Insects: To kill or not to kill?

I ******* hate cockroaches. I will probably move out of my place if I see one.

Now spiders are don't care about as long as they are not huge or poisonous.. I'll probably kill a black widow in the shoe closet, but normal house spiders are my peeps, they can hang out and kill the other worthless bugs. I found that as I get older I really just don't care that much anymore.

i dunno why we let mosquitos continue to live.

I simply kill insects that kill other insects because I do not believe in the killing of insects, and I am willing to enforce this if necessary; even if that means being contrary to my beliefs.

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

Click to expand...

Spiders, wasps, and bees (and frogs, anoles, and geckos, for that matter) get caught and put outside. Everything else dies a furious, violent death.

Once upon a night in India, I scared two geckos to keep them outside, and not fall in my bed during the night. One braved me and got in anyway. It then proceded to eat the 50-100 musquitos that had been attracted by my reading light, in about half an hour all the while running over the ceiling and walls.

One of the greatest (wildlife) experiences ever.


I've lived a sheltered live.

My rule of thumb is: always kill bugs.

Cockroaches and mosquitos have no purpose in life. Those must be eliminated.

Tread lightly, fellows.



lefty

Originally Posted by Caesar Augustus

Click to expand...

I simply kill insects that kill other insects because I do not believe in the killing of insects, and I am willing to enforce this if necessary; even if that means being contrary to my beliefs.

This makes a lot of sense to me.

Originally Posted by Manton

Click to expand...

You really catch wasps? I hate those bastards. I use chem/bio on them.

Originally Posted by fuji

Click to expand...

If its a big one and im particularly bored I wound it, wrap it in tissue paper, set it on fire and throw it out my window. If they can escape from a flaming ball of paper, flying through the sky partially crushed then they deserve to live.

LOLed at both.

When I was a kid I used to torch insects with hairspray and a lighter.

There aren't any insects in my current place, but in a duplex I was once living in, there'd be little centipedes. Those things freak me the **** out. I'd use a vacuum to get them. I've never liked squashing them because i don't want squashed insects on my floor. I find that the vacuum dispatches them cleanly. I make sure to cover the nozzle of the vacuum for a minute or two after getting them to make sure they die in there (lack of oxygen) and don't later crawl out.

Originally Posted by Caesar Augustus

Click to expand...

I simply kill insects that kill other insects because I do not believe in the killing of insects, and I am willing to enforce this if necessary; even if that means being contrary to my beliefs.

Well technically speaking it's not contrary to your beliefs, as you appear moreso to harbor the consequential belief of 'minimizing the suffering of insects' than the act-oriented 'killing insects is wrong' (in that you justify your killing by the consequence of less suffering to the insects). So if your killing reduces the overall suffering of the insects then it is morally justifiable from the utilitarian perspective.

Originally Posted by XenoX101

Click to expand...

Well technically speaking it's not contrary to your beliefs, as you appear moreso to harbor the consequential belief of 'minimizing the suffering of insects' than the act-oriented 'killing insects is wrong' (in that you justify your killing by the consequence of less suffering to the insects). So if your killing reduces the overall suffering of the insects then it is morally justifiable from the utilitarian perspective.

This makes a lot of sense to me.

Yeah, it's pretty situational. If it is not a major threat to me it lives. I have all kinds of **** running around here at work. The guy in the pic was running around my office the other day. We recently had a black widow infestation that was so bad I thought armageddon was imminent. I wanted to kill them but they were so thick I was sure another one would bite me in retribution

Leave alone:
spiders. unless there's a girl with me in which case i take them outside.

Take outside:
Weta
stick insects
ladybugs

Kill:
flies
cockroaches
centipedes

I will kill a damn skeet. But, contrary to my wife's wishes, I really would rather let spiders live.

Lived in what was essentially a shed for a year in Costa Rica, although it had a bathroom. In said bathroom was a big ass spider. He let me **** in peace. I let him live. I think we developed a mutual respect that I will forever cherish.

Cockroaches, flies and mosquitos are on my perennial hit list. All others are free to come and go as they please. In some cases (stinging critters, etc) I may remove and relocate outside. Unless you are out to ******* blood, ******** and prosper, or outlive mankind and be pretty disgusting in doing so, I maintain a live and let live approach.

I am amused by Flambeur's apparent sensitivity to cockroaches. I can only imagine what his response might have been some 30 years ago in my Beacon Hill apartment, when, having switched on the kitchen light to get to the bathroom, he espied hundreds of roaches making their way back under the safety of the oven stovetop. Would he have packed up that very night and moved back in w/ mom & dad? (Furthermore, what would he have been doing in my apartment 30 years ago, anyway?)

For the record, my response to above scenario was an improvised flamethrower consisting of aerosol can & butane lighter. It's amazing what one can put up with in one's early 20's.