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shoo it outside or squish it?

what do you do if you find an insect in the house?


  • Total voters
    83

Betty Blue

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I don't have many scary bugs in my neck of the woods. The insects tend to be things like ants or house spiders. Although i did have a grasshopper around somewhere. I like to watch them, i'm good with them, when i was a very small girl (around age 2 and 3) i used to kiss earthworms.
Some i'm a bit woosy around but i still mean them no harm except possibly mosquitos, they want my blood so they get splatted.
 

ceecee

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The wonders of living outside of the city and beside a lake. The summers are the worst...mosquitoes suck. :dry:

This is an understatement. It's the only drawback of living on the water. Cuttters Yard Guard is the best thing ever but there are times nothing helps. We won't even discuss may flies. Their numbers are staggering.

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

I have an inexplicable fear of centipedes. I don't shriek or freak out, I actually start hyperventilating. I told ENFJ man about this but I don't think he believed me until he saw it. He and the boys all know to a) remove me from any area containing centipedes and b) kill every single one they find. I have a regular pest service so it's very occasional when once appears.

Once in awhile a lightning bug gets inside. Those get taken out and released. Spiders, it depends on what kind. Normal house ones are fine. Others get killed or taken out.
 

Qre:us

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Shoo it outside. It's a life. I can't justify taking a life with my own hands, just cuz it's in "my" space. Unless it decides to come at me, directly - like, say, a mosquito. Who is after my blood and leaves me with itchy, big red bumps! :horor: [but they are usually not in my house, so they don't count re: OP].

I also have a very real fear of centipedes....for those, I get someone else to deal with it, whichever way they choose (usually by shrieking like a little girl). :blush: [centipedes also don't count re: OP, cuz they're technically not insects...although, spiders, which are also not insects, get shooed out]
 

Qre:us

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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.

That's some psychopathic shit. Is he mentally unstable?
 

highlander

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Why would you shoo any insect out? It's not like they have a soul.
All they have is instinct, no conscious thought.
Besides, they are a menace. And if you let one go, it breeds, creating more.

SQUASH THEM, SWAT THEM, OR SPRAY THEM AND FLUSH THEM DOWN THE TOILET. THERE IS NO MERCY. :D

So those of you that take them outside - I take it you didn't have an insect collection when you were a kid. :)

Animals on the other hand are a different thing. I can't kill animals.
 

prplchknz

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Shoo it outside. It's a life. I can't justify taking a life with my own hands, just cuz it's in "my" space. Unless it decides to come at me, directly - like, say, a mosquito. Who is after my blood and leaves me with itchy, big red bumps! :horor: [but they are usually not in my house, so they don't count re: OP].

I also have a very real fear of centipedes....for those, I get someone else to deal with it, whichever way they choose (usually by shrieking like a little girl). :blush: [centipedes also don't count re: OP, cuz they're technically not insects...although, spiders, which are also not insects, get shooed out]

the way i see it is if something bigger then us that made as look like bug size to them, then I'd fully expect to be squashed if I was in their space, so fair is fair.
 

Qre:us

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the way i see it is if something bigger then us that made as look like bug size to them, then I'd fully expect to be squashed if I was in their space, so fair is fair.

The fact that you can even reason that there is a "space" that is yours while I highly doubt the insects have any understanding that they're in "your" space.

If you're saying that the consequence for being in "your space" is their death - and they have no understanding that it is, indeed, your space - how can you then expect the insect [to understand] that they'll be squished?

How is that fair?

You expect to be squished when you're in someone else's space, that is bigger than you...because you have a highly complex brain that can process this. Insects don't expect any such things because they are unable to think in such ways....

You have a highly complex brain - that can reason, understand and contemplate ethics, morality, etc., etc.....it allows you choice over your actions, and understanding of why you make the choices that you do. Think about it.
 

strychnine

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I used to "shriek for someone else to deal with it" when I was a kid. Now I usually squish it -- I realized it was too ruthless to drown it in some kind of cleaner like I used to so I tend to kill it faster now.

I would shoo it outside but it's a bit hard to get it down 17 storeys to the outside world...

I got bitten by a spider as a kid. It made a boil on the back of my leg and there was pus coming out of it...naturally I went to the doctor and it healed alright, but since then I will not go to sleep with a spider anywhere near me. It's not worth it.
 
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It depends on my mind frame at that moment. Sometimes I'll capture them and set them free. I think since I'm the one intruding on their land, I have no right to kill them. Other times I kill them, because that's what happens when predators encounter prey and I don't really have an obligation to let them live.
 

Chaotic Harmony

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say you find a spider or something in your house... what do you do? :huh:

and why?! :holy:

Depending on the size.... I'll either try and shoo it away from me. I don't care if it stays in the house, just as long as it stays away from me.... But if it's some humongous spider I shriek like a little girl and make someone else deal with it.

When I was living in an apartment alone I had one that was the size of the diameter of a coke can come running at me... I pinned it under a glass and left it there... A week later it was still alive... I finally ended up wiggling a piece of paper under the glass and tossed it outside... And it tried to run back in!? :shock:

Most of the time though... I'll admit... I scream like a little girl at the sight of a spider... The only thing that causes me to shriek worse than when I see a spider is when I encounter anything that could sting me... Bee, wasp, hornet... I'll run around in circles screaming like a girl. :blush:
 
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I have never dealt with really large spiders before, but spiders tend to leave me alone and do their own thing in their own corner. I wouldn't kill a spider of reasonable size, because they're beneficial for me and they will leave if there are no bugs in the house for them to eat.

Vermins get sprayed. If I can catch them, that is. Bees get appreciated, since they mostly fly in, realise there's nothing for them, and fly back out. Ladybirds get thrown out of the window, since they're not fast and will crawl on a piece of paper.

I once had a dying bee come into my room, covered with little bugs that were trying to feed off it. At first I tried to get the bugs off it to save the bee, but it was just too many, so I ended up killing it together with the bugs on it. Life is so futile sometimes.
 

Saturnal Snowqueen

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Put it outside, or just let it beebop around the place doing its own thing. Bugs are a fascinating part of nature, so I like to watch them roam around and see where they go, maybe they'll be eating a leaf or rubbing their hands together evilly or making a nest. Plus, I just feel bad about squishing things.
 

SirCanSir

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Depends on how close it is to the door. If its a roach or something i perceive as dangerous/too disgusting - definitely squish
 
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