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Are You Cool With Killing Insects?

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BGBW said:
One of my favourite household gadgets is my electric flyswatter.

Small insects just require a quick zap. Flies take a little more effort as they only get stunned. In order to ensure their total demise you have to catch them on the swatter's surface and fry them a little. Lets of a right whiff it does. If flies were silent I wouldn't bother, but their irritating buzz gets on my nerves. I give them five minutes to find an exit.
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What the hell? My lamp in my room gets really hot when it's been left on for a while which burns moths that come and check it out. It saddens me so much that whenever I see a moth hanging out in my room that I turn it off so it doesn't burn itself.
 
I'm pretty sure I'm responsible for the death of more insects than 99% of the rest of the population. I worked as a chemical loader for an aerial applicator for 6 years when I was a kid during the Bowl Weevle and Bowl Worm eradication programs in the 90s. Both of those species are now locally extinct in Texas! I REGRET NOTHING!
 
Kentpaul said:
even wasps? they will string your ass for the fun of it.

I was fighting with a wasp the other day, right next to a busy road i looked like such a jackass.
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Wasps are different. Dumb killing machines. They are warriors, they know the risks.
 
I was anti-insect but now I try to just get them out instead of killing them.
They are the cleaners of our world, no point in hating them just because they look like how they do :P
 
Spiffy_1st said:
What the hell? My lamp in my room gets really hot when it's been left on for a while which burns moths that come and check it out. It saddens me so much that whenever I see a moth hanging out in my room that I turn it off so it doesn't burn itself.
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Oh yeah, moths are on my hit list too. Make sure all my drawers are mothballed.
 
There's a gigantic one in my bathroom right now. Looks a little like a cockroach but I think it's something else. I'd kill it except I don't even want to be near it and it would make a disgusting mess. It's about the length of a car key with antennae that are roughly equal to the length of it's body.
 
OrangeGrayBlue said:
There's a gigantic one in my bathroom right now. Looks a little like a cockroach but I think it's something else. I'd kill it except I don't even want to be near it and it would make a disgusting mess. It's about the length of a car key with antennae that are roughly equal to the length of it's body.
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Use a jamjar and a piece of paper.
 
I don't kill them 'cos I'm not down with squishy bug parts all over my wall/carpet.

Ever since I invested in one of these...

spider-grabber-lg.jpg


...life has been much easier. I'm terrified of any spiders bigger than half an inch, so this little item (it's called the Spider Catcher btw) is a godsend. Doesn't kill them, just grabs them so they can't move, and then you can go outside, release them, and bid them a farewell fuckoff.
 
BGBW said:
Use a jamjar and a piece of paper.
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I live in an apartment building. I'd have to take it down the hallway, down the elevator, across the lobby and finally into the parking lot all while hoping the paper doesn't droop and leave it an opening to crawl out and do something horrific.
 
OrangeGrayBlue said:
I live in an apartment building. I'd have to take it down the hallway, down the elevator, across the lobby and finally into the parking lot all while hoping the paper doesn't droop and leave it an opening to crawl out and do something horrific.
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Can't you just throw it out the window? Also hold the jamjar the right way up so the paper is on top.
 
In the house (Including the deck but not the patio), they're dead. Out of the house, it's their property.

When there is a crossing of the two, I try to make a compromise. Unfortunately one time a spider had his web stretch across the walkway. I snap the web and the poor guy got tangled up and looked like one of his meals.
 
If it's inside my house it dies. I used to feel bad but then I thought, if I wad in an ant hillor stuck on a spiderweb, I'd be killed too.
 
Damn when I think about it, I'm ok about killing a pig because I enjoy eating it, but with the same criteria in mind ,I don't really have any reason for killing insects unless I feel like eating them. :(

Well usually I always let the spiders live. Others can feel my wrath.
 
I usually leave them alone, especially spiders. Spiders are allow to live with me as they catch flies. Flies, blue bottles I let out of the house, and wasps I politely ask to leave. Don't have many ants, but I was put them out too.

We don't get much else in Ireland, the occasional wood lice or centipede. Bees are cool I'd let them stay and buzz around, but they don't like the indoors. I don't think I've killed an insect on purpose in ages.
 
matt360 said:
I try to leave them alone. My sister-in-law called me crying the other day because she had a roach in her apartment and wanted me to go over and kill it. I did it, but I felt bad. I think my wife has some kind of genetic disposition to be deathly afraid of insects, because everyone else in her family is. Even moths and ladybugs will elicit screams and panic. Sometimes I wonder if isn't some form of hereditary mental illness.

Seriously though, for me, a girl screaming and throwing a hissy fit over a moth or lizard that isn't even inside the apartment is extremely annoying. Even moreso when I think that, deep down, they are not actually afraid of the bugs but are rather seeking attention.
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I don't know about all that other shit, but there's something about roaches that just freaks me the fuck out. No other bugs creep me out. Just roaches. Other day I walked across a cricket that was as big as a larger roach, had the same iridescent brown color as a roach and even at first glance I thought it was a roach and started to freak out a little. After a moment I noticed its rear legs and was like, "oh it's a cricket" and started playing with it.

I can control my uneasiness around roaches and I'm usually able to kill then on site, but inside I'm freakin' the fuck out. I don't know what it is about roaches, when there are so many other creepy bugs out there that don't bother me at all.
 
BGBW said:
Can't you just throw it out the window? Also hold the jamjar the right way up so the paper is on top.
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Nah, the windows are screened (lotta good that did). It's not worth the trouble to try and take the screens out. And really I have a pretty bad phobia of bugs, I'd rather not deal with them until I absolutely have to.
 
OrangeGrayBlue said:
Nah, the windows are screened (lotta good that did). It's not worth the trouble to try and take the screens out. And really I have a pretty bad phobia of bugs, I'd rather not deal with them until I absolutely have to.
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If you don't get rid of it, it'll just hide somewhere in your house and get you during your sleep.

I prefer not to kill any insects, I let them all outside. But last night I'm sat here on my computer, curtain next to me, when I see a couple of long ass spider legs coming around the edge and I panic reacted and squashed it :l

Felt bad watching it twitching on the floor :l
 
I think I'd be lying if I say I try my best not to...but I do try non the less.
Sometimes though I just kill especially if it's a centipede. I fear they'll crawl into my ear canal and kill me.
 
I don't mind spiders because they catch the shitty flies and all the species over here are pretty innocuous. This summer there have been tons of flies around so I've taken to putting spiders in their vicinity and watching the fly numbers mysteriously drop. If I saw a cockroach or something similar, though? Splat.
 
I don't really like to, but if it's a choice between them being in my house or being dead, they are going to be dead.

outside though, I try my best to not kill them, at least not on purpose. Two exceptions, though: bait for fishing, and when I wiped out the thousands and thousands of carpenter ants that decided the middle of my back yard was a great place for a colony.
 
On a mass scale no i'm not cool with it. I typically dont smush them either unless theyre really pissing me off, which seems to be a constant among most animal species.
 
on the one hand, most insects are beneficial, keeping other pests in check or helping plants pollinate etc.

on the other hand, there are zillions of them, and one or two dead ones won't be missed. They come into my house its their own stupid fault.

Especially stupid fucking flies and wasps that can't work out why they can't get through a window, yet won't fly a few inches to the left past the window frame.


My son now tells us off if we consider killing a spider - even a tiny one - because he's just read Charlotte's Web at school
 
Depends. Is it an ant, a fly, a mosquito or a spider(not an insect i know blah blah)? It's dead.

Butterfly or ladybug? These things are too pretty to kill.
 
Unless it's something like a roach or flea that will multiply (or already has) and ruin my quality of life, I either transport it outside or ignore it. These fucking stink beetles or whatever they're called showed up in my area recently and I just ignore them because I got tired of catching and releasing. I'm on a first name basis with a few of them.
 
we have wood around some spots around the house and the wasp loves to make their nest there. i for one welcome our new overlord but people keep killing them >.>
Red_Wasp.jpg
 
Outdoors I leave them alone. Indoors, I usually leave predators alone and kill everything else. The only exception is that ANYTHING that invades my bathroom gets flushed down the toilet - I don't want spiders (or anything else) watching me shower.
 
MIMIC said:
Does anyone kill butterflies? Cuz that would suck =p
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Serioulsly, no one should kill one of those

I remember the first time we got one in the house, me and my brother shared a room when we were like 11 and we freaked out so badly, but even back then I never wanted to kill it
 
It really bothers me to kill insects or see them killed. When you slow down and really look at an insect, you see this marvelous complexity of life. All these creatures are magnificently composed, and absolutely deserve respect. Mindlessly killing insects, in my mind, is brutish and shows a serious lack of attention and compassion. The mindset of "if it's not human, fuck it; if it can't compete, it's already dead, mang" is not only stupid, but really problematic. On a larger scale, it's leading to the destruction of our earth, our only fucking home.
So yes, I've got a problem killing insects and any other critters, and I actively stop people around me from doing so.
Also doing stupid shit like tearing up handfuls of plants or ripping off leaves and branches from trees as you pass by . . . pay attention, asshole, and have some fucking respect.
 
A Bug's life expectancy is directly correlated to its proximity to my wife.

If she's far, I can easily dispose of it without resorting to violence. If it's at all close to her, KILL IT NOW
 
magicstop said:
It really bothers me to kill insects or see them killed. When you slow down and really look at an insect, you see this marvelous complexity of life. All these creatures are magnificently composed, and absolutely deserve respect. Mindlessly killing insects, in my mind, is brutish and shows a serious lack of attention and compassion. The mindset of "if it's not human, fuck it; if it can't compete, it's already dead, mang" is not only stupid, but really problematic. On a larger scale, it's leading to the destruction of our earth, our only fucking home.
So yes, I've got a problem killing insects and any other critters, and I actively stop people around me from doing so.
Also doing stupid shit like tearing up handfuls of plants or ripping off leaves and branches from trees as you pass by . . . pay attention, asshole, and have some fucking respect.
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The amount of destruction to the ecosystem you, as an individual, are going to have by crushing a few flies beneath your sandaled feet is less than trivial. Plus they have, like, hundreds of eggs at a time.
 
Sharp said:
The amount of destruction to the ecosystem you, as an individual, are going to have by crushing a few flies beneath your sandaled feet is less than trivial. Plus they have, like, hundreds of eggs at a time.
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I've always found reading comprehension to be incredibly useful for discussions which are entirely written.
 
magicstop said:
I've always found reading comprehension to be incredibly useful for discussions which are entirely written.
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I read your post, but I find the idea of not wanting to kill something because of its complexity laughably stupid unless it's also rare. Viruses and bacteria can look beautiful close up but I have absolutely no problem trying to murder them in any way possible.
 
Depends on how I'm feeling that day.

Acquiescence said:
I don't kill them 'cos I'm not down with squishy bug parts all over my wall/carpet.

Ever since I invested in one of these...

spider-grabber-lg.jpg


...life has been much easier. I'm terrified of any spiders bigger than half an inch, so this little item (it's called the Spider Catcher btw) is a godsend. Doesn't kill them, just grabs them so they can't move, and then you can go outside, release them, and bid them a farewell fuckoff.
Click to expand...
Oh that's actually quite cool. I should get one.
 
Yes. They are mindless and a pest. I will not lose sleep over killing them. I've killed millions of ants with boiling water and never lost any sleep.
 
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