# Do you think its wrong to step on bugs and stuff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347 "2014-11-22T16:39:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/21 "2014-11-24T03:43:10Z")
Whether or not what you did was immoral, your reasoning is pretty weak. “Running late” is not a valid reason for acts of cruelty. ---
**Author:** ![jakeyjake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jakeyjake/32/93_2.png) [@jakeyjake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakeyjake)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/22 "2014-11-24T13:26:28Z")
Cruelty would be torturing things… getting instantly crushed by a massive foot doesn’t seem like such a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/23 "2014-11-24T16:29:31Z")
Hermit crabs are not bugs. I wouldn’t step on them if I can help it. Actual bugs? Fuck them all ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/24 "2014-11-24T17:29:34Z")
Okay, I love bugs and refuse to kill them for no good reason, and will become upset if one is gratuitiously killed in my presence. But I have made exceptions to the rule, such as, but not limited to, infestation by ants. I would have probably been upset by what you did, but wouldn’t have said anything, and anyway it’s difficult to tell from the context just how easy it was to avoid smashing them. But as a general rule, I am anti-smashing living creatures simply because they are inconvenient or creepy to look at. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/25 "2014-11-24T18:37:45Z")
I’ve been known to move worms from the sidewalk to the dirt after it rains. I have no problem with the circle of life, and most critters will end up dead anyway, but I just hate the thought of a worm dying for no reason at all. A worm dying to feed a bird is fine, but when it is just crawling along the wet sidewalk heading in the wrong direction I just don’t like it. I’ve personally killed and butchered and devoured plenty of animals in my day, so that’s not it. I just hate the senselessness of an animal dying or suffering for no reason at all. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/26 "2014-11-24T19:19:54Z")
Spiders and other invaders in my home are captured and escorted to the great outdoors. Mosquitoes and flies get no such pardon (mainly because they are too hard to catch). I try not to smash bugs underfoot if I can avoid it. I know just driving a few miles probably kills hundreds of living things by them colliding with the front of my car, but I cannot avoid that - the ones I can avoid killing, I do. We saw a mouse inside and I got one of those catch-and-release traps. No luck yet, so perhaps the mouse became part of the food chain somewhere. The directions on the trap say to release the mice 1-2 miles away. I plan to do that should we catch it. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/27 "2014-11-24T20:11:16Z")
I go out of my way to kill things, but I get bored with it quickly. Its about as wrong as the sun cooking a worm on the sidewalk or the wind blowing an egg out of a tree. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/28 "2014-11-24T20:15:21Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > I’ve been known to move worms from the sidewalk to the dirt after it rains. I have no problem with the circle of life, and most critters will end up dead anyway, but I just hate the thought of a worm dying for no reason at all. A worm dying to feed a bird is fine, but when it is just crawling along the wet sidewalk heading in the wrong direction I just don’t like it. Agreed. Plus it gives me an excuse to touch a worm. I like worms. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/29 "2014-11-24T22:48:32Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I go out of my way to kill things, but I get bored with it quickly. Its about as wrong as the sun cooking a worm on the sidewalk or the wind blowing an egg out of a tree. You really don’t see the difference? ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/30 "2014-11-25T23:10:49Z")
Reminds of a question from the game of Scruples. Something like would you pull the wings off of a butterfly for a million dollars? What about a flying cockroach…,my memory fails me. I won’t kill bugs that happen to be in the wrong place, I.e., my house, if I can successfully extricate them. BUT that rule is broken for centipedes and water bugs. Why? They freak me out! Shallow? Yep. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/31 "2014-11-25T23:24:14Z")
I caught a mouse recently. I actually decided to give it a break, so I detached it from the trap and turned it loose in a nearby schoolyard, then e-mailed my sister telling her I hoped it ran through the cafeteria during lunch and caused an Ebola scare. So far no luck. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/32 "2014-11-26T04:22:02Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > I’m not trying to be judgmental, but I would’ve done everything possible to avoid stepping on the little crabs. I had one for a pet as a kid, and believe it or not she had a personality. Makes me sick to think of someone stepping on these little guys because they were inconvenient. ☹ Agree 100%. We are the protectors of all life. I try to relocate most bugs I find inside. Headlight bugs, moths, whatever the cat drags in. I would have gone out of my way to not harm a single crab. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/33 "2014-11-26T05:09:08Z")
I wouldn’t have been upset by the crab massacre because a crushing death is quick, and it’s not as if crabs morn, raise their young, or have a concept of death. If you were pointlessly poking at them with sticks to provoke their fight or flight reflexes for your own amusement, I’d be a lot more bothered. **Helena333** , when you say your pet crab had a personality, how do you mean? I’m having a hard time working that out. I’m not saying its silly to be attached to a pet crab, or to project a personality onto them, but are you saying that your crab acted in a noticeably different way than another? They seem like awfully simple creatures for that. My rule with bugs, if anyone cares, is that when I’m outside, I’m in their house. I leave them alone. When they’re in my house, all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/34 "2014-11-26T06:53:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Do you think its wrong to step on bugs and stuff? Step on bogs? Maybe not. “And STUFF?” Um, I’m not willing to give you approval to step on any possible thing you want. I need a list. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/35 "2014-11-26T07:41:15Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > **Helena333** , when you say your pet crab had a personality, how do you mean? I’m having a hard time working that out. I’m not saying its silly to be attached to a pet crab, or to project a personality onto them, but are you saying that your crab acted in a noticeably different way than another? They seem like awfully simple creatures for that. Here’s a page with a little detail on hermit crab personalities: > **[HERMIT-CRABS.COM. Your hermit crab care headquarters!](http://www.hermit-crabs.com/aggression.html)** > > Everything you need to know about > raising land hermit crabs. Hermit crabs! I Googled since my sample size is one. She was one of the sweeter crabs and never pinched me although since I was a kid she probably had reason. She was shy when I first got her, but I held her a lot and she became braver. There were definite preferences for toys (things to climb on) and surfaces. She recognized when a human would come over to her tank-I think she knew that either she’d get fed or get out to explore. Whichever, she was always out of her shell and not hiding in it. When I had her in my hand and I’d talk to her, she’d turn and look at me like she was listening. Definitely a unique pet. Looking at the site in the link above, there were a lot of things we did wrong, but she seemed happy. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/36 "2014-11-26T07:46:11Z")
For myself, I’d just as soon minimize the killing overall. I do have a sort of cost/benefit equation I do in my head. Bugs that are pests I will certainly kill as needed and without remorse. I’ve been known to save useful bugs - earthworms and dragonflies, for example. Something like a spider is maybe in the middle of the pest/usefulness spectrum; not bad enough to kill most of the time, but not useful enough to be worth saving. In the OP’s situation, part of my cost/benefit thinking would surely be “How would other people think about me stepping on crabs?” and that might weigh more heavily than the crabs themselves. A pro-crab person is more likely to be upset by the killing of crabs than an anti-crab person would be upset by the saving of crabs. Yes, I’m shallow. The fate of hundreds of crabs really does rest mainly on what actions will produce the lowest probability of being yelled at. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/37 "2014-11-26T16:39:02Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > Here’s a page with a little detail on hermit crab personalities: > > [HERMIT-CRABS.COM. Your hermit crab care headquarters!](http://www.hermit-crabs.com/aggression.html) > > I Googled since my sample size is one. She was one of the sweeter crabs and never pinched me although since I was a kid she probably had reason. She was shy when I first got her, but I held her a lot and she became braver. There were definite preferences for toys (things to climb on) and surfaces. She recognized when a human would come over to her tank-I think she knew that either she’d get fed or get out to explore. Whichever, she was always out of her shell and not hiding in it. When I had her in my hand and I’d talk to her, she’d turn and look at me like she was listening. > > Definitely a unique pet. Looking at the site in the link above, there were a lot of things we did wrong, but she seemed happy. Oh, that’s interesting! Consider my ignorance fought. It makes me wonder how simplistic an animal can be and still have a distinct personality. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/38 "2014-11-26T19:22:48Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Oh, that’s interesting! Consider my ignorance fought. It makes me wonder how simplistic an animal can be and still have a distinct personality. As a snake and fish owner, I know that they also have “personalities.” At one point, I had four goldfish that looked almost identical, but I could tell them apart by things like their level of curiosity, food preferences and aggressiveness. I hesitate to anthropomorphize too much, though. For example, the previous poster says that the crab “knew” things and I’m not sure if we’re ascribing too much thought to it. It might be better to say that each crab has a predisposition toward certain behaviors - a combination of genetic/instinctive and learned behaviors. Some are more receptive to conditioning than others. Some react more aggressively to a threat and others more defensively. That predisposition does result in distinct behaviors between the individuals and we can reasonably call that a personality… but again, does one crab “know” that people are safe when another doesn’t? Or do they just have different settings on their genetic “potential threat response” threshold? Is one crab “happy” and one “angry” or do they just have different instinctual responses to stimuli? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/39 "2014-11-26T21:20:28Z")
Speaking of odd pets, I got to know a neighborhood squirrel by feeding it at the window, and later out of my hand and shirt pocket. Eventually it got to the point of amazing and impressing my friends. It would see me on the street, race out of a tree, run up my leg and start rooting for treats in my pocket. Surprised the hell out of me the first time that happened, and of course I had to start putting nuts in my pocket whenever I went out. ---
**Author:** ![jakeyjake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jakeyjake/32/93_2.png) [@jakeyjake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakeyjake)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347/40 "2017-06-21T00:46:36Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Smarter to simply move your food - since you’re the human with the big complex modern brain it seems weird that you’d resort to primitive “stamping” as a remedy against insects. That’s the most intelligent strategy you could come up with, really? All righty, then. :rolleyes: > > As to your original scenario, I am also curious how the other guy and his kid were in the same locale as you without squashing crabs. That just makes no logical sense. > > Also, well, sometimes stepping on bugs, or crabs, or frogs, or whatever, is unavoidable sometimes. But because you find them “annoying” is not a valid reason. Unless they are mosquitoes or fleas, in which case go for it. Why is it weird that primitive stamping would be my solution? It might not be the most intelligent or sophisticated thing I could do, but it’s quick, effective, and takes very little effort to walk over to their home and just demolish it with a couple stamps of my feet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-its-wrong-to-step-on-bugs-and-stuff/705347.md?page=3)