Do you ever feel guilty about killing pests?

[Gringo]

Poll question: Do you ever feel guilty about killing pests?

Sometimes I kinda do, but I kill, kill, and kill again. Especially cockroaches (those of you who've lived in S. Florida know about the cockroaches here).

[VermontDem2004]

1. I rarely have to kill

But when I get ants in my kitchen I whip out the spray, I am sorry I deserve the death penalty.

[Loonman]

2. I don't kill anything unless it is directly pestering in a harmful way

I let spiders live and thrive, but houseflies only live 72 hours, anyway.

I don't think we ever have to worry about cockroaches going extinct, they were here before us, and will be here long after.

[La_Serpiente]

3. I Kill Centipedes on the spot

n/t

[ZenLefty]

4. I let all spiders live

Mainly because they'll kill other bugs in the house. ZenLeftyGirl won't allow the big spiders in the house so I take them outside. Really, I do.

Centipedes I kill on sight. They get big here. You can't just step on them, you have to go and get a weapon.

[bearfan454]

5. If I walk up on a rattlesnake, I have no problem killing it.

Coyotes either.

[the_boxer_]

19. Coyotes? Why?

[omshanti]

6. I get my cat to do it, that way I don't feel so guilty.

He is a pest-eating machine!

[commander bunnypants]

7. Even though spiders freak me out

I leave them alone

DDQM

[Skittles]

8. If I can scoop it up in a jar and toss it outside I do so

for example, I NEVER kill a spider. My rationalization is I like them, but I just don't want them in my residence. It's not that much extra effort to catch the little guy and put him outside. But anything that bites is a gonner.

[ZenLefty]

9. Spiders bite

And yet they live. That's a double standard; what have you got against ants and wasps anyway? :P

[Skittles]

25. HUH

the only spider that ever bit me was one of those brown recluses - in a storage closet in my patio - my foot swelled up like a basketball. And that sucker got away! :(

[ZenLefty]

32. Bitten by a brown recluse?

Those things are bad effing news. They can kill a person.

Black widows bite pretty good too. Not quite a basketball swelling, more like somewhere between a golf and a tennis ball.

How about those furry wolf spiders? Not only can they bite, but they can JUMP a good 4-5 feet!! Aerial assault by spider.

[THUNDER HANDS]

10. I will only kill yellow jackets

because they can sting me. Everything else is live and let live.

BTW, a great way to get rid of pests is marijuana smoke. So if you happen to live near any hippies or Phish fans, let them come over and "fumigate" your house for you. :D

[pezcore64]

11. ....

Well, I dunno about that marijuana claim...
I smoke pot regularly in a particular room in my house and just this past summer I was invaded by an army of ants. The pot didnt seem to bother them much. They didnt like the raid tho ;)
now some animals dont care much for marijuana smoke, but thats because they dont care for smoke. weird how we are the only animal who takes joy in breathing smoke. The fact that other animals run from it shoulda been warning enough to smokers. ;)

Anywho
Anything that can bite me, sting me, make me itch, crawl all over me, and/or eat my food will hafta perish in the name of my survival ;)
Spiders die. Cause I dunno what kinda spider it is..maybe its deadly? how do i know? why take the chance just to get rid of some random bugs he might see in the course of a few days? Eeek. Thats all Id need, some crazy spider that lays eggs in your skin crawling all over me while im asleep. going in my mouth and up my nose and in my ears and other openings... EEK! ack! no!
heh

[Nikia]

16. It doesn't keep mice away

I saw mice on two separate instances at my friends' house who both smoke very heavily. When I mentioned something about it, they said that they had caught several more in traps. I didn't notice any bugs in their house though.

[DuctapeFatwa]

12. I have never even fired a shot in the nation's capital

Therefore have no reason to feel guilt.

[the_boxer_]

22. Heeheeheheh DuctapeFatwa!

:yourock:

[zbdent]

13. No, but after they've rung my doorbell and asked for a donation

and I looked into those soulless eyes and saw the utter devotion to their lobotomy, . . .

[RebelOne]

14. Oh yeah, I remember the cockroaches, especially the flying ones.

But we have some big ones up here in Georgia. I always have a can of Raid in hand during the summer.

[forgethell]

15. Only

human ones.

[Nikia]

17. I consider it bad luck

I think that something bad will happen to me if I take another creature's life. The exception that I make is mosquitos, especially if they are in the act of biting me.

[the_boxer_]

18. I don't like to kill anything...

A dead cockroach is fine..but I don't kill spiders or crickets or much of anything else. If they ain't bothering me, I'm not bothering them.

[Bucky]

20. Did you say "pests" or "pets"?

Not that it'd change my answer

[citizen snips]

21. I kill pests.

Only if they get on my nerves.

[patdem]

23. I recall catching a free flying plant sperm and feeling guilty

that I had no right to stop that plant from traveling on the air to its ultimate destination. I hope I did not destroy it by catching it...I released it onto fertile ground. I think life will win over death every day.

[amazona]

24. if they're indoors they're dead meat

I don't feel even a little bit bad about killing rats, mice, roaches, etc. I don't care how little and cute the mice are. They are in my house without permission.

For that matter, fire ants may be outside but they are the worst pests in the parish, and I would feel terrific if I ever actually succeeded in killing any. You don't really kill fire ants though -- you just move them around. :-(

The pest tree that I kill without mercy is the Chinese tallow (popcorn tree) but my efforts are all for naught. When we are gone, the entire state of Louisiana will be Chinese tallow trees!

[Blade]

26. If it has six legs, crawls...

and annoys me, I smash the bug! Woot!

I don't like to kill spiders, however, because they do more good than harm, even thought I hate the damned things.

[midnight armadillo]

27. Animals outdoor=fine, Animals indoor=vermin

Bugs inside are killed, with the exception of smaller spiders hanging out near doors/windows since they'll get the bugs too. Same with mice, etc.

Outdoors, it's live and let live, unless a hornet's nest takes up residence by the mailbox or something.

[everythingsxen]

28. I have what I call "The Pact" with nature...

I consider myself, in regard to other creatures (excluding humans), a wolf or spider or venomous serpent. I will readily kill any other critter that crosses my path if I am in need of food or if they violate my territory. "Territory" in this sense means a 1 foot radius around me. If something violates that area, it does so at it's own peril.

I feel no remorse for the action, as I know that were I to violate another critters turf, it would do the same to me.

That being said, I try to avoid killing as much as possible, especially lately. It usually comes up most with spiders though, whom I feel a kinship with. I always feel bad when I kill them, but I have warned them time and again to not decend on weblines right in front of me when I wake up in the morning. That just creeps me out.

Still I should be more forgiving I guess, afterall I've never suffered a major spider bite. Plus the spiders are always friendly and wanting to get close to me...

As an aside, growing up after I moved from one house to another, I found out there was a *massive* nest of brown recluse spiders living in between by bed and the wall it was next to. That I never suffered one bite... most impressive.

[TXlib]

30. You just gave me a full-body skin crawl!!!

A massive nest of brown recluses next to your bed?

*shiver*

[everythingsxen]

33. Yeah..

It made my skin crawl when I found out about it...

I had actually had recurring dreams of swarms of spiders crawling over me for several months. Apparently I knew before I knew. ;-)

[slackmaster]

29. It depends on what kind of pest

Ants in my house must die. Most here are Argentine which aren't indigenous to the area anyway.

I've never had a cockroach in my house, but all cockroaches must die.

Rats potentially carry plague and therefore must die.

Mice get relocated if my cat doesn't get to them first.

All reptiles get relocated. That includes rattlesnakes, unless they are big enough to be worth eating.

Scorpions get relocated.

Spiders get relocated unless they are brown recluses or black widows. They either die or get relocated where no human is likely to encounter them.

Hey Gringo: Do you have crabs? I mean the terrestrial blue ones.

[TXlib]

31. Spiders I always try to save

I catch them in a glass and throw them outside.

Pretty much everything else I kill.

We have Mediterranean Geckos here, too. I usually see them on the outside of our windows. They eat a prodigous amount of bugs, so if I catch one inside, I gently transfer it outside. I'd leave the geckos inside our house alone altogether if it weren't for our cats, or my fear they will eventually die of starvation. I've found a couple of dessicated, dead geckos in our house.

[ArkDem]

34. I let all life live. I only eat fruit that has fallen from it's source.

Be a FRUITARIAN!!!