Why you shouldn't kill spiders in your home

[MoonRiver]

Why? Because spiders are an important part of nature and our indoor ecosystem – as well as being fellow organisms in their own right.

People like to think of their dwellings as safely insulated from the outside world, but many types of spiders can be found inside. Some are accidentally trapped, while others are short-term visitors. Some species even enjoy the great indoors, where they happily live out their lives and make more spiders. These arachnids are usually secretive, and almost all you meet are neither aggressive nor dangerous. And they may be providing services like eating pests – some even eat other spiders.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/should-i-kill-spiders-in-my-home-an-entomologist-explains-why-not-to?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[Aristus]

1. Spiders are our friends!

I never kill them. If they're freaking my wife out, I'll capture them and put them outside. But I never kill them.

[MoonRiver]

2. Yes, that's what we do! I do have an animal phobia, but it's not spiders.

[onecaliberal]

3. If they manage to be seen by anyone in our house, we catch them and put them safely outside.

[MoonRiver]

5. Same here

[SeattleVet]

25. ...which will most likely kill them.

From the Burke Museum:

https://www.livescience.com/55270-can-indoor-spiders-survive-outside.html

...
If the spider is a native to the area, it will likely be able to survive outside, Crawford said. But if the spider is a transplant that's become a house spider — even if its ancestors made the voyage to the "new" place decades to hundreds of years ago — odds are, the spider will perish outside, Crawford said.

That's because most spiders are adapted to specific places and temperatures, Crawford said.

"The American house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) [is] probably native to northern South America," Crawford said. "It undoubtedly lives outdoors just fine if your backyard is in Brazil or Guyana."

[onecaliberal]

31. Sorry about that, but I'm going to relocate the ones I find. That is the best I can do.

At least I don't smash it.

[Silent3]

60. Many indoor spiders are specifically adapted for indoor living

They aren't just strays that wandered in from outdoors, so "safely" outside isn't necessarily so safe.

Of course, I don't personally care if they die. I don't want them crawling around me in my house. As for their supposed benefit of killing other bugs... well, I only rarely have other bugs bugging me indoors either, so there's not a lot of that work that needs doing.

[calguy]

4. I'm sorry, but my wife makes me kill them.

It's a girl thing.

[MoonRiver]

8. Not for this girl.

[Doreen]

65. This girl has to catch them and put them outside

because I have a couple of guy friends who are scared of them.

They absolutely get pissed when I let the spiders crawl on me while I am putting them outside.

Of course I am mean and tell them "now he is waiting outside the door for you."

I only have killed one because it kept running after me and my German Shepherd. It was not one of the poisonous spiders. It was big and a tanish color and I live in Washington state. Have no clue why it was chasing us around the living room

[Raine]

102. Not for this gal, I love spiders! ❤

[Happy Hoosier]

6. My cats hunt them. NT

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Where are the spiders that eat cockroaches?

[hunter]

37. Using insecticides favors cockroaches. They are resistant to insecticides.

Insect predators are not.

My wife and I have moved into houses that have cockroach problems.

We don't use insecticides and the cockroach problem goes away once the ants and spiders move in.

Argentine ants are almost as bad as cockroaches, but you can train an ant colony to avoid your kitchen if you fill the holes and cracks they are coming from and vacuum them up ruthlessly.

That strategy may not work in apartments where neighbors are heavy users of insecticides.

Many insecticides interfere with normal human brain development. I attribute many problems in our society to that.

[Igel]

93. You want Mediterranean geckos.

They eat cockroaches--not over a certain size, but what does. Besides cats.

Spiders and such only each the very smallest ones.

Ants are good ... but I'll take the cockroaches.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. I don't see them in my home anymore.

I think the house centipedes killed them all.

They're even more disturbing to look at, imo, but they're great pest killers too.

Edit: And they usually hide in the drains or floor vents, so they're not as visible as spiders either!

[LeftInTX]

22. Centipedes eat baby roaches..at least that's what I heard

[Buckeye_Democrat]

26. I think they kill just about every pest, from the looks...

... of things in my home.

I never see ANY insects except for them now. And I usually don't see the centipedes for very long either, since they scurry away so fast whenever I approach them. Some of them have been whoppers, so they have to be eating something!

[Rebl2]

62. I have those too-the centipedes

I should leave them be, but if they don’t get away from me, I put them outside. Most of the time they get away from me though.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

63. Do they seem to clear out your home of other insects?

I didn't see the centipedes when I first moved here. Spiders and other little insects were pretty common, though.

Within a couple years of seeing the first centipede, they're all that I see now.

[lame54]

10. What if there are many many many...

Spiders weaving webs all over the inside and outside of your house

As we have here

Is it ok to to broom away the webs?

[Quixote1818]

11. A few are fine. They start having 100's of babies and they can get out of control. nt

[Maeve]

12. I see something that big in my house and it better pay rent!

Actually, the cats would take it out and have fun doing so.

[Politicub]

13. OMG - I would head for the hills if I saw a spider that big in my house.

Spiders are special and all that, but I could not deal with a spider that looks like it wants to jump off the wall and onto my face.

[MoonRiver]

18. Maybe it's the camera angle. Might not be that big.

[cwydro]

14. I never kill spiders.

My granny always said it was bad luck!

[Renew Deal]

15. This part doesn't work for me: "make more spiders"

[Arkansas Granny]

16. Spiders scare me to death. I can hurt myself trying to avoid them. Having said that,

I only kill spiders if I find them in my living space. If they stay out of my sight, they're safe. I don't kill spiders I see outside and take care not to disturb their webs.

[Dagstead Bumwood]

76. We try to take a live and let live approach as well.

But there are strict boundaries: the outside is theirs, the inside ours, and the garage serves as the neutral zone. If there are large webs it creeps out the wife, but I can enjoy that from inside.

[smirkymonkey]

77. Spiders, and pretty much all other insects, freak me out.

I don't know why. I grew up in a fairly rural area with a lot of insects, but rarely saw them inside. However I have lived in cities ever since I have graduated from college and have lived in buildings that exterminated regularly so I have rarely seen insects inside in the past 30 years, but when I do I kind of lose it.

I don't even really see them that much outside in the city, but when I go to visit my siblings who live in more suburban areas I am reminded of how good I have it living in a place that is not over-run by creepy-crawly and flying-biting things.

[d_b]

17. I am a big chicken

Spiders get the flamethrower

[Captain Zero]

19. And then one night you get a spider bite right underneath your eye

And it hurts, and it's ugly, and it itches and swells.
So, I'm sure they provide a lot of the aforesaid benefits, but,
if they draw attention to themselves.
Dummm, da-dum-duh

[sinkingfeeling]

38. I have about 6 spider bites right now. They're red,itchy, and oozing

stuff. Also, they make a deep crater that takes months for the scabbing to stop.

[maxsolomon]

20. capture and release.

but the argument in our house is now: that's an INDOOR spider, it will die outside.

my response is: there was no "indoors" when the European House Spider evolved.

[MoonRiver]

23. Never heard of an "indoor spider."

We always put them out. Hubby has a special technique.

[maxsolomon]

28. drinking glass and a postcard?

that's mine.

https://www.livescience.com/55270-can-indoor-spiders-survive-outside.html

[MoonRiver]

45. Yes!

[2naSalit]

21. I have a

truce with spiders, they can live happily outside and I will let them be, unless they get on me. In my home, If I see them, they had better get out before I can get them or they'll be dead. After suffering the affects of spider bites on my face that is still a problem over ten years later... nope. When I do get bitten the old bites flare up and it;s not pleasant and then there's the nerve damage. I give them half a chance to stay away by placing a barrier around my place to keep them away.

[MoonRiver]

24. Horrible! What kind of spider bit you, if you know?

[2naSalit]

34. Never saw it/them.

Happened in my sleep and didn't present for 36hrs or so. The medical techs who helped me thought it was likely hobo spider(s). If it had been brown recluse, my face would have been destroyed, my nose and eyes would be gone. What I did have was twelve miserable weeks of pustulating, circular areas that resembled 3rd degree burns and was very painful. It affected the sight in one of my eyes and both are light sensitive, I have to wear hats and shades whenever outdoors. There were four bites and they took up more than a third of my face. Once the shriveling and seeping ended I still had bright red blotches that faded quite a bit over time but they are still noticeable when I get stressed and some little weird bumps appear too. The nerve damage means I need to keep my face covered in winter when I go skiing or out in cold below freezing.

So I have no tolerance for those creatures in my home.

[MoonRiver]

64. OMG, that is monstrous! So sorry you went through that hell!

[2naSalit]

72. Thanks.

It was a while ago, my adaptations are just daily routine now. That's hardly the worst of my adventures but it sure is one I'll never forget.

[stopwastingmymoney]

66. Yikes

I had a similar experience, though not as bad as yours I think.

Bit by a black widow, swollen angry and caused inflammation all over my body, every injury I ever had making itself heard.

I was sick from it for 9 months, with lots of doctors guessing and testing various things. I finally insisted they cut it out of me. Then I got better.

Now, I’m really sensitive to any bites. Inflammation all over again.

So, I generally don’t kill the carnivores but I did kill a large black widow just yesterday. I still feel bad about but, you know 😊

[2naSalit]

73. Wow...

I have never been bitten by a black widow but I've always heard it was bad. From your telling, it sounds worse than what I had going on. I was pretty sick and lost a lot of weight, took six months to gain it back.

[Blue_true]

85. Don't get bitten by a really venomous spider like a Black Widow or Brown Recluse.

I had a BW bite me squarely in my chest in bed one night. The area around the bite was paralyzed for close to seven months. Even with medication, I would have uncontrollable spasms of my chest muscles on occasion. It took around a year for me to not have side effects.

I used to take a live and let live stance toward spiders in my home. Now if I see a web, it is coming down, if I see the spider, it is dead.

[2naSalit]

94. That's my ethos regarding spiders too.

I did find a fantastic remedy, years after the fact, is baking soda. I swear by it. I have been bitten several times since and I find that baking soda paste on the bite neutralizes the poison and helps draw it out. Saves me a lot of agony with pre-existing bite issues.

[Blue_true]

95. Baking soda paste. I will try to remember that if I am infortunate enough to get bitten again. nt

[2naSalit]

97. Baking soda and water...

You can mix in some clay or pulverized herb of some kind to bind it so it will stay on your skin. Leave it on for hours.

[Blue_true]

98. I can likely make a lotion using it. Would take me maybe 30 minutes.

I can add a little more xantham gum to the water phase to bind the baking soda more efficiently.

[2naSalit]

99. Oh that's a good idea, never thought of that one.

[RAB910]

27. Nope- once a spider invades he is a hostile and he is dead

[NurseJackie]

30. Thank you! They're free to live OUTSIDE.

[smirkymonkey]

78. +1000

[KT2000]

29. It's my understanding

that if we did not have spiders in the house, we would have way too many mites. They keep those critters in check.

[NurseJackie]

32. So does a vacuum cleaner.

[Blue_true]

86. And carpet cleaner. And regular washing of bed stuff and spraying the mattress with

a disinfectant.

[NurseJackie]

87. But for everyone else... there are SPIDERS!!!

[AJT]

33. If I see one inside.....after I am done screaming....

it must die! I will be screaming while I kill it. If it's really big I'll just move out of the house.

[dlk]

35. I used to live in an area with Brown Recluse Spiders

I killed every last one of them I ever came across.

[Hortensis]

81. We have them in GA and the same. But I discovered

that even more we were getting infestations of literally hundreds of black widows in the loose-laid stone retaining walls I built in our garden, which back plantings that I hand weed. They loved that environment I created for them. I pull the top stones off and sprinkle poison down between whenever I see their population building.

We just have a LOT of spiders in GA. Typical kinds inside I'll take out if they don't run too fast for me or stay long enough on a magazine or paper towel. Brown recluse absolutely no, and they do like the comfort of our home.

[Blue_true]

88. I have heard that their bite is very nasty.

I love around Black Widows and was bitten by one. Never again.

[johnp3907]

36. I'm sure the several spiders most of us kill each year are only a small fraction of the total.

There are plenty of spiders around. They’ll be fine.

[dlk]

83. I've known people bitten by Brown Recluse spiders. They are more deadly than black widows.

Their venom is highly toxic and can be fatal. Most other spiders are okay.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

39. I just grab a magazine. Let them walk on it and direct them

outside.

On a separate note, would you mind if I "stole" your floating man baby GIF?

[MoonRiver]

46. Be my guest!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

54. .

.

[DeminPennswoods]

40. I even put stink bugs outside

when I come across them.

[UTUSN]

41. Not at my house.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

42. They're a lot more welcome than roaches, ants, and silverfish.

The only spiders I kill are the brown recluses (a.k.a., fiddlers), and then only when they're in space I want to occupy.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

43. Sorry. I mostly see black widow spiders and they are dead soon after.

Same would be if I saw brown recluse spiders.

They need to be smart enough to stay out of sight.

[Blue_true]

90. The problem is that even if out of sight, they crawl around at night.

If I see signs of one in my home, I hunt it down and kill it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

100. I'm of the "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy.

And honestly, I haven't any clue as to where within my walls they might hide.

But if they come out and I see them, instant death.

I'm guessing that those like the OP who tenderly advocate letting spiders co-exist simply have no idea about black widows or brown recluses.

[Binkie The Clown]

44. I was washing dishes and found a spider floating in a water glass

By carefully dipping in a paper towel I was able to soak up enough water that the poor thing could get its water-logged legs working and climb onto the paper towel. I initially thought it was probably long since drowned, but it made a full recovery, and was happily set free on the deck outside the front door.

Even as a little kid I was always careful to step around ant hills so as to avoid risk of injuring them.
Damn, I'm so freaking virtuous it just amazes me sometimes.

[MoonRiver]

48. Lol, I think we were separated at birth!

[demmiblue]

47. Upstairs spiders, I leave alone (I even save them if the get stuck in the tub).

Basement spiders...

[marie999]

49. The only thing I kill are flies.

Right now I have my 2 dogs, 1 cat, a few spiders, 2 lizards, and a tree frog. I keep a small dish of water out for the lizards and frog and a plate of squashed flies. This happens when we have a lot of rain. Not moving storms, but I watch a 2-hour map and these small cells keep popping up usually starting about 3 PM.

[PTWB]

50. I just spray for bugs quarterly and don't have spiders

And I don’t have their food source either.

[JHB]

51. *Not applicable in Australia

...home of venomous spiders that can kill people.

[SharonClark]

59. I'm not afraid of the little spiders I ocassionally find in my house.

And wasn't in Australia either, until I mentioned to my host that there was spider in my room, about 4" across, and he ran into the room immediately, hunted it down and killed it. I guess it was poisonous.

A few days later I was standing at the edge of a sugar cane field and he warned me about cane snakes and cane toads. Later that day we visited a friend who has chickens and she explained how they build their coops so the snakes can't get to the chickens or the eggs. What a great place to visit.

[ismnotwasm]

52. I started watching a Tarantula YouTube guy

I like this guy, really into the hobby, touches on the ethics of it. Plus he’s in Croatia, and I’m in the PNW.

It cured my arachnophobia as a side effect. Pretty cool. I’m sure I’d still scream if a big one was crawling on me, but it wouldn’t be in stark raving terror. I enjoy garden spiders, because they are eating my garden enemies. Weird to not be afraid anymore

[Mossfern]

53. Baby spiders are very cute

Sorry, I'm a recovering Luddite - here's a link
https://www.deviantart.com/macrojunkie/art/jumping-spider-just-hatched-134787225

[MoonRiver]

57. Awww

[58Sunliner]

55. I won't kill a wolf spider, the small black ones are cute and daddy long-legs are ok.

Anything else gets the boot or dies. The camel-back crickets get put out.

[demtenjeep]

56. hell no

not in my house

[Pathwalker]

58. GIANT spider outside Texas home wants inside! Link:

https://www.wilx.com/content/news/Yikes-Texas-couple-finds-massive-spider-outside-apartment-door-571427461.html

Not in my house - no way!

[GoCubsGo]

71. Good for them for not killing it, and relocating it, instead.

[marlakay]

61. I have a rule spiders, insects, mice, etc

If they are in my space they are put out or killed sometimes, in theirs I mostly leave them alone unless its a mass takeover of the yard to where I can’t be outside. During covid especially I need my backyard.

[Codeine]

68. Black widows get an instant death sentence.

All other spiders are ignored (if only I notice them) or get a trip outside on a piece of printer paper (if anyone else in the family sees them).

Flies and ants, however? Total war. I have a no tolerance policy.

[StarryNite]

75. Yes and brown recluse as well.

[Codeine]

91. Luckily we don't have those here.

Local entomologists agree that reports of brown recluse spiders in this area are mostly misidentified spiders or a specimen that hitched a ride and will soon die.

Do you see them often in your area? That shit would make me nervous, and I’m a spider-lover.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

69. Seeing spiders reminds me of being a Pikaia...

... in a sea of killer arthropods, mollusks and worms.


Can someone post a video of a kitten who grew up with a spider, later becoming best friends?

[SoonerPride]

70. I hve a spider vaccum that sucks them up getrly into a plastic tube

I then release them outside, and sorry if that ends up killing some of them

I have hardwood floors and spiders have white poop, like birds.

[Wanderlust988]

74. I'll smash everyone I can

I'll be damned if I allow one to crawl over my toes.

[BusyBeingBest]

79. If they look small and harmless, I will try catching them on a tissue and hurling them outside.

If they are too large, fast, or otherwise freak me out, they have to be "taken care of", because I'm not going to spend a lot of time and energy trying to catch something like that only to have it either bite me or slip under the baseboards, to re-emerge later when I'm sleeping or showering. No thanks.

[Marrah_Goodman]

80. Nope, in my house they die unless my housemate is home to escort them outside.

[Blue_true]

82. Sorry. I got bitten by a black widow in bed one night.

I have no idea how it ended up in my home.

I am not willing to go through the body tremors, pain, medicine for months again. Any spider that I see come into my home now is dead, sorry.

[ecstatic]

84. Any bug in my bedroom has to be killed, with no exceptions.

They say house centipedes are great too, but I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing a critter is roaming freely nearby.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

89. They're very skittish around people.

They don't seem to be as stupid as spiders.

They freaked me out for awhile, though. So ugly!

I've grown to appreciate them. No spiders or any other bugs in my home ever since they arrived.

[betsuni]

92. The little ones are cute and I don't bother them. I always name them Bob.

Bob can stay, my nemesis is the cockroach. I murder them without remorse.

[GulfCoast66]

96. And rats, and mice too? Ok I kid.

I kind of like spiders. And when I see a small one in the house I keep my mouth closed.

Because the wife insists they all be killed! She hates them. Which is ironic because our yard is a certified Wildlife Habit thru the NWF. We both love the wildlife in our yard including the snakes. But the wife draws the line at spiders.

Fortunately central Florida has no brown recluse but 3 subspecies of Black Widows!

[Raine]

101. I love spiders! 🕷 🥰

I either leave in the house and watch them build their webs or safely transport them outside.