Inspired by this thread wherein people tell inspiring stories of how if they found a spider crawling on their knee they would gently scoop it up and free it into the wild. :rolleyes:
Me, I squash bugs* if they are in my domicile. I’m not a sadist or a psychopath and I’d never go out of my way to kill a creature in nature but if it has entered my living space it has made a transgression for which it must be punished. Yes, I know it isn’t aware that it transgressed, but nonetheless examples must be made. I can’t have those things crawling around wherever they damn well please.
*For the purposes of this poll, consider “bugs” to include both insects and arachnids.
Depends on the bug. Spiders I catch and release outside, if possible. Flies get smashed, unless they’re just hanging on the window screen, in which case it’s much easier just to lift up the screen and let them fly away rather than chase them around with a rolled up whatever.
Sometimes I squash them if there’s a flyswatter or appropriate heavy object in reach. Sometimes I squirt them with whatever lotion or cleaning stuff is in reach to disable them, then get the flyswatter and smash them. Or scoop them up with a wad of toilet paper and flush them without smashing them.
Stepping on them though, no; I hate feeling them go crunch.
Honestly, for spiders, as long as we’re not experiencing a mass invasion, I usually just let them live. They kill other, less desirable bugs.
Pretty much anything else gets splatted. If a fly happens to be hanging out on our back door, as happens from time to time, I might just open the door and let it fly outside, but generally, no, it gets squashed.
I don’t squish much outside except for black widows and so on. Inside, not much survives. Earwigs are squished with extreme prejudice.
Oh, we get jumping spiders, which are cute little fuzzy guys with big green eyes. Those we generally get into a jar for looking at, and dump outside after a little while.
Recently the kids found these disgusting worms in our lawn–they were flat and long, with fan-shaped heads. Right after I told the girls to dump them outside, I looked them up and discovered that they’re invasive and eat earthworms. And they’re flatworms, so you have to dump salt all over them to kill them. So those I plan to kill as soon as I see them again (though we’re doing bio this year, so first we’ll cut them in half and inspect them!).
If it flies, it dies… if the offending party happens to be of the suborder Apocrita it’s getting bug spray, squish, more bug spray, stomp with shoes on, bug spray… and fire.
…I have a little issue with wasps and stuff… run screaming like a little girl type issue.
Killing the invasive Japanese beetles that look almost identical to ladybugs is, however, to be strongly encouraged. Although preferably without squashing, because you squash those things, they reek.
If they are in my home the only determining factor is how messy they might be when I squish them. If I’m afraid of staining something I might flick them to somewhere I can crush them.
In the house, I’ll at least try to kill every bug. Outdoors, I mostly leave them alone, except for mosquitoes and aphids. Asian ladybugs eat aphids, just as the American ones do, but they live more than one season, so they try to get inside your warm house for the winter. The ones that get in get sucked up with a vacuum cleaner.
I don’t have any ill will to bugs and spiders that aren’t poisonous and aren’t roaches. I don’t squish roaches because then what do you have? A gross squished roach. So no, I don’t squish bugs.
Live and let live is my motto. What goes around comes around. I let everything go, even inside or move it to outside. There are exceptions. All mosquitoes must go as that is a totally adversary situation. Flies are fair game if inside. Bees and wasps are in trouble if the kid is around as she is spooked by them. We once caught a hand sized spider in the basement. I felt it was harmless because it moved so slow and this is a northern clime where large spiders are rare. We let it walk around the driveway awhile and then just ignored where it went.
Almost all bugs on my skin get squashed. It’s just a reaction. Plus, sucking my blood is like waging war.
Spiders get a free pass. I’d relocate something like a black widow if it was inside my house, but the ones in the back and front yard are free to thrive. Most other spiders can even stay inside my room. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spider stay in my room for two consecutive days though, so I assume they move on.
Flies get squashed sometimes. They a little pesky and if they insist on trying to eat my food, they get dead. Otherwise, I’ll trick them into leaving by turning the lights off of where they are and turning the lights on for where I want them to go.
Cockroaches get placed outside by hand. We have a few cockroaches at the office.
I don’t come across too many ants, but if I see a hole where ants are coming out from, I’ll kick some dirt in it, just to make them work. I’m sadistic like that.
The rest of my family squishes anything squishable by default though.
Only for a reason. I like bugs, enjoy watching them and touching them. Spiders and silverfish I love to see in my home; roaches and flies I chase and kill. Ants, I eat (they taste like lemons!). I relish smashing mosquitoes, of course. Random bees and beetles in the house I will catch and release outside. I do kill a lot of garden pests by hand as we don’t use pesticides.
Depends whether the cats are around. Usually they discover bugs before I do, and I let them have their fun. If it’s, say, on the ceiling and they can’t reach it, I’ll knock it down for them. But if they’re not around, I’ll definitely squash it.
