Would you kill a spider?

I have to ask.  I want to know how many people would honestly kill a spider.

Think about it.  A helpless spider that wants nothing more than to crawl about our walls and floors freely in search of food.  It thinks it's doing no harm.  It has no idea if we're petrified of it.

So do we consider it's feelings and let it continue to crawl about?  Do we scoop it up on a piece of paper and take it outside?  Or do we get out our best shoes and stomp on it?

Personally I'm going to kill the bugger.  I won't go near it with my shoe, but I will get a spray bottle full of harsh chemicals and douse it.  When it's sickly an half-dead, then I'll smash it with a broom handle or something  But only because I'm afraid the chemicals may morph it into some super spider that would later kick my ass.

My theory is if you don't kill it but you tick it off, it's going to come after you when you're sleeping.

I am a spider assassin

I kill all spiders inside my place. I sure as hell don't want spiders crawling all over me when I am sleeping. That is a real phobia of mine -- and unfortunately, I am not kidding!! If I saw a spider outside I would not kill it. Unless it was really big. And running after me or something.

I smush spiders with a paper towel (need lots of protection between my skin and dead spider guts), then flush it down the toilet to ensure the spider is gone and will not crawl on me when I am sleeping. Sad, I know... but effective.

I used to live with a guy that was "Buddhist" and would not kill spiders. I use quotes b/c he also got into huge brawls at bars with regularity. Um, yeah.... "Buddhist."

My wife forces me to kill spiders.  I'm a tortured man.

I watched on a show one time that its estimated we eat approximatly 7 spiders pr yr in our sleep. so that one you killed might mean one less bugger to eat!

if its one of the "innocent" looking ones, I'll take it outside...if its a brown-recluse looking spider (even remotely) I'll stomp it.

i leave them because they eat other insects that i do not like at all. i'll take a spider over a silverfish or something gross. also i get ants and flies in the house during summer and having lotsa spider webs around the house keeps them in control.

spiders are cool!

i had a spider living in my car for a while. a few months. i considered it a pet.

 

I don't kill them myself, I make my husband do it ;)

I hate spiders, but I can't handle if they "crunch" when you kill it

I have an irrational fear that the spider will jump on me when I try to swat it, so I just name them & pretend they're pets.

Original Post by angiethe1_2005:

I watched on a show one time that its estimated we eat approximatly 7 spiders pr yr in our sleep. so that one you killed might mean one less bugger to eat!

YAY!! I am not as crazy as I thought I was!!! ;-) I wonder how much protein is in a spider. Anyone?

I think my lowest point of dealing with my spider fear is the day I used a can of aerosol hair spray and a lighter.  I set a curtain on fire, but those spiders were crispy when I was done.

Edit to add: VERY DANGEROUS.  DO NOT ATTEMPT UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!

I am a spider lover. I put them in a glass and put them outside. If they are in the basement I leave them alone. The wife hates it, but now she doesn't kill them either. My daughter is totally paranoid of them. She cannot get with in 2 feet of them, like they are going to attack her or something. So when I find a big one, guess what I do with it...I am sooo mean!!!

Even though this was one of my favorite books when I was a kid....

I kill them.

If they are very big and scary looking, I spray them with hair spray to slow them down before I stomp them.  (Any aerosol spray will suffocate them though, because of how their lung works.)

I do feel bad about it, but not bad enough to stop doing it.

I reckon I'm building up some bad karma points from this, but I hope I offset them with the nicer stuff I do.

I kill most spiders. If I can somehow get it to crawl onto a piece of paper and chuck it outside, I'll do it.

I never kill "daddy long legs". Those always go outside. 

I kill any living thing I find inside my house except my two kids and my two cats.  Invited guests are safe unless they overstay their welcome.

i have a huge phobia of spiders, my older brothers put one of those massive house spiders on my bed (with me still in it) woke me up and watched me scream... *shudders* then throught the years they have cupped there hands, said they've got a spider and "thrown" it at me... they didn't of course but it's really had me on edge ever since.

Though if it's a good spider, doesn't scuttle around and allows me to put it in a cup... i'll chuck it out. But rarely (ever since i got on in a cup, tried to chuck it out of my bedroom window and the damn spider was still clinging to the cup, so i dropped the glass cup... damn spider)

Mainly I just call my brother, use a hoover or if i have a handy slipper...

Hey feanor, I do the same thing!!!!! I always carry the daddy longlegs outside!!! But i usually kill all the other ones!!!

I have a system. Wolf Spiders get to live - they crack me up. The way they scoot around like angry English bulldogs...I don't know. They make me laugh! Black widows I kill after ascertaining their hourglass...but, always make sure to stomp these ones, because they will crawl back up drains and from toilet flushings! EEK! They are the "Alien" of the spider world. I am not the Ripley, unfortunately. Everything else lives unless I get scared and overreact...that happens a bit.

I leave Daddy Long legs alone- even if in my house- I have a one in my shower that I say hi to every morning...

Black widows I leave alone IF they are outside- but if they are inside my house then I will kill them.  There was a small, brownish spider running across my daughter's floor this morning and I tried to catch it to kill it but it was quicker then me and ran where I couldn't find it... I'm hoping the cat will find it and kill it.... or that it will just stay out of the way and live it's life...

Inside, they die without exception.

Outside, as long as it isn't near a door, I tend to leave them alone.

Once I am done screaming and running around like a crazy person I attemt to kill it. With about 20 layers of paper towels some spray cleaner, air freshner, perfume, hair spray really anything I can get my hands onto spray it dead. (just in cause I can't smoosh it) 

Then once it is dead I again go around freaking out and screaming eeewwww!!!!!!! I must look so riddiculous :P