Being a modern man, sensitive to the humane dispatch of unwanted household arachnids, not to mention the irritation of scrubbing spider guts out of carpet, my preferred method of crawlie removal is the vacuum cleaner hose attachment.
My question pertains to the actual fate of these hoovered critters and the likelihood of their escape. Are they shredded to bits on their journey into the bag? Do they survive, breed with other victims, and create whole little spider ecosystems of their own inside my upright? Most importantly, is there any chance of them crawling back out and wreaking vengeance on me and mine?
Fine print: Assume two to three large, sturdy, California mountain spiders sucked up per week, one year between bag changes, and my apologies for harming these beneficial creatures but they creep my wife out.
I just put them outside. In any case, it depends largely on where the impeller is in relation to the dustbag. If the imperller is before the dustbag, as it is in most uprights, chances are the poor arachnid never had a chance. On the other hand, if it’s positioned after the dustbag, as in most canister types, there’s a good chance the spider survived the trip, and may be able to get out again at some point. of course spiders aren’t known for their sense of revenge, so I wouldn’t worry too much.
I would have thought that being in the bag with all that fine dust would not do the spider a great deal of good - wouldn’t it suffer repsiratory blockages? (and anyway, how do spiders breathe? is it like insects, with spiracles and pseudotracheae?)
First, welcome to the boards.
Second, I don’t know the amswer to your question, but
Third, thanks for giving me something else to worry about. I’ve been sucking up various spiders, wasps, and other critters in my bagless vac and Until Now, did not wonder what they were doing in there. Thanks…
Thanks for the welcome! My greatest fear was that this question had already been asked and I had failed to unearth it.
Don’t worry, somewhere out there somebody has performed countless experiments with every type of vacuum and spider under the sun and I just need to wait for them to read my post.
Not to quote Michael Moore or anything but you’re right in that we probably do worry too damn much. In any event, of all the bad stuff that can happen (choking to death on bar peanuts, having my intestines sucked out by a toilet, being strapped to a chair and forced to watch American Idol and Survivor for eternity, etcetera…) I think the wrathful spiders have always been my number one concern. Don’t know what that says about me.
I have no experience with spiders, but every now and then I’ll attack a forgotten corner of minor cockroach infestation with my vacuum cleaner. I’ve had the same worries as the OP, especially because I use a canister vac (no impeller in the airstream) and because roaches and their eggs are such hardy f*ckers.
What I do is disconnect the hose and shoot a healthy dose of Raid into the dustbag. In a fit of overkill I’ll reattach the hose and suck up a few spoonfuls of boric acid. You figure that’s got to make living and breeding in my vacbag pretty miserable for the bugs.
I think I’ve seen somewhere a clear vaccumm attachment that allows you to suck a spider in, trap it in the clear tube, and release it into the wild (though I’d wager they have a headache after).
Maybe I’m just weird, but my preferred method of crawlie removal is lots of spiders. I mean, after you’ve Hoovered all of the webspinners, what do you do about the flies, and mosquitos, and wasps?
Mynn’s right. Other than the spiders we don’t seem to have much in the way of other crawlies inside the house. Maybe they’re the reason, in any event I’ve certainly got no grudge against them as long as they stay out of sight like the countless other critters no doubt taking advantage of free rent.
That might be another interesting question. What kind of a population count of unseen bugs and whatnot could one expect per square foot of domicile. I imagine it’s a lot more than I want to know.
My son and I had a conversation on this very subject last evening. We concluded that we’re not so worried about the total population, as long as we don’t see them.
But wouldn’t it be creepy if you could hear all of the bugs and crawlies that live in your house?
I saw a vacuum-type thing similar to the Bug Wand, but it had a sticky trap inside, so for insects it’s pretty much a one-way trip. I think I like that better. I don’t do well around spiders.