shoo it outside or squish it?

[demimondaine]

I love creepy crawlies I like to take them outside and see where they go from there. I will sometimes think about the spider, bettle, ETC later on and wonder where it ended up at lol

likewise, ha!

 

[Blackmail!]

I already live with at least one hundred plants in my living room. So it's normal they attract a kind of ecosystem. I even tolerate tropical wasps and jumping spiders. Of course they could sting me, so I have to be careful. But it's even funnier to observe them hunting flies.

Of course, this pocket ecosystem is not allowed to reach my bedroom, but when you know which species are interacting there, it's easy to control its parameters. Most species are very territorial, so they never really try to escape. Plus they would die outside, because of the cold, dry European climate.
As a matter of principle, I never use any kind of poison or insecticide, especially in my flat. It's a biological garden.
Sometimes, I even fed some of "my" insects-friends on purpose, especially during winter times, when available food is scarce.

Having my own jungle also means benefiting from a few advantages: there never were any roach, tick, aphid or mosquitoe in my flat, since they are immediately hunted by vicious predators.
Even mice get hunted: I've already witnessed the scene.
The only issue are leeches and slugs: I have to set Beer traps amongst my plants to get their population under control.

 

[ragashree]

^ You maintain your own rainforest ecosystem in your house, complete with killer wasps, bloodsucking leeches, and mouse-eating spiders? Christ, Blackmail, I don't think anyone's going to outdo you on bug tolerance in this thread! You are the unofficial TypoC eco-hero!

 

[Blackmail!]

^ You maintain your own rainforest ecosystem in your house, complete with killer wasps, bloodsucking leeches, and mouse-eating spiders? Christ, Blackmail, I don't think anyone's going to outdo you on bug tolerance in this thread! You are the unofficial TypoC eco-hero!

Since my ground surface is rather scarce, I have designed my own variant of vertical garden -I have lot of sunlight and a very high ceiling-. Epiphytes and vines are perfect for that.

Well, like I said, wasps aren't such a problem. Even when one of them gets stuck around a lamp, it's not that difficult to remove it: you just have to be very quiet and careful; I've never been stung this way, nor the people I invite for dinner (smoking is totally forbidden).

Oh. And you should also take extra care to clean the kitchen very thoroughly, so you do not attract them there with sweet perfumes.
But since I open my windows on a daily basis, many of them try to escape anyway. They can't get very far, unfortunately for them...

Most tropical spiders are territorial so they self-regulate their numbers. They do not like to wander very far away from their silk nest, well hidden within old leaves and pine chips. You just have to know them, that's all. Basically, they're harmless but fun to observe.

Small tiny leeches, on the other hand, can be a real pest, even they do not survive very long once they're far away from ferns and moss (they require me to put gloves on when I'm working around those plants). If I could totally get rid of them, I would.

 

[Moonstone3]

lets over analyze...

That all depends... Is it harmful? Do you have children? Do you have an allergy to the bug? Is it angry? I'd have to say squish in most cases. I always tell myself while squishing, " Self, this is your turf. This bug has entered your dwelling. Defend it." Maybe that's just so I can rationalize the killing. Of course then I sound like "the white man" taking pieces of Earth I feel entitled to and making up rules about it. But I am know to be a master of justification...

 

[ThinkingAboutIt]

Since my ground surface is rather scarce, I have designed my own variant of vertical garden -I have lot of sunlight and very high ceiling-. Epiphytes and vines are perfect for that.

Well, like I said, wasps aren't such a problem. Even when one of them gets stuck around a lamp, it's not that difficult to remove it: you just have to be very quiet and careful; I've never been stung this way, nor the people I invite for dinner (smoking is totally forbidden).

Oh. And you should also take extra care to clean the kitchen very thoroughly, so you do not attract them there with sweet perfumes.
But since I open my windows on a daily basis, many of them try to escape anyway. They can't get very far, unfortunately for them...

Most tropical spiders are territorial so they self-regulate their numbers. They do not like to get very far away from their silk nest, well hidden within old leaves and pine chips. You just have to know them, that's all. Basically, they're harmless but fun to observe.

Small tiny leeches, on the other hand, can be a real pest, even they do not survive very long once they're far away from from ferns and moss (they require me to put gloves on when I'm working around those plants). If I could totally get rid of them, I would.

How big are those wasps?

I am entirely curious as to what is hunting the mice?

 

[Fluffywolf]

Something else:

Spiders I catch unless they're the kind that chases prey instead of webbing. (I don't like webs, but I do like spiders for keeping my house a little more mosquito free.)

Flies, moths, and other harmless fliers I shoo careful out of the house.

Wasps, especially big ones (queens looking for a nesting area) are killed on sight.

And mosquito's better not show themselves to me, because when I do I get in a killer frenzy.

 

[mrcockburn]

I let them stay. I like spiders. O_O

They're not disgusting, they reduce the other bugs, and I like having them crawl on me.

 

[Aerithria]

Depends on the bug.

Mosquitos die on sight (within reason -- based on the sheer number of mosquitos that exist where I live, I'd be doing nothing but mosquito extermination if I employed this too strictly). Spiders will get left alone unless they're near my room, in which case I move them outside. Weird centipede things live mainly because they move so damned quickly. Flies usually get left because they never stay in one place long enough to be killed, and the Family Guy clip posted earlier illustrates the problem with shooing them outside, heh. Moths, I get someone else to handle it. Crickets I actually find kind of adorable, heh, and if they shut up I leave them; if they don't, I move them to the garage.

 

[tcda]

I regularly squish them, houses are for humans (and pets at a stretch). I've become quite good at it. got a spider bout 10 minutes ago with my shoe.

 

[sui generis]

I take it outdoors unless it is one of those house centipede things, because they disgust me beyond words.

 

[stringstheory]

I usually try to get them outside somehow, unless they are poisonous (and then they shall die). I really dislike the thought of having to take a life simply because its presence annoys me. Unless it's spiders or centipedes, they make me uncomfortable....in that case I will make someone else take care of it.

 

[Amethyst]

Study it.

 

[Asterion]

burn it! or get the vacuum cleaner out and PHHHHSHHHHWOOOP!

My bro found a poisoned mouse at one point, and like any crazy little pyro, he lit it on fire, let the cat play around with it, the put it in the fire-place. I couldn't watch, that's too much.

 

[Words of Ivory]

Pick it up and admire it in my hands for a while, before gently putting it outside.

Bugs intrigue me. They're such intricate little creatures up close, so many little details that escape the eye. Especially spiders.

And the way feel walking on your skin is awesome.

 

[Halla74]

I get the spider up on a piece of paper and let them free in my garden.

 

[mmhmm]

if it's small enough to squish with a shoe and not leave a mess, i squish it.

if it's gonna leave a mess, i make somebody else deal with it.

 

[shmrie]

Most bugs I ignore, if it's a spider, I'll either ignore it or catch it and let it out somewhere in my backyard, if it looks like a blackwidow (the only really poisonous spider in the area), I get my mother, who has some sick obsession with catching black widows and keeping them as pets... for breeding purposes

 

[Rainne]

i create a pathway for it to escape outside and guide the spider through it

if it doesn't respond, well...

 

[musicnerd93]

I either shoo it outside or just ignore it, because I know that I would really hate it if I was just crawling around minding my own business and then a shoe came out of nowhere and pummeled me to my death.