# 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:** 3
### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/41 "2026-05-18T19:04:14Z")
“Can’t live out there”?! They’ve evolved to “live out there”!
Me thinks - not to intentionally be indelicate - this guy is full of crap.
And if they can’t? I’m supposed to actually shed a tear?
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/42 "2026-05-18T19:16:08Z")
My momma raised me that killing spiders was bad luck, and my wife just doesn’t want to see them but has no problem knowing they are there. It’s the seasonal ants invasion that bugs both of us.
I don’t run into indoor webs. They must be there somewhere?
They very very rarely bite (and most bites attributed to them are not).
How many bugs does a house spider eat each year? If they just marginally keep the mosquito, fly, gnat, and ant population down, then they are welcome roomies to me.
I know the maxim that if you see one cockroach you likely have hundreds … I am pretty sure that there are hundreds to thousands of spiders inside the voids of my walls and behind the storage boxes …🕷🕸 😁
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/43 "2026-05-18T19:16:59Z")
> [@Jasmine](#):
>
> They’ve evolved to “live out there”!
No. House spiders are evolved to live inside. That’s their niche.
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/44 "2026-05-18T19:19:30Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> Crude oil plays havoc with an Orca’s digestive system.
However, orcas _do_ like their seals marinated in olive oil
> [@griffin1977](#):
>
> Its more a lesson for my kids about not just squishing creatures you don’t like.
Eff that! I’ve got a list…& I need to go add a name to it 😠…
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Where’s @Spiderman when we need him to take a whuppin’?
Err, make that _two_ names 😡…
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> I re-located him outside.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/45 "2026-05-18T19:24:09Z")
> [@DSeid](#):
>
> No. House spiders are evolved to live inside. That’s their niche.
Fortunately, I decided I’d better research your comment before telling you that you were full of crap. I say “fortunately” because you are actually correct. I found this:
> These spiders are **synanthropic** , meaning they live specifically in and near human structures, benefiting from the shelter and prey. They are usually timid and not aggressive, typically retreating when disturbed.
I suppose you now expect me to apologize for my ignorant callousness and publicy mourn the many house spiders I so ruthlessly took. Not gonna’ happen. LOL
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/46 "2026-05-18T19:32:21Z")
> [@Jasmine](#):
>
> Fortunately, I decided I’d better research your comment before telling you that you were full of crap.
Well I did already provide the cite earlier in thread. Which I found thinking that the instagram person was full of crap!
Pretty cool to me that their niche is so specific.
Again though … I have high confidence that the level of spider prey in my house supports a certain size spider population that will maintain its rough number. And that I am not seeing the vast majority of them.
Together we are an established ecosystem!
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/47 "2026-05-18T19:37:31Z")
Would Dobby the house elf survive if released outside?
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### Author:  [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/48 "2026-05-18T19:40:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> 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.
You might be remembering a promo for Shark Week (i.e., not a real event).
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMnMgX7GiOA)
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/49 "2026-05-18T19:46:05Z")
> [@DSeid](#):
>
> Together we are an established ecosystem!
Hey, I follow the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. I don’t ask if there are any in my house, and definitely do NOT tell me if there are.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/50 "2026-05-18T19:55:48Z")
> [@TroutMan](#):
>
> You might be remembering a promo for Shark Week (i.e., not a real event).
There was also a right-wing meme some years ago about money-wasting bunny-hugging. In it a couple of sea otters cost tens of thousands of dollars a piece to clean and rehabilitate after an oil spill. Only to then be promptly gobbled up by orcas after being released.
The high costs were probably substantially correct. Sea otters rely solely on a very carefully maintained pelt that traps air to insulate themselves from the cold, unlike sea lions/seals that use body fat. So it takes forever to clean them properly and they must be housed and fed for as long as the process takes. But the whole thing about them being devoured on release is an urban legend. I found a reference to the late Rush Limbaugh repeating that one (assuming he didn’t originate it in the first place).
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/51 "2026-05-18T20:02:08Z")
What are the odds someone would walk in front of the camera at that exact moment? 🤔
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/52 "2026-05-18T20:20:22Z")
You’ve got to be ruthless.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwj-tcwo5xw)
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/53 "2026-05-18T20:30:04Z")
Are you **NUTS?**
Dobby will not be outside. Ever.
If Harry kicked him out I would go get him.
House elves are great spider catchers.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/54 "2026-05-18T20:53:28Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> That was my point as well. How do spiders that supposedly only live indoors, get into newly built houses?
Eggs or spiders brought in from other human structures.
German cockroaches [are the same way](https://stories.tamu.edu/news/2024/05/30/we-now-know-how-german-cockroaches-came-to-live-with-humans/). There are [no wild German cockroaches](https://www.johnhawks.net/p/the-mystery-of-the-german-cockroach) and they don’t travel outside from home to home. If you have German cockroaches, it’s because they were carried in from some other infested building.
> “Unlike many other pest species, which have natural populations in diverse habitats, German cockroaches have no known natural populations,” Vargo said. “They rely solely on human activity and manmade structures.”
> (…)
>
> The study provides a detailed genetic analysis that shows German cockroaches originated from the Asian cockroach approximately 2,100 years ago. Alongside this development, the cockroaches began to adapt to human-built environments, eventually leading to a dependence on living inside manmade structures.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/55 "2026-05-18T21:15:23Z")
Two words: Eyelash mites. 🤪
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/56 "2026-05-18T21:15:47Z")
> [@Palooka](#):
>
> Give up your house to them?
I know this is hyperbole, but a lot of folks do think you should leave house spiders alone. Don’t squish them, don’t relocate them. They control bugs that would be even worse for your delicate human sensibilities than they are.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/57 "2026-05-18T21:18:56Z")
Yeah but while eyelash mites cross my sensibility line, the thought of spiders eating them there is not of comfort!
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/58 "2026-05-18T21:26:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Two words: Eyelash mites. 🤪
Two other words: [Problem solved](https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/x5ccc0/why_does_rumpus_lick_my_eyelashes/)
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/59 "2026-05-18T21:29:28Z")
> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> “Unlike many other pest species, which have natural populations in diverse habitats, German cockroaches have no known natural populations"
Fuct that. Those things need to stay the hell in the Fatherland!
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-releasing-spiders-outside-kills-them/1030184/60 "2026-05-18T21:33:37Z")
I kinda hate you @LSLGuy .
That was mean.
😡
😁
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