# So, releasing spiders outside kills them?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 18, 2026, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184 "2026-05-18T16:56:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/21 "2026-05-18T18:05:09Z")
So what are you supposed to do with them then? Flush the spiders down the toilet? Give up your house to them?
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/22 "2026-05-18T18:07:05Z")
> [@Palooka](#):
>
> Give up your house to them?
Sign over the deed at the least.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/23 "2026-05-18T18:08:34Z")
If I release them outside and they die it would be a better death than staying inside and getting “played with until they don’t move anymore” by the cats, specially Pelusa Wakako Nimué Nonna Pocacosa who has appointed herself the house guardian against all vermin.
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### Author:  [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/24 "2026-05-18T18:13:34Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> > [@blondebear](#):
> >
> > I’m not sure I agree with the premise. After all, where do these spiders come from originally?
>
> That was my point as well. How do spiders that supposedly only live indoors, get into newly built houses?
What do you think mattresses are stuffed with?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/25 "2026-05-18T18:17:27Z")
Their lives are not long enough to make that much of difference if they are deposited outside, if they are outside they are not laying eggs _inside_, and the nasty “bug-filled web in the face” effect is lessened.
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### Author:  [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/26 "2026-05-18T18:22:19Z")
Charge them rent, so they’ll move somewhere cheaper.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/27 "2026-05-18T18:23:58Z")
ISTR some cute animals (seals?) carefully and lovingly cleaned and rehabilitated after being caught in an oil spill. And upon their carefully filmed release, being devoured all but instantly by waiting sharks or orcas or something.
Nature operates in bulk. The value of a single life is near enough to zero as not to matter at all. A beach plus or minus a single grain of sand is still a beach.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/28 "2026-05-18T18:26:02Z")
Crude oil plays havoc with an Orca’s digestive system.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/29 "2026-05-18T18:27:39Z")
The point of the linked videos is that people think they are saving spiders by releasing them when apparently they are hastening their doom.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/30 "2026-05-18T18:28:21Z")
Yeah. Kinda like us washing bird poop off apples before eating. Avoids tummy aches.
It was darn nice of the humans to clean up the Orcas’ dinner for them.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/31 "2026-05-18T18:32:49Z")
I think spiders are repellent and terrifying! But that’s no reason for me to murder them. Out they go to the yard, and no doubt are back in my bathroom an hour later. If not, well…lizards gotta eat too.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/32 "2026-05-18T18:36:57Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> If not, well…lizards gotta eat too.
The spiders I release would have to be very fast indeed to make it back in as we have a healthy lizard population around our house.
ETA: Just for kicks, I googled and found out:
"Dung beetles do not intentionally kill or hunt spiders. However, fatal encounters can still happen:
- **Accidental Crushing:** If a spider gets caught in a dung beetle’s path as it rolls a heavy ball, the immense strength of the beetle can crush the spider.
- **Territorial Clashes:** Dung beetles vigorously defend their burrows and dung balls from any intruder. A beetle may attack, bite, or push a spider away if it gets too close to their brood, leading to the spider’s death."
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/33 "2026-05-18T18:38:49Z")
Releasing bugs outside is a natural form of recycling. It quickly returns the creature to the ecosystem, instead of relative sequestration in a human dwelling.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/34 "2026-05-18T18:43:00Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> > [@Palooka](#):
> >
> > Give up your house to them?
>
> Sign over the deed at the least.
They need parlors to lure flies into.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/35 "2026-05-18T18:51:06Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> Dung beetles vigorously defend their burrows and dung balls from any intruder.
Right? Don’t start nothin’, won’t _be_ nothin’!
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/36 "2026-05-18T18:52:23Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> Right? Don’t start nothin’, won’t _be_ nothin’!
I _almost_ spit Diet Coke on my keyboard.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/37 "2026-05-18T18:52:42Z")
Where’s @Spiderman when we need him to take a whuppin’?
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/38 "2026-05-18T18:57:41Z")
I re-located him outside.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/39 "2026-05-18T18:58:22Z")
Poor doomed bastard. 😉
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/40 "2026-05-18T19:04:00Z")
Of maybe better note is the fact that when mammals- say skunks- are caught by a pest control company or the homeowner - and “relocated” they almost always die. Yes, wildlife experts can do that right, they scout out an area where the mammal might thrive, away for freeways, etc. Even so, it is traumatic.
I am sure the spiders just get eaten- the circle of life!
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