Unless my wife is around, if I see a spider I will just ignore it. I put them outside if she finds one and insists.
I can understand if you toss one outside in the winter in Minnesota, for example, but here on the mild, sunny left coast it seems like they should be able to hack it.
I’m not one to question scientists but this raises a question - how do they get into new houses?
I live in California, and have two cats. One was a stray for some years, and no doubt hunted a lot of his meals in that time, so he has some skills. The other is a rowdy kitten who thinks anything movable is a toy.
Putting spiders outside is no doubt better for their life expectancy than keeping them indoors dealing with the cats.
Am I supposed to feel more empathy for the spider than for the other bugs they kill…you know-the ones that don’t leave dead webs filled with carcasses lying in wait for people to walk into?
Most spiders live fast and die young anyway. That’s why they make so many in one sitting.
Whether the one you just caught will live or die depends also on the species, the current weather, and the time of year.
But he wanted klicks, and he got them (but not from me, wrong medium), so everything is as it should be.
I’m not sure I agree with the premise. After all, where do these spiders come from originally? Are the ones that end up in houses somehow specifically adapted to that ecosystem/microclimate?
Now, I do have personal experience with escorted-outdoors spider death and it was kind of traumatic (more so for the spider than me): once when I dumped a spider out on the porch, it was immediately pounced on by another spider that had been hanging out under the door frame.
Yeah I’m with you here. I’m not in any illusions of how well that spider will do when I put him outside in the snow. But right now it’s a balmy 80-90 degrees out he stands a good chance. I’m not buying “every inside spider will definitely die outside”.
Not that I’m really doing it for moral or environmental grounds. Its more a lesson for my kids about not just squishing creatures you don’t like.
Some house spider species have been living indoors at least since the days of the Roman Empire, and are seldom to be found outside, even in their native countries (usually Europe). Many of these species now live in houses worldwide, and most have been carried by commerce to more than one continent. Few are adapted to North American outdoor environments.
House spiders colonize new houses by egg sacs carried on furniture, building materials and so forth. They usually spend their entire life cycle in, on or under their native building.
Though I strongly suspect the spider I drop outside my window or door to appease my wife soon finds its way back in …
I don’t bother spiders indoors generally. One may get get released outside occasionally.
If it can’t hack life outside, I feel the same way as about nuisance rabbits, squirrels and other animals that are live trapped once in a while and relocated. They’ve got a chance to reestablish in new areas: if it doesn’t work out, too bad.