# My neighbour is an insect-killing lunatic. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106 "2006-08-03T00:18:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/21 "2006-08-03T12:30:04Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] Of _course_ a **carnivorousplant** would want insects released in the house! It’s probably nice to catch and eat your insects in the air-conditioned comfort of your home in this heat. [/QUOTE] _Dammit._ ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/22 "2006-08-03T12:59:41Z")
I don’t understand what you want to do. Force her to keep the bugs in her house? Force her to touch them and bring them outside? Not very nice. The only thing I could suggest is you leave open bowls of honey and food around your house. Then a lot of the bugs will come to you. Seriously, it’s her choice! I love spiders yet I will whack any spiders I see in the house. And centipedes…forget it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/23 "2006-08-03T19:36:14Z")
WHA? You think she’s psychotic because she kills BUGS? I could understand a full-on panic attack at the mere sight of a moth, but Jesus, they’re just bugs. I kill them all the time. My cats eat them regularly. You do know that in the past, insects were often carriers of plagues and disease? The Bubonic Plague was carried by fleas on rodents, for example. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/24 "2006-08-03T20:13:47Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] You do know that in the past, insects were often carriers of plagues and disease? [/QUOTE] And who pollinates the hops from which we get our beer, hmmm? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/25 "2006-08-03T20:21:18Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] And who pollinates the hops from which we get our beer, hmmm? [/QUOTE] **August West**? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/26 "2006-08-03T20:22:23Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] Fly swatters are too much work for little return. Bug bombs are a little too over the top because they go a bit too far into slash-and-burn territory. I prefer fly paper. It’s passive, it does the job, and you get to see the little vermin squirm. One down, 20 billion to go. [/QUOTE] Improvised flamethrowers. **Peak Bannana** , your neighbor is [saving the universe!](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_022.html) ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/27 "2006-08-03T20:27:17Z")
[QUOTE=Peak Banana] She responded by acting like I was the one who was nuts. [/QUOTE] Imagine that… :dubious: Insects outside (even the 5 giant spiders the size of toonies that have taken up residence in my back yard) get to stay. Anything that moves in the basement gets introduced to Mr. Shop Vac. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/28 "2006-08-03T20:30:29Z")
[QUOTE=Nanoda] Anything that moves in the basement gets introduced to Mr. Shop Vac. [/QUOTE] Man, just think of them in there at night, planning how they will get you when they find their way out…all those tiny little eyes twinkling in the dark… WTF is August West? Dammit, I hate being grandstanded. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/29 "2006-08-03T20:49:55Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] WTF is August West? Dammit, I hate being grandstanded. [/QUOTE] \*Whom \* is [August West](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?userid=6346)? Just a guy that seems to know more about beer than my liver does. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/30 "2006-08-03T20:53:02Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] \*Whom \* is [August West](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?userid=6346)? Just a guy that seems to know more about beer than my liver does. 😃 [/QUOTE] Do he know that the Uncle of Beers is no longer a mod? Wasted suck up if you ask me. But then, 'tis a Noble Occupation. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/31 "2006-08-03T21:10:44Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Obtain some white maggots from a fishing tackle shop. Cook a small quantity of brown rice. Place a small quantity of the cooked rice in your mouth. Take a generous double handful of live maggots. Walk up to your insect-hating neighbour as if to talk, but pretend to cough and choke. Allow the rice to tumble conspicuously out of your mouth into your cupped hands (on top of the maggots. Collapse to your knees and drop the contents of both hands on the floor in front of you, continuing to spit out bits of rice. Look up imploringly at your neighbour and croak “he..lp… me!.. please!” [/QUOTE] Wow. I mean, just…Wow. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope I never meet you. Personally, I vacuum up the spiders (numerous) that get into my apartment, especially if they’re way big. Other bugs I’ll swat or just leave alone (since most bugs will just die after a day or so anyway–then the corpses get vacuumed up too). You don’t have to go out of your way to kill them, but unless they’re paying rent you shouldn’t have to live with them either. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/32 "2006-08-03T21:22:15Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] WTF is August West? Dammit, I hate being grandstanded. [/QUOTE] Hello! Sorry about the grandstanding bit. It is not true that I pollinate hop plants though. In fact pollination isn’t needed for the formation of hop cones and when they are pollinated they produce seeds, which are undesirable to the brewer. So you may continue to argue for the existence of bugs, but not from the beer standpoint. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/33 "2006-08-03T22:48:04Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] My cats eat them regularly. [/QUOTE] I had a dog who enjoyed dining on crickets and daddy-long-legs (harvestmen). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/34 "2006-08-03T23:02:07Z")
My neighbor is a neurotic, insomniac bug-hater. She’ll venture out into the night at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning with a can of Raid looking for raoches. She told us this because she was concerned the fumes could waft in to our open window on the second floor. We also find the dead bodies in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/35 "2006-08-03T23:03:57Z")
I see what the OP means, at least as I read it. Its not that the bugs die, but that she puts so much energy into making sure there are NONE. That would creep me out to know someone so manaicly against their very expistence. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/36 "2006-08-03T23:08:18Z")
[QUOTE=Not A Tame Lion] Wow. I mean, just…Wow. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope I never meet you. [/QUOTE] You’re welcome. In all honesty, I would never actually do something that elaborate or weird. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/37 "2006-08-03T23:15:13Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Obtain some white maggots from a fishing tackle shop. Cook a small quantity of brown rice. Place a small quantity of the cooked rice in your mouth. Take a generous double handful of live maggots. Walk up to your insect-hating neighbour as if to talk, but pretend to cough and choke. Allow the rice to tumble conspicuously out of your mouth into your cupped hands (on top of the maggots. Collapse to your knees and drop the contents of both hands on the floor in front of you, continuing to spit out bits of rice. Look up imploringly at your neighbour and croak “he..lp… me!.. please!” [/QUOTE] It is posts like this that make me truly and deeply love the Dope. Mangetout, you officially win the message board today. I feel all warm and fuzzy indside. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/38 "2006-08-03T23:48:49Z")
[QUOTE=August West] In fact pollination isn’t needed for the formation of hop cones and when they are pollinated they produce seeds, which are undesirable to the brewer. [/QUOTE] Well, well, well what about **RICE** , hunh, what about rice in Budweiser hunh, what about that? ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/39 "2006-08-04T00:07:04Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] You’re welcome. [/quote] No problemo. > [@](#): > > In all honesty, I would never actually do something that elaborate or weird. But I’m not sure I really believe you… (Especially if your screen name derives from the French “mange tout,” tr. “eats all.” That’s a little too close in character to your post above. (If it’s just “man get out” shoved together, well, I don’t know what to make of that…) ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106/40 "2006-08-04T00:37:40Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Well, well, well what about **RICE** , hunh, what about rice in Budweiser hunh, what about that? [/QUOTE] Easy, that’s just a fookin sin mate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighbour-is-an-insect-killing-lunatic/367106.md?page=3)