# cockroaches vs spiders, which is more disgusting to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 13, 2012, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356 "2012-08-13T07:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/61 "2012-08-15T20:28:58Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Maybe you’ll like [this one](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48610283/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/matter-fact-eyeless-spider-does-live-cave/) better? (Warning: you almost certainly won’t. In fact, I imagine many will find it even creepier.) > > I’m wary of spiders, likely out of proportion to the probability and severity of a bite. I don’t like having them in my immediate vicinity because I might accidentally squish one and get an unpleasant bite in the interval between “pressure” and “squish”. If they get close, I usually try catch them and put them outside, but if they keep their distance, I mostly let them do their thing. They’re not disgusting. > > Cockroaches, on the other hand, are the hated enemies of my people. Nasty, persistent, stinky wretches they are, and we hates them, my precious. I grew up in a TV repair shop, and sets came in from infested houses. You could tell from the reek that they were full of roaches, living on piles of their own dead. (Yes, literally. Opening up a machine and seeing an avalanche of roach corpses cascading out onto your workbench as their living relative scurry for cover is pretty revolting.) We had an ongoing infestation in the shop, no matter how much we sprayed or cleaned, because new waves came in every day. The war went on for years; there were lulls, and we found tactics that slowed down the invaders, but we didn’t manage to clear the place until the ultimate weapon dropped into our laps: a bunch of geckos moved in. > > Of course, we then had lizard crap to deal with, but that was an acceptable price to pay. Better to wield the world’s tiniest pooper-scooper than deal with roaches every day. This was too much information. I kind of threw up. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/62 "2012-08-15T20:44:09Z")
Cockroaches are inherently disgusting because they carry pathogens as well as tropomyosin in their carapaces. They also creep me out much more than do other insects. Spiders, on the other hand, are my friends. Feast well on the creepy cockroaches, my lovelies. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/63 "2012-08-23T14:41:09Z")
I’m not exactly a fan of spiders, but I don’t kill them unless forced to. Cockroaches I shall seek out and 'ere I spy them lurking, for they are fucking nasty. It’s almost enough to make me leave Florida. Apropos of nothing, I watched an albino lizard catch a cockroach that was practically his size while out smoking on the porch the other night. I wanted to throw him a party. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/64 "2012-08-23T14:45:38Z")
Until just this morning, when our dog alerted us to a tarantula the size of my coffee mug in the corner of our living room, I would have said cockroach. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/65 "2012-08-23T14:55:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m not exactly a fan of spiders, but I don’t kill them unless forced to. Cockroaches I shall seek out and 'ere I spy them lurking, for they are fucking nasty. It’s almost enough to make me leave Florida. > > Apropos of nothing, I watched an albino lizard catch a cockroach that was practically his size while out smoking on the porch the other night. I wanted to throw him a party. Too funny. Almost the exact same thing happened to me recently, only the lizard wasn’t albino. I have since made an effort to sweep the dead roaches I find in the garage and the house onto the back patio, thus sort of throwing a party for my lizard friends. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/66 "2012-08-23T14:56:08Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Until just this morning, when our dog alerted us to a tarantula the size of my coffee mug in the corner of our living room, I would have said cockroach. What did you do with him? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/67 "2012-08-23T15:00:53Z")
> [@Spookaloo](#): > > Cockroaches are disgusting insects. Spiders eat disgusting insects. 'Nuff said. I agree with this on an objective level, but cockroaches just aren’t creepy in the way spiders are. I’d happily pick a cockroach up and fling it out of the window, or squish it into the ground, but a big hairy house spider? No way am I touching that. I’ll get rid of it, but I’m using the “pint glass and piece of paper” method. And I’ll still flinch like a little girl as it crawls up the inside of the glass. I don’t tend to kill spiders, either, both because I know they’re beneficial and also because, well, they’re creepy enough that one day they might have their revenge. However, small and friendly-looking spiders are welcome to stay in the corner of the ceiling out of harm’s way, where they might catch flies. Any size of cockroach would not enjoy that privilege. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/68 "2012-08-23T15:01:48Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > What did you do with him? Mr. Ko trapped him under a big glass bowl, slipped cardboard under it and dumped him outside. I’m still shuddering, dancing around in circles and shaking my hands like a six year old. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/69 "2012-08-23T15:15:49Z")
I know we’re very fortunate in the UK not to have any poisonous spiders (or any poisonous critters to speak of, really, barring adders), but I do find [giant house spiders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_house_spider) singularly revolting. I was sitting watching TV at about 1am a couple of nights ago and saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and one of these was marching towards my foot. I see we’ve exported them to the Pacific NW. You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Nadnerb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@Nadnerb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nadnerb)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/70 "2016-06-11T00:06:14Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Has there ever been a superhero called The Amazing Cockroach-Man? No, and there never will be. Because cockroaches are the most sickening creatures on earth. Word up my man, and yet there is a superhero with a spider motif and that’s Spider-Man. ---
**Author:** ![Nadnerb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@Nadnerb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nadnerb)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356/71 "2016-06-11T00:08:32Z")
Which are more disgusting? Definitely cockroaches, but that’s just to speak for the pest species, such the American, German, Oriental, and brown banded. As you know not all roach species are pests, and I can tolerate the non-pest species. As for spiders they are clearly a winner in the creepy crawly world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-vs-spiders-which-is-more-disgusting-to-you/631356.md?page=3)