Do US/Canada people rescue spiders?

February 17, 2025 4:05 AM

Recently I was watching an ad for Old Spice which was aimed at an Australian audience and presenting alleged characteristics of Australians. One of them was rescuing spiders with a bowl and piece of paper so that you could release the spider outside (instead of killing it.) I was suprised that this made the list, because I thought this was something that people did worldwide, not just in Australia. Is it common or uncommon for people in the US and Canada to trap spiders with a glass or bowl and a piece of paper and safely release them outside?
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries to Society & Culture (59 answers total)

Yes, not just spiders but other bugs that don’t belong in the house that aren’t problematic. House spiders get a pass most of the time, though.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 4:12 AM on February 17 [5 favorites]

Does it happen? Sure.

Is it common? Absolutely not.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:13 AM on February 17 [3 favorites]

The practice in our Canadian-American household is to rescue certain species of spiders in this way. Mrs. 273 grew up in a very pro-spider rescuing family (Connecticut).
posted by iceberg273 at 4:14 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Yes, absolutely! If you kill a spider it will rain tomorrow! (Which I suppose, if anything, would be an incentive to kill spiders a lot of the time in Australia.)

(Raised in the Northeast US by people of Northern European ancestry.)
posted by mskyle at 4:14 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I am in the U.S. and I catch spiders and put them outside. Sometimes with a glass and a piece of paper. If it’s a smallish spider in my house, sometimes I just let it be. I know a few people who appreciate the bug-catching skills of spiders, but probably more people who would just kill em.
posted by Glinn at 4:29 AM on February 17 [2 favorites]

Most of the time, I just let the spiders in my house go about their business and don't do any relocation. We don't have many spiders that could do any harm in Western Washington, and I'd rather have them keeping the inside bug population under control. It can actually be harmful to the spider to move it.
posted by brookeb at 4:33 AM on February 17 [6 favorites]

Is it maybe the degree of spider being rescued? I honestly just ignore most spiders in the house but they're also all small and entirely benign, and eat bugs who would annoy me. If Australians are relocating even the gnarlier ones, that does seem noteworthy compared to my area. Around here I hear a lot of "kill it with fire" comments from folks who're otherwise pacifists.
posted by teremala at 4:34 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I rescue spiders (in the winter rather than open a door I toss them into the basement). My husband squashes them. US northeast.
posted by Kriesa at 4:37 AM on February 17

I live in the U.S. and was raised in a household where spiders were killed on sight, which I think is the norm. Now I will either move spiders outside or encourage them to take up residence in my houseplants.
posted by la glaneuse at 4:38 AM on February 17

Maybe it depends on your siblings? As the youngest of three I was called upon regularly to remove spiders from our bathroom when we were adolescent so they could take baths without drowning them. Due to birth order this was a duty I could not refuse. They were great big meaty suckers, often larger than the pad of my thumb and I learned how they would run up my arm if I tried to hold them in a cupped hand. The trick to preventing them going up my sleeve was to raise my arm, because then they would run to my wrist; whereupon to prevent them dropping off my hand when they reached the top, the trick was to lower my arm so they would run back up again, scuttling madly back and forth until I reached the bathroom window and was able to shake them off outside.

In the next generation it is my youngest who rescues bugs. Summer mornings we go out on the balcony and there will be a row of small glasses because she had been rescuing moths from the kitchen at night. Initially we thought maybe she was doing hydrographic testing, because we first noticed the increasing rows of small glasses and jars after it had rained and they were lined up on the railing filled with varying amounts of water. Quite large jars are needed for the June bugs and daddy-long-legs.

In the shelving beside the back door I keep a couple of attractive postcards - these are there solely for the purpose of sliding between the window glass and the bug in the jar. We regularly get wasps. But spiders are always the critter you train on, with bees and then wasps, as the next poor waifs to be borne to safety. I think this is because spiders are so helpful. We may love insects and arachnids but none of us are overfond of mosquitoes nor house flies.

I have to spray my house outside two or three times a summer to prevent incursions from the carpenter ants. This requires me to first go out and pick every single flower no matter how small within three feet of the house, to keep the pollinators from coming around during the dangerous 48 hours when the spray will kill them, and then to capture as many of the spiders that hang on to the outside of the house as I can and carry them far enough away that they will hopefully survive.

In the fall we watch the largest ones who build webs just inside the front halls with interest, as there is often one lurking there, and before they curl up and die they may create a nice egg sack in one corner of the window. It's always a small joy to see the teeny little spiderlings coming out of the sack in spring and purposefully heading out - they head for sunlight, so within a few hours they all seem to have left and gone to live in the garden. Perhaps the wind carries them away.

We are Canadian
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:41 AM on February 17 [8 favorites]

Different geography, my domestic spiders and I have an agreement that they are welcome to share my space as long as they keep their distance, preferably staying on the far side of the room. Of course they are welcome to approach me if they have a death wish...
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:59 AM on February 17

No. Don't be coming in my house uninvited unless you got a death wish.

The first time I ever saw anyone save and relocate a bug, it was at nerd camp by someone who was raised by liberal parents. Absolutely blew my mind that someone would try to save a bug, absolutely blew hers that I was going to kill it. It was in our dorm room putting its freaky little feet on our stuff! Not sure if there's a demographic trend, but if there is you're probably not going to find a whole lot of admitted killers here on Metafilter. I, however, contain multitudes.
posted by phunniemee at 5:02 AM on February 17 [3 favorites]

I grew up in the US and in Canada. I don't really recall what my parents did, but I definitely relocate critters if I don't want them in my house. Spiders can mostly stay. The exceptions are ants and mosquitoes -- those are eradicated with extreme prejudice.
posted by number9dream at 5:17 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

If I wanted it gone, I’d trap and release, but usually I’d rather keep it around to eat whomever it’s eating. US/Wisconsin.
posted by eirias at 5:25 AM on February 17 [4 favorites]

If there's a spider in my house, it stays in the house. Once while riding bikes, my wife and I encountered a tarantula hanging out in the middle of the road, and she shooed it off the road so it wouldn't get run over.
posted by adamrice at 5:33 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Spiders I welcome (yes I know you're all shocked), but if we had huntsmen and other giants here I would politely escort them out. I leave out water for house centipedes if I see them in the basement, and then I don't. I never really have a problem with fruit flies, house flies, fungus gnats, or other annoying human commensal insects, and I think the former has something to do with the latter.

I only kill actual pests, like pantry/wool moths, mosquitos that spread disease, house mice that spoil my grain, etc.
I think it's true MeFi probably skews a bit toward bug savers, but I also think there's some generational effect, where a lot more people refrain from killing now than did e.g. 50 years ago.

Outreach works, check out reddit or imgur for term "spiderbro" and you'll see lots of people spreading the word that spiders are generally more helpful than harmful. There's two whole subreddits devoted to the notion but the term pops up elsewhere. Ofc Reddit being reddit, they don't know that most spiders we see are in fact spiderfemmes.

Also, in my experience lots of locales try to claim a general thing as there own. I saw this a lot when I lived in TX, where one of my favorites was "Texans love Dr. Pepper". Some life-long Texans seemed convinced this national brand that is in fact sold in every super market in every city was rare and unheard of outside their state. So I'd roll my eyes a bit but give the ozzies a pass on this one.

ᄽ(ὁȍ ̪ őὀ)ᄿ
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:36 AM on February 17 [4 favorites]

US Midwest. Spiders are allowed to live unless they are big and jumpy, then they are relocated outdoors with a glass and a piece of paper. Stinkbugs also get relocated, though my partner will give the squish. Things with lots more than 8 legs tend to get the squish as well. I admit it’s mostly based on how much they freak us out.
posted by Ookseer at 5:41 AM on February 17

US Midwest. I always do it, and when one of my children points out a spider in the house I either tell them to leave it be - it's harmless and eats the more annoying bugs, or I carefully take it outside and teach them that all creatures should be treated with respect.

It's more about the lesson than the insect at that point.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:43 AM on February 17 [4 favorites]

Yes, larger spiders (that aren't hanging out quietly on the ceiling) are relocated with a drinking glass and any old junk mail flyer made of cardstock. California born and raised.

We don't really have any indoor venomous spiders in the US/California. So I'm guessing maybe there's a difference in degree of danger.
posted by muddgirl at 5:43 AM on February 17

Response by poster: Also, in my experience lots of locales try to claim a general thing as there own. I saw this a lot when I lived in TX, where one of my favorites was "Texans love Dr. Pepper". Some life-long Texans seemed convinced this national brand that is in fact sold in every super market in every city was rare and unheard of outside their state. So I'd roll my eyes a bit but give the ozzies a pass on this one.

This was an Old Spice ad made in the US for an Australian audience (featuring the "I'm on a horse" man).

So it wasn't about how Australians see themselves, but rather how US advertising executives see Australians, if that makes sense.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:44 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Yes, I always trap spiders and put them outside (Northeast US, grew up in Michigan).
posted by pangolin party at 5:49 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Common here in Florida in the US. See also: wasps, hornets, bees, scorpions.
posted by saladin at 5:52 AM on February 17

I (USian) do it for insects above a certain size, driven as much by a Buddhist’s cherishing of life as not wanting to clean up bug juice.

For the general question I’m thinking of the Peppa Pig “spiders can't hurt you” episode that was removed from rotation in Australia. Australia has a different relationship to spiders (with good reason) than many other countries, and the act of saving one has layers beyond just compassion and mercy.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:58 AM on February 17 [7 favorites]

We have invested in a spider catching device that purports to safely trap the spider from a convenient distance. This was in response to spotting a large spider (by our European standards) whose legs could be heard on the attic floor if you were in the room with it.

Killing it would be unthinkable.
posted by demi-octopus at 6:00 AM on February 17

So it wasn't about how Australians see themselves, but rather how US advertising executives see Australians, if that makes sense.

Ah well there you have it. I do think "Australia has [adjective] spiders" is kind of a gut reaction stereotype of AU among lazy US people. Sometimes it's "big" or "scary" or sometimes "awesome". Maybe saving the spiders was seen as an inversion of their scary rep? I'm just sad I never saw any of the giants when I was working there for a bit :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:08 AM on February 17

PNW US here. I always catch jumping spiders that are in the house (using the glass and paper method) and set them free outside because they are outdoor spiders and so they don't want to be in the house in the first place - and also something about the way they see you and they sort of lift up their front legs and look at you makes me feel more empathy for them. Sometimes if the jumping spiders are in a room that I don't use much, I just leave them be, because they don't wander any further than the windowsill. I do, however, kill other types of spiders if they are in the house ... especially if they are in my bedroom ... but I always feel a little grim doing it.
posted by SageTrail at 6:13 AM on February 17

From the US. I mostly leave spiders alone, because they eat bugs and there are very few that are a threat to me. I've used to cup trick for ones I think are in the house by mistake.

Many people are scared of spiders or have been culturally trained to dislike and kill spiders, but it's not universal. Removing a small animal from one's house using a bowl and piece of paper or cardboard is a common trick, and it's silly if this commercial made it out to be uniquely Australian. Maybe more common, I have no way to know, but not unique.

It reminds me of how every so often I see keeping a bag full of plastic grocery bags for re-use attributed to some group or another. "You know you're X if..."
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:18 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Spiders and house centipedes are always welcome in our condo. Bees and wasps are politely escorted out. Flies, ants, grubs, larvae and moths get dead.

Simple, selfish math: If you are a bug and are here to eat my stuff, you are going to be killed. If you are here accidentally, you can go about your business outside. If you eat things that are here to eat my stuff, you are a friend of the family.

(Naturalized Canadian, raised in the US.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:19 AM on February 17 [3 favorites]

I catch and release every living thing except cockroaches, which I find viscerally repulsive (this makes it logistically difficult to kill them, but I do what I have to do), mosquitoes (because I take bloodsucking personally), and fleas (same). I generally like all bugs other than roaches, am not scared of them, and find it upsetting if I inadvertently cause them harm.

I particularly like spiders of all sizes, praying mantises, and crickets (even though crickets can be really, really annoying when they get inside and hide).
posted by confluency at 6:20 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

(Sorry; to be clear, I'm not in the US/Canada, but also not in Australia. I'm an immigrant in my country, so it's unclear whether this attitude to bugs comes from a particular place.)
posted by confluency at 6:22 AM on February 17

I don’t know if it’s a national identity kind of thing at all, but I either try and relocate bugs and spiders from my house (except flies… they get smushed), or let them be (I have a resident barn funnel weaver in my basement that we leave alone and she leaves us alone). I’m Canadian, but I know other Canadians (my husband included) who prefer to smush the critters rather than relocate.
posted by eekernohan at 6:30 AM on February 17

I rescue them. I photograph them. I've made little terrarium homes for them. I'm a fan of the YouTube series "These are the Spiders in Your House". I've made tiny bead-and-wire spiders.

I think everyone I know at least rescues them from the house.

I did put one outside in the middle of a cold spell. That did not go well.
posted by amtho at 6:50 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I'm in the US, this is something my mom believed in doing, and now I do too. Although lately the spiders in my house seem to stay toward the ceiling, so I just leave em' be (I figure they help with the mosquitoes in summer). Cockroaches are a toy for my cat, and loud flies get swatted.
posted by coffeecat at 7:38 AM on February 17

I'm in Alberta. Spiders are left alone, or relocated if they want to live in a 'bad' spot.
Other insects, up to and including wasps, are put outside. Glass and paper for anything that might cause pain or choose to fly, and just whatever method for more chill fellows.
posted by Acari at 8:30 AM on February 17

I used to be petrified of any bugs I found in the house, and would defer to killing them because I couldn't handle the thought of them being in my space.

Sometime in the last 5-7 years, I got tender-hearted about bugs*, and now I do everything I can to either leave them be or relocate them outside. I won't relocate a house centipede because I still have a primal terror of them, so I just leave them alone and hope they go away.

I grew up and currently live in Minnesota. My parents were bug-killers, so I don't know where my bug-saving instincts came from.

* With two exceptions: wasps and mosquitos. If I find those in my house, I will straight-up murder them.
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 8:30 AM on February 17

when I think of Australian and spiders I immediately imagine some Aussies discovering a huntsman scuttling around and then trying to find some Tupperware and plate that’s large enough to relocate the spider without amputating a leg.

If you like, you can think of this Australian as encouraging the huntsman to crawl onto his hand, taking it outside and letting it step off into the hedge from whichever bit of him it's ended up riding on.

I trained myself out of a severe spider phobia in my mid twenties because it was easy to imagine it killing me (the huntsman plopping into the lap from behind the sun visor at highway speeds scenario) and in forty years of relocating huntsman spiders by hand I've never had a bite off one, big gentle fuzzy mosquito-hunting darlings that they are. Only reason I take them outside is if some other household member asks me to, or if they're showing evidence of not having had the wit to stay out of reach of the cats.
posted by flabdablet at 8:37 AM on February 17 [4 favorites]

Canadian

All bets are off if I find you in my bed, but anywhere else you're a welcome guest, even you Creepy Peepy (nesting up above my shower, surely an inauspicious hunting spot)

Once a shipment of chemical arrived at my former workplace and the stowaway on the pallet was a black widow, the one guy shrieked, my buddy and I rounded her up in a clear plastic cup and he drove her to the Bug Room at Edmonton's Science Centre. The guy in the Bug Room received her with joy, immediately (and gently) released her onto his hand and exclaimed "What a beauty!"
posted by ginger.beef at 8:39 AM on February 17 [5 favorites]

Catch & release. Except when we were in California and got black widows in the garage 🥲 all other spiders just get escorted out.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:40 AM on February 17

(And it hurt every time; black widows are gorgeous and shy! but we had little kids )
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:41 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

In the US, I think it goes both ways. It may depend on where you are in the US - we have some areas with dangerous/hurtful spiders and some of our spiders are really hideously creepy and others will charge you. We too murder black widows in our household, but other spiders are relocated.

There is a superstition that if you kill a spider it will rain...that's generally considered a bad thing, but there are areas in the US where there is significant drought...sooo....
posted by Toddles at 8:43 AM on February 17

So it wasn't about how Australians see themselves, but rather how US advertising executives see Australians, if that makes sense.

It makes sense if you don't realize that multinationals have regional offices responsible for local markets. Probably an Australian sitting in Australia wrote that ad to flatter Australians.

Anyway, obviously Americans are familiar with the concept of spider rescue, but I think anyone trying to estimate its prevalence is pulling that out of their ass.
posted by umwelt at 8:49 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Spiders and my human household have a treaty. It is the personal space bubble treaty, and if spiders are found crossing that bubble, then they get smushed. If spiders are minding their business but in a shared space such as in a shower that I am not using, or on the kitchen counter away from where they would normally be enjoying ants or gnats, I do my best to chide them back to a better spot using puffs of air and sometimes junk mail or other tools - never touching them or encapsulating them in anything I then have to hold. If spiders are on the ceiling, or under furniture, in an out of the way corner or tucked up along some trim, I leave them to do their jobs. If they make webs in doorways I constantly ruin the webs so they build them elsewhere. Spiders are allowed almost everywhere outside, except doorways and across tight path spaces. I am definitely arachnophobic and have been working to slowly get braver for my whole life, but it’s really hard for me. Typically if spiders are inside the house they are already house spiders and would not do well outside, so it’s either be ignored or smushed. I’ve lived in the American south, mid Atlantic, northeast, and now the Pacific Northwest, and my spider policy has remained consistent, though my personal space bubble has shrunk over the decades.

My best friend growing up in the mid Atlantic did the spider in a cup with paper taken outside thing. My cousins from Texas do this also. My dad from Maine will do it if he determines it to be a beneficial spider, especially during horse fly season. I do not think this is an Australian character trait at all. On the other hand, being blasé about spiders the size of a salad plate is definitely Australian to me. I would freak out just being in the same space as one. I can’t even look at pet tarantulas. Nope nope nope.
posted by Mizu at 8:54 AM on February 17

I now live in AZ (have lived in several US places, plus copenhagen).

Spiders are friends. I do not hurt the friend spiders, nor do I relocate them.

Jumpies (crickets or grasshoppers or some such) are loud and so they get evicted with a “grave q good day sir or ma’am”.

Silverfish I squish. And scorpions — I’ve only found one once and it had just molted so was vulnerable; we put it outside. If I ever find one in a state to fight, I do not know if I will kill it, trap it, or run away. All options are on the table.

Note that although US spiders are friend spiders, I do not know if that feeing transfers to eg huntsmen.
posted by nat at 10:17 AM on February 17

New Zealand here, We both do this in our home. Why kill anyone who is just living their life? Bugs are beautiful, although I admit some of our spiders are quite large.

I think most people here use poison sprays but that ends up killing people too - eventually.
posted by unearthed at 10:51 AM on February 17

This was an Old Spice ad made in the US for an Australian audience (featuring the "I'm on a horse" man).

So it wasn't about how Australians see themselves, but rather how US advertising executives see Australians, if that makes sense.

This doesn’t mean that no Australians were involved in writing this ad. Typically if a massive corporation is spending tv commercial money on advertising to a specific region, they aren’t just going purely off their own personal preconceptions of that region.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:55 AM on February 17

I, like most on this thread, had a "relocate outside" policy towards spiders. *However* I have recently learned that the typical house spider in Alberta does not survive outside. So relocating outside is no better than squishing (from the spider's perspective, and my parter's, who is pro-spider as long as they don't crawl over her face at night). This learning has led to a temporary moratorium on relocation.
posted by bumpkin at 11:07 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

No spider relocation for me in Texas. Spiders are welcome in my home, bless their roach eating hearts. I am gazing fondly at my wolf spider fren in his web complex above my front door and I dote on my li'l jumping spider that lives behind my keyboard. Spiders in the bathroom are on their own and sometimes get deaded by the Dread Cat Sir Impey Biggs as he plays with them.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 12:03 PM on February 17 [2 favorites]

I will relocate spiders if they are in an inconvenient or dangerous to them location (e.g. tub when I'm about to shower) but otherwise I appreciate their service. I have two feline bug hunters in the house who think moths and flies and spiders are for their entertainment, and usually by the time I notice it's too late to rescue anyone (although they will also sit staring fixedly at a spot on the floor that previously held a spider, despite said spider making itself scarce, and I can't tell if they're gaslighting me or themselves).

Ants, on the other hand...
posted by gingerbeer at 12:40 PM on February 17

Depends on the kind of spider. Pholicidae hang out on my ceilings spinning annoying cobwebs until they die of starvation anyway, so I hasten the process for them - I'd just be tearing their legs off if I tried to relocate them. I also get a couple widow (latrodectus) varieties in the house sometimes that get terminated with extreme prejudice. Other kinds I leave alone.
posted by LionIndex at 1:00 PM on February 17

Occasionally spiders get a pass and stay in the window or on a house plant, mostly they get moved. Usually they are wolf spiders, and I think they're happier outside. I do the move with paper and a glass, most often I call Mr. BlueHorse, who either uses the same technique, or in the case of a dangling spider, grabs the web and yoyos them until they get out the door. It's a method that's beyond my spidey skills. The one spider that never gets mercy is a Black Widow. We don't get all that many spiders--perhaps the cats discourage them.

We don't get many bugs inside either, and the ones we get are whacked--nobody loves flies, earwigs, and elm beetles.
posted by BlueHorse at 1:33 PM on February 17

Unless it's a black widow or similar, I let them be. I don't even put them outside, I assume that if I have them there's stuff for them to eat that I don't want around anyway. I even put out a scorpion when we were living in Phoenix, that was short-lived though, I hate killing anything but I'd hate to see my wife or my cat get stung more.
posted by licentious_modulations at 4:12 PM on February 17

I'm a soft touch and have a dedicated, large plastic bug cup with cardboard mailer. It's mainly for large spiders, centipedes (relocated to garage, also spiders in the winter) or wasps/bumble bees.

I found a stunned bumble bee last year and put it out back with a drop of honey. It had a long tongue that would uncoil and coil back to eat. Got a cool video of it.
posted by stray thoughts at 4:13 PM on February 17 [2 favorites]

I rescue spiders caught in the house by capturing them with a red solo cup and a thin piece of card stock, and releasing them outside.
posted by Lynsey at 4:27 PM on February 17

USA, I rescue spiders sometimes with the cup/piece of paper route, sometimes with a nifty soft bristle grabber thingy. Some spiders I just let be, depending on where they are (inside my shower they are most certainly rescued and relocated).
posted by annieb at 5:05 PM on February 17

I’m in the US, and am the designated “capture-and-release” person at work, as one of the few folks not afraid of spiders. At home I usually let them be.
posted by sugarbomb at 5:18 PM on February 17

I'm in Toronto, Canada, and I'll trap and release any spiders, millipedes, or other crawly bugs I find. If it's winter and too cold to release outside then I'll put the sliders with a large houseplant but flush the rest down the toilet.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:16 AM on February 18

We rescue pretty much everything except mosquitos and flies. My mother taught me to rescue spiders when I was a small laundry over 50 years ago, so no, it's not necessarily more common now. I taught my kids. Now my granddaughter says hello to the spiders and if they are a problem (like, extremely in your face. Chill spiders are welcome. Spiders who want to get up close and personal, not so much.) we move them outside together.
posted by mygothlaundry at 12:32 PM on February 18

U. S. Citizen here. I just tried to rescue a big spider from a bowl of water in the sink earlier this week. In my household of now two and formerly five people (kids are now grown and moved out), I am the only one that would do this. Sadly, the spider had drowned overnight and was unresponsive.

I would have just let it go on the kitchen counter—it’s below zero (in *real Fahrenheit degrees*) here this time of year. Just a single datapoint, sorry.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 6:54 PM on February 18

US. I rescue bugs, especially spiders. I used to relocate them to the basement in my last two homes if they were of sufficient size to be alarming. Current place doesn't have a basement, but I also don't see spiders or anything else very often, and when I do, I leave them to their business or kind of encourage them to run behind some furniture. If I see house centipedes, I leave a cap of water out where it's accessible to them.

Exceptions: I will kill mosquitos, leave out various types of bait for ants (usually Terro), and reluctantly euthanize stink bugs, though I'd rather just take them outside. Moths will usually get themselves killed via a refusal to leave even though I try to help them out.

None of this is a family thing: I was raised by a mother who is terrified of and disgusted by bugs and will kill on sight (she no longer does this around me, and I've tried to explain stuff to her like how house centipedes are not pests and not an infestation -- as an example, when she saw centipedes in one of her places, she assumed they had come in the boxes from the last one where she'd seen a few while moving out, and was kind of dismayed and ashamed, and I was like, no, trust me, they are endemic to the area, they were already there, and you should be glad you have them because it means you won't have roaches). I'm more grossed out by squishing a bug and disposing of it than I am by catch and release. And spiders and house centipedes are our pals, so I have learned to leave them alone. I pretty much never encounter them in places where I wouldn't want to encounter one.
posted by verbminx at 1:17 AM on February 19