welcome. Upstarts.

So where does everybody on AH draw the line when choosing which insects to let go free, and which insects to bludgeon to death?

Anything with an aggressive defense mechanism is usually enough for me. Wasps...and that's it really. Bees are sound, making honey and stuff, so they don't get killed.

fleet_admiral

Lidl are selling a weed burner and Butane at the moment. They arent just for weeds....

4zn76tysfajdxp

Anything between the size of a dog and a bear I murder.

frozenfrozen

fleet_admiral wrote: »

Lidl are selling a weed burner and Butane at the moment. They arent just for weeds....

its for hash too?

Rubberlegs

No, as much as I'm not fond of crawly things, I can't kill them. I always imagine their Mam will be looking for them, and I just can't . If I did kill them, maybe an army of them would kill me in my sleep.

Alexis Sanchez

Woodlouse is a sign of dampness.

I get a lot of flies in the kitchen because my cat never finishes her food, but if I put the food outside, my next door neighbour's cats (there's at least 10 of the cúnts) will come up to my house.

failinis

Normally I try to get them out the window/door alive, but if a wasp is not co operating its dead.
I will help bees and wood louse and all those types of things outside, just not wasps.
Blue bottles and flies also get the shoo out the window but if they don't its the fly swat.

Antar Bolaeisk

I hate doing it as they are beneficial to have around but I have to kill ants when they start invading the kitchen, particularly the biscuit box.

Most things I'll generally throw outside to go their way, cockroaches get flushed down the toilet and wasps/hornets get squished.

Galwayguy35

Most things that make their way in I leave alone or put them outside but not blue flies.

I hunt them down and get great satisfaction sending them to fly heaven.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I don't kill them, if it's annoying me I'll pick it up in a tissue and throw it out the window. With wasps and flies I scoop them out the window with a newspaper.

MadDog76

I kill any living thing I find in my house that I haven't personally brought in or invited in .......... which I consider reasonable.

Precious flower

Bluebottles, dirty/annoying things and therefore must be destroyed!:mad: Though sometimes I shoo them out the window. Bees are sent out the window, woodlouse are left alone or put gently outside and spiders are either left alone or sent outside Wasps are killed but not by me as I go run and hide until they are dead :pac:

The Backwards Man

Wasps and bluebotlles are fair game, everything else gets left alone.

diomed

I always help spiders out of the bath, or any tricky situation.
I get a few silverfish. Go spiders go. Sort out the feckers.

Ethel

Any crawlies are caught and released outside. Flies and wasps get the swatter.

The Adversary

Have to laugh at people who say they won't kill spiders. You put them outside and they search for the source of heat again and simply re-enter your home. Fair enough if you want those heinous creatures around but the minute I see one it gets punished for trespassing.

WoollyRedHat

Only the ones who freeload

suicide_circus

Fruit flies can fcking die

ollaetta

Silverfish. Absolutely hate the disgusting yokes.

bodice ripper

Anything with more than four legs is killed. Except moths, cause they are little dudes.

mad muffin

Anything that comes into my house without knocking gets a whack over the head.

KingBrian2

I never like killing or harming Spiders but sometimes it is necessary, Moths though are another story.

retro:electro

I used to always stand on or kill whatever insect I saw because I was afraid of them but I don't anymore. There's always woodlice in my bath lately so I try and scoop them out with a piece of paper and let them out the window. Sometimes they're dumb though and won't get up on the paper. Wasps and stuff I just open a window and they'll fly out eventually.

darkpagandeath

Yes I kill bugs, And no it does not lead to strangling cats and then to serial killing.

Vincent Vega

While I can understand people feeling they need to sometimes, I just can't get my head around people who seem to take pleasure in the killing.
Sure, it's probably insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but you never know....

edit: ^lol thumbnail

jon1981

Moths... Cheeky bastards, how dare they think they can casually lie around my house!

PARlance

My 2 year old darling (butter wouldn't melt, pink pink pink, hugs & kisses) daughter goes into beast mode whenever she sees a creepy crawly..STAMP ON IT, STAMP ON IT, STAMP ON IT!!!!!

She'll give me a loving smile of approval once I've taken another life for her as she trots off to tuck her dolls into bed.

Ciaran_B

Anything that buzzes dies, the quiet ones (spiders, moths) live. Deadly buzz.

doolox

I remember as a 12 yr old being mightily impressed by the ability of a swarm of bees being able to reduce a tough friend of mine to tears with the pain of their stings. He was stung several times by a disturbed nest and we ran like the dickens from the angry mob of bees which attacked us luckily I didn't get stung but, at that time I was a fast long legged skinny dude who could run when properly motivated and that day I was properly motivated. Normally I hate sports and wouldn't run 20 yds.

I also recall a day when my dad used a vacuum cleaner to empty out a wasps nest in the attic so he could get rid of it. We managed to suck up all the wasps into a vacuum cleaner bag and take the empty nest out of the attic dispatching the lot in a small can of diesel. The flames were very satisfying......

My policy on insects in the house is to kill.

captbarnacles

Wasps and bluebottles are hunted down.

Spiders with thick bodies have to go. Slim bodied spiders are welcome and are left alone.

PizzamanIRL

Just moths. Everything else can do what they want. I hate seeing everyone else in my house killing spiders up in the corner of the wall. They're no harm.

lizzyman

MadDog76 wrote: »

I kill any living thing I find in my house that I haven't personally brought in or invited in .......... which I consider reasonable.

+1

Only good bug is a dead one.

FortySeven

Catch and release is my policy, usually with an hysterical teenage girl peeking around the door frame screaming blue murder (she can spot the tiniest of spiders at 20m). Mainly so I don't leave unsightly stains all over the walls.

Always feel guilt if I kill anything. They have much more right to be around than I do IMO.

This weekend I'm going into the loft with the hoover though, need to reinsulate and rewire so I will be cleaning it of all and sundry, probably a nation of spiders up there, some big, fast bar stewards too. (I've seen them)
Not looking forward to it. I'm having visions of hundreds of angry spiders erupting from the hoover hose bent on revenge the minute I switch it off! :eek:

kumate_champ07

Precious flower wrote: »

Bluebottles, dirty/annoying things and therefore must be destroyed!:mad: Though sometimes I shoo them out the window. Bees are sent out the window, woodlouse are left alone or put gently outside and spiders are either left alone or sent outside Wasps are killed but not by me as I go run and hide until they are dead :pac:

they are so easy to shoo out the window! they are annoying but thats not a reason to kill

only thing I kill are mosquitoes, they bite and its itchy for days, if Im falling asleep sometimes Ill hear 1 buzzing and Ill get up to kill it and every other one thats in my room before I go back to bed. tennis ball works great for hard to reach places near ceiling

eternal

I never kill any living thing. It could be a person reincarnated as a fly.

Son Of A Vidic

KingBrian2 wrote: »

I never like killing or harming Spiders but sometimes it is necessary, Moths though are another story.

Moths in my part of the country can reach bird-like proportions and nothing short of anti-aircraft fire is needed to take them out.

OiL RiG

eternal wrote: »

I never kill any living thing. It could be a person reincarnated as a fly.

If they got reincarnated as a fly, they probably weren't a very nice person in a previous life.

I used to live by a 'catch and release' policy. Now, however, I feel that by squishing anything that gets too close, I am selecting for smarter insects who don't bother me. That way, we can exist in understanding and mutual respect.

eternal

OiL RiG wrote: »

If they got reincarnated as a fly, they probably weren't a very nice person in a previous life.

I used to live by a 'catch and release' policy. Now, however, I feel that by squishing anything that gets too close, I am selecting for smarter insects who don't bother me. That way, we can exist in understanding and mutual respect.

By killing that fly, you are too becoming a fly in your future life.

Richard Hillman

I kill moths and flies. Spiders are ok as long as they are behaving themselves. If they pick out a corner and stay there they are fine. If they start moving about they get whacked.

Wibbs

I got lots of spiders in my gaff and a few are clearly well fed, nay obese in the arachnid world. I never kill my eight legged mates, everything else? They take care of them. A few years back I had a pretty big spider living behind my bedroom mirror. She'd pop her head out from time to time, but mostly we respected each other's space maaan. Though one night, more like early morning, I awoke apropos of nothing and turned over and there she was about a foot(30 Cms for the younger folks) away from my face on the pillow. And she froze solid. No wonder, there she was doing her nocturnal thing, hardly expecting the statue of liberty sized monkey boy would disturb her evening walkabout. Never mind that she had eight eyes watching me and at that hour in the morning the state of me means two eyes are two too many for comfort. I froze too and we both looked at each other like statues for well over a minute. She broke the stalemate - and god I'd have loved to have had a camera at the time - by slowly, ever so slowly backing away in a most elegant way. Nothing to see here monkey boy, go back to sleep FFS. Some say spiders walk across our faces when we sleep, I say go for it lads and lasses, ye're hunting stuff I don't want around me. Just avoid my nasal area for future ref as that will likely waken me. Otherwise go mad. With my arachnid mates I fear no bedbugs and the like.

Fr_Dougal

Spider-baby.

OiL RiG

eternal wrote: »

By killing that fly, you are too becoming a fly in your future life.

But by killing that fly, am I not releasing him from his life of penance, so that it may be reincarnated as something nicer? If so, I'd be happy to squish and be squished. It's the circle of life.

eternal

OiL RiG wrote: »

But by killing that fly, am I not releasing him from his life of penance, so that it may be reincarnated as something nicer? If so, I'd be happy to squish and be squished. It's the circle of life.

You can only be reincarnated as something worse or as a lower being. Unless he redeemed himself through the act of death maybe. Why kill though when you can just put them outside?

greenfrogs

Today I've killed a spider and an earwig. I absolutely hate creepy crawlies. I genuinely don't know where they come from. There's a fly buzzing around the room at the moment. He may too get an early grave.

MadsL

Flies, Cockroaches and Scorpians. I've grown more tolerant of Black Widows in the graden unless they are on the outdoor furniture - any other spiders in the house get a pass.

bogwalrus

If I have to move a spider I'll put it out with the tomato plants cause it will eat all the green fly.

OiL RiG

eternal wrote: »

You can only be reincarnated as something worse or as a lower being. Unless he redeemed himself through the act of death maybe. Why kill though when you can just put them outside?

Flies I do tend to shoo outside the nearest open window. It's the ones that flaunt our agreement to respect each other's space that must, unfortunately, be put to death. Silverfish in my favourite book, those earwig-looking things with the gall to scuttle across the bathroom floor next to my bare feet, etc. must be made an example of. It helps maintain the status quo, and from an evolutionary perspective selects for insects smart enough to let me poop and read in peace.

eternal

OiL RiG wrote: »

Flies I do tend to shoo outside the nearest open window. It's the ones that flaunt our agreement to respect each other's space that must, unfortunately, be put to death. Silverfish in my favourite book, those earwig-looking things with the gall to scuttle across the bathroom floor next to my bare feet, etc. must be made an example of. It helps maintain the status quo, and from an evolutionary perspective selects for insects smart enough to let me poop and read in peace.

How can they flaunt an agreement? They are insects with no capable means of understanding things. I usually move toward them and they scuttle off. Slugs I just scoop up and put outside. How would you like to be living on the edges of society hated by humans?

NotCominBack

Anything that moves, eats and aint payin rent gets dead

OiL RiG

eternal wrote: »

How can they flaunt an agreement? They are insects with no capable means of understanding things. I usually move toward them and they scuttle off. Slugs I just scoop up and put outside. How would you like to be living on the edges of society hated by humans?

Surely even insects can understand that it's wise to stay away from the enormous predator? The insects you deal with sound very co-operative, but in my experience, after they 'scuttle off,' they tend to return straight away. Besides that, not everything is as easy to catch and relocate as a slug. Sometimes, squishing is just easiest and most effective.

As for your final question, I sympathise with the insects, I really do. I'll play the 'some of my best friends are insects' card and say that I happily share my bedroom with a considerable number of daddy-long-legs. They don't bother me; I don't bother them. The system works, and if I am ever to be reincarnated as an insect as punishment for my sins, I hope I will possess enough insect brains to recognise this.

The Pheasant2

Bees and spiders are given a free pass; they're good guys.

Moths and wasps are shooed out (though if the wasp comes for me he's a goner!)

Flies of all kinds are killed with extreme prejudice. Disgusting, shìte ridden, maggot laying bastards.