Spiders!!!

Genghis Cant

miss no stars wrote: »

Saying it's ridiculous to be worried about a newborn baby when loads of big spiders are getting into the house is in itself ridiculous.

The poster, not you, that refered to the newborn child did not say the child is allergic to spiders. The vast majority of newborn children are not allergic to spiders. To base an arguement on those that are is ridiculous and simply scraping the barrell for an arguement.
The amount of people being bitten by spiders is extremely low. But work away and demonise the humble spider.
As a society if we exterminated cats as we came across them we would do more for allergic children that exterminating spiders. Oh and a cat bite is more painful than a spiders, I'd bet!

Genghis Cant

Mountainsandh wrote: »

My conscience is perfectly OK I have to say, and I'm a spider killer.
If I can/could avoid killing them, I do/would.
I leave some of them there.
As for the others, I will simply repeat what I said previously : they have chosen the wrong habitat.

All fine and dandy. I'm just more tolerant of spiders than you.

On the other hand If your cat chooses to enter my habitat/yard/field/farm should I exhibit the same toleration as you or pull the trigger?
Would my conscience be perfectly OK, even though I'd be a cat killer?

Oh, and I'm sorry for picking on cats. It's simply for the sake of debate.

miss no stars

Genghis Cant wrote: »

The poster, not you, that refered to the newborn child did not say the child is allergic to spiders. The vast majority of newborn children are not allergic to spiders. To base an arguement on those that are is ridiculous and simply scraping the barrell for an arguement.
The amount of people being bitten by spiders is extremely low. But work away and demonise the humble spider.
As a society if we exterminated cats as we came across them we would do more for allergic children that exterminating spiders. Oh and a cat bite is more painful than a spiders, I'd bet!

Yeah and the vast majority aren't allergic to wasp stings either, but when you're dealing with something that will inflict a painful sting or bite - irrespective of allergy or not - wanting to keep a newborn away from it is just common sense. How can you not see that?

I'm not demonizing spiders. I have no issue with spiders. I don't fear them, in fact, I have one living in my room the last few weeks quite happily. But not wanting them near a newborn isn't demonizing them. And most people - if they had a cat in the house - will do their utmost to keep the cat away from the baby! Everyone's heard of the risk of cats seeking the warmth of the baby and suffocating it accidentally. Would I allow a cat to roam around in a newborn's room? No. Would I try to get a wasp out of the room? Yes. Would I get a spider out? Yes.

Some people are beyond comprehension.

Genghis Cant

miss no stars wrote: »

. Would I try to get a wasp out of the room? Yes. Would I get a spider out? Yes.

Some people are beyond comprehension.

All along my argument is against KILLING spiders. I've no problem getting them out of the room and relocating them.

What is beyond comprehension? It's simple enough.

DBB

miss no stars wrote: »

Some people are beyond comprehension.

Can we keep the withering comments out of what is otherwise a reasonable discussion where people are remaining respectful of one another despite divergent opinions, as per the forum charter?
Thanks,
DBB

Raminahobbin

I'm scared of spiders. really really scared. But I absolutely refuse to kill them, they're necessary and don't actually do any harm. In 3 years since I've lived in my half-wooden house (which they LOVE ) I've gone from calling my family members to come and deal with them, to being able to slap a lunchbox on top of them, to being able to slide something under them in the lunchbox, and- more recently- walking them down the street to release them in a bush.

This is my house at the moment. Lunchboxes EVERYWHERE.

I've found 5 of the big feckers tonight alone

DBB

Raminahobbin wrote: »

This is my house at the moment. Lunchboxes EVERYWHERE.

I've found 5 of the big feckers tonight alone

Is that a double-boxed one I see on the top right? How big are your spiders that they need to be double-boxed? :eek::eek:

Raminahobbin

DBB wrote: »

Is that a double-boxed one I see on the top right? How big are your spiders that they need to be double-boxed? :eek::eek:

No no, that's where I caught one in the small round box, then another just APPEARED out of nowhere and I had to slap a bigger box over it AND the smaller box.

Dear god I'd be moving out if I needed to double-box

Pretzill

I really like spiders. I don't remove them from the house. They just go about their business keeping the summer fly population down. As a result I do have to dust the webs away particularly daddy longs legs webs which are deliberately snaggy and messy looking. But I'm always careful not to disturb webs in corners, or under cupboards unless I have to. Most of the larger type of house spiders keep hidden, I rarely see one.

To me it is their habitat. The clue is in the name, they like houses, sheds etc. They don't particularly like the heat that's why they are often drawn to bathrooms and under sinks anywhere dark and coolish.

I have never been bitten by a spider in Ireland. A beetle nip, a red ant sting, a wasp, horsefly, a million midges and an unlucky bee but never a spider. Look closer at the myriad of colours, shapes and sizes of our garden spiders and those amazing webs they weave - they are just stunning. We are lucky to live in a country were we don't have to be scared of spiders. I know a phobia is irrational and hard to overcome but believe me most of the time spiders just go about their own lives and faced with us in a panic I'm pretty sure they'd want to remove themselves from the situation first.

Genghis Cant

Pretzill wrote: »

I really like spiders. I don't remove them from the house. They just go about their business keeping the summer fly population down. As a result I do have to dust the webs away particularly daddy longs legs webs which are deliberately snaggy and messy looking. But I'm always careful not to disturb webs in corners, or under cupboards unless I have to. Most of the larger type of house spiders keep hidden, I rarely see one.

To me it is their habitat. The clue is in the name, they like houses, sheds etc. They don't particularly like the heat that's why they are often drawn to bathrooms and under sinks anywhere dark and coolish.

I have never been bitten by a spider in Ireland. A beetle nip, a red ant sting, a wasp, horsefly, a million midges and an unlucky bee but never a spider. Look closer at the myriad of colours, shapes and sizes of our garden spiders and those amazing webs they weave - they are just stunning. We are lucky to live in a country were we don't have to be scared of spiders. I know a phobia is irrational and hard to overcome but believe me most of the time spiders just go about their own lives and faced with us in a panic I'm pretty sure they'd want to remove themselves from the situation first.

A daddy longlegs is a Cranefly. They don't make a web. In larval form they are the leather jacket.
I like your attitude to spiders, I'm much the same. In fact only last weekend I stood for a long time watching a spider weave its web. It was fascinating!

Mountainsandh

Genghis Cant wrote: »

All fine and dandy. I'm just more tolerant of spiders than you.

On the other hand If your cat chooses to enter my habitat/yard/field/farm should I exhibit the same toleration as you or pull the trigger?
Would my conscience be perfectly OK, even though I'd be a cat killer?

Oh, and I'm sorry for picking on cats. It's simply for the sake of debate.

A cat is a domesticated, social animal, do you tame your spiders ?
I promise that if a spider that can be identified as my neighbour's comes into my house, i will flee and ring their doorbell instead of killing it.

By the way, cats may visit someone else's premises on occasion, but they rarely sleep in the corner of their bedroom for their entire existence.

Edit : what about cockroaches, fleas, ants, earwigs, woodworm, mites, head lice, flies, bed bugs, are they ok to settle in your habitat too ?

Pretzill

Genghis Cant wrote: »

A daddy longlegs is a Cranefly. They don't make a web. In larval form they are the leather jacket.
I like your attitude to spiders, I'm much the same. In fact only last weekend I stood for a long time watching a spider weave its web. It was fascinating!

Both called daddy-long-legs, the cranefly isn't a spider. I think the daddy-long-legs spider is called a huntsman.

borderlinemeath

Mountainsandh wrote: »

A cat is a domesticated, social animal, do you tame your spiders ?
I promise that if a spider that can be identified as my neighbour's comes into my house, i will flee and ring their doorbell instead of killing it.

By the way, cats may visit someone else's premises on occasion, but they rarely sleep in the corner of their bedroom for their entire existence.

Edit : what about cockroaches, fleas, ants, earwigs, woodworm, mites, head lice, flies, bed bugs, are they ok to settle in your habitat too ?

But some people do keep mice and rats as pets, albeit domesticated, but I'd wager there's a far bigger percentage of the population that are terrified of them as they are considered vermin. Actually, cats are technically considered vermin too, they have no status in law and kill a fair few garden birds so could well be considered a pest by many, but you wouldn't brag about killing a cat, yet people have no qualms about killing a spider

And as for ants, earwigs, flies etc - they are the prey of the spiders you kill - ergo you're increasing the numbers that come into your home by your own fair hand . I'm sure a few of the other insects you mentioned are in the spiders diet too.

kylith

Pretzill wrote: »

Both called daddy-long-legs, the cranefly isn't a spider. I think the daddy-long-legs spider is called a huntsman.

There are three things I know of that are known as daddy-long-legs - the crane fly, the cellar spider (which are all over my fecking house. I either squash them or hoover them, there's no point putting them outside because they can't survive there), and the Opilionids - the ones with the pill shaped bodies and spindly legs. I've never heard of a huntsman being called a daddy-long-legs, generally they're called "Oh, Jesus Christ! Kill it!".

Pretzill

kylith wrote: »

There are three things I know of that are known as daddy-long-legs - the crane fly, the cellar spider (which are all over my fecking house. I either squash them or hoover them, there's no point putting them outside because they can't survive there), and the Opilionids - the ones with the pill shaped bodies and spindly legs. I've never heard of a huntsman being called a daddy-long-legs, generally they're called "Oh, Jesus Christ! Kill it!".

Beg pardon not Huntsman they are related to the Harvestman spider - Wiki is a little more American in it's lingo - I have never heard them called Cellar spiders - but have heard them called Carpentar spiders - they don't bite and are often mistakenly believed to have poisonous stings - But of all the spiders I like these gangly guys the most - they are so awkward looking and I feel sorry for them - they have the run of my house!

miss no stars

Genghis Cant wrote: »

All along my argument is against KILLING spiders. I've no problem getting them out of the room and relocating them.

What is beyond comprehension? It's simple enough.

Actually you asked how are spiders impacting on the child. I explained that quite clearly. Yet you would prefer a situation where if a parent of a newborn comes in and finds a big spider on the wall or floor next to their newborn baby and there's nothing to hand to remove it, instead of just killing it they should leave the room to find a suitable container to trap and remove the spider, risk the spider disappearing out of sight and just forget about it. It's absurd. As I said, I have no issue with spiders. They're useful and important and I'd rather not see them killed, but all bets would be off if a big spider was beside a newborn baby and there was nothing handy to remove it. That's common sense. Like the way that wasps are important, but you wouldn't hesitate to swat at it if you couldn't shoo it out the window of a newborn's room.

I don't take issue with the argument that killing spiders is best avoided. I take issue with the implication that they shouldn't be of concern to parents of a newborn, or that the spider's life should be valued ahead of their own newborn child's health and well-being.

Arbiter of Good Taste

Had one appear out of nowhere today on my shoulder. I screamed like a maniac until it fell off.

The dog, who barks at my husband when he came into the bedroom the other day, just sat looking at me, kind of bemused. I could have been eaten alive!

alie

My neighbours must think i am a lunatic. Regularly my front door will fly open and whatever container was used will fly towards the grass. I am terrified of spiders. We try not to squish. The bigger ones make a bit of mess.

Mountainsandh

borderlinemeath wrote: »

But some people do keep mice and rats as pets, albeit domesticated, but I'd wager there's a far bigger percentage of the population that are terrified of them as they are considered vermin. Actually, cats are technically considered vermin too, they have no status in law and kill a fair few garden birds so could well be considered a pest by many, but you wouldn't brag about killing a cat, yet people have no qualms about killing a spider

And as for ants, earwigs, flies etc - they are the prey of the spiders you kill - ergo you're increasing the numbers that come into your home by your own fair hand . I'm sure a few of the other insects you mentioned are in the spiders diet too.

That's all pretty off topic borderlinemeath, the point raised was that the animals I mentioned are generally not welcomed in people's homes, and often exterminated (ie rats, mice, flies, ants, cockroaches...).

People are welcome to keep them as pets if they so wish, but I personally don't know anyone keeping flies or earwigs as pets, and I would imagine someone keeping a rat or mouse would have them in a cage, therefore not giving them free reign over their entire home/habitat.

I'm very grateful to spiders for eating flies outside.
Outside.


This is a little off topic, I see people happily discussing kinds of spiders, so I'll refrain from posting more about it, leave the thread to more directly spidery discussions.

larrlin24

I'm proud to say that there's been a huge (and I mean HUGE) spider just hanging out on the wall above my stairs for the past week or so. She (I'm assuming it's female as they're known to hide, whereas the males seem to like making their presence known by running across the floor :eek:) stays on the wall all day and then at night creeps back in behind it. As long as they keep their distance, I'll happily co exist with spiders. I think it's just when they run at me and seem to come out of nowhere, I have to get rid of them quickly. I don't even think about it, I just do it. I act out of fear.

Genghis Cant

Mountainsandh wrote: »

what about cockroaches, fleas, ants, earwigs, woodworm, mites, head lice, flies, bed bugs, are they ok to settle in your habitat too ?

If its harmless to me I've no issue tolerating creatures of various species.

If it effects my health or poses a real danger, I exterminate in a swift fashion.

And to answer your question, No I don't tame my spiders, I don't have any spiders. There are some about the house but I don't regard them as mine!

DBB

Okay folks,
I have asked that posters remain respectful of one another, and have deleted a couple of posts that have breached that.
Because of that, and because this thread is really starting to verge on the ridiculous which I'm getting pretty fed up with, this thread is now closed.
Thanks,
DBB