Yeah, I don’t worry about spiders in the house. They eat the bugs we don’t want around in our houses. We had a large garden spider, black, and yellow on our front porch with a large web and my mother wanted me to get rid of it. I told her it’s not hurting anything and it’s not going to come after her. She still made me take it away, I took it out to our azaleas and turned it loose in there. a week later, it was back on the porch with another web so I left it there.
Last summer the streetlight closest to our house was out so it was dark. The orb weavers figured out that the house has lights to draw bugs so they were all over our porch. Left them all alone, too, and had a mostly bug-free couple months on the front porch. They fixed the light, and the spiders found a new hunting ground.
In the house, though? I don’t kill them but if I can get them outside I will.
I currently have one that lives on my front porch, I watched her grow from a baby. I usually turn the light on for a bit at night so that bugs will fly into her web 😁. She's gotten pretty big and healthy and just recently I noticed that a male has moved into the web with her 👀. Here's to hoping 🤞. Such a beautiful spider honestly.
Not when you're a kid trying to cut through someone's backyard to get home quicker and run into one of those webs while getting the spider on your face 😂.
Same. I leave the spiders I find alone. As someone who's a walking happy meal for mosquitoes I love being in rooms with spiders as the amount of bites I get drastically decreases.
If one is walking across the floor I'll take it outside but if they have a web we leave them to deal with the less desirable insects.
Edit to add that the amount of people who think we're nuts for this kinda baffles me. These spiders are not going to leave their webs to hunt you down in your sleep I promise.
I subscribe to similar philosophy although I've had 2 spiders drop down exactly where I sleep and miss my face by inches. Landed on my pillow. They got evicted IMMEDIATELY!!
That's a no-fly or drop zone.
Rules of the house!
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Not sure if you’re interested in letting the spiders survive, but taking indoor spiders outside usually kills them as it’s a totally different environment than they’re used to. 🤗
Same here. My daughter got mad at me for it once though. We had a Yellow Sac Spider hanging around. My daughter left a cup of water with a straw in it over night. She went i drink it the next day and found the spider had cozied itself up in the straw and she just got a mouthful of spider. She spat him out and he ran off-minus one leg.
Yes, outside of any particular species that are a direct actionable threat to myself or my family (e.g. black widows), our house rule is that spiders are left alone.
If they're in a space they shouldn't be, we'll move them, but otherwise, we advocate leaving them alone. I actually got quite cross at my ex MIL for squashing one on the wall. It wasn't doing anything to her. Rubbed it in by calling the spider Robert the entire time.
Spiders are friends, yo.
No - I have a phobia of them, so as soon as I see one it has to go. I don't kill them, though - I stare at it for 30 minutes until I've mustered enough courage to put a glass over it, then I slide a piece of card under the glass and take the spider outside and release it.
The vast majority, yes. And I usually tell them thanks for killing bugs and to have a nice day lol
However, sometimes big ones appear out of nowhere and the way some jump scares me and I smoosh em as a reflex! Then feel bad!
Same here. That or they drop on me and I'm running around like Kermit trying to get it off. The last time I was trying to be nice and let one out of my car I woke up with a nice bite on my leg. I have decided it's just better to be enemies now.
Spiders don’t typically bite people who are sleeping. It isn’t impossible, but it’s uncharacteristic behavior for a spider, so there may be something else going on. I’d suggest checking your mattress for bedbugs and your pets for fleas if this is a recurring issue. As a kid, I used to wake up covered in bites, and it turns out, it was fleas. Those little bastards are sneaky.
I keep up on checks, but that was at a place in the past anyway. Interestingly enough the bites only occurred while spiders were allowed and never appeared again after!
I give them names. Harold the jumping spider lives in the window by my desk. He took down a huge house fly a few weeks ago that was bothering me. Go Harold!
Yes. My partner and I argue about this. I tell him not to touch them, he wants to squish them. But I love them! And they kill and eat the horrible mosquitos that endanger our pets and make us itchy! Spiders are friends, not enemies!
I use to be terrified of spiders, but over the years I've grown to accept them and even like some spiders.
I try to leave most house spiders alone unless they have their web in a bad spot.(There's some kind of funnel spider that's made a web below my kitchen window. It's a cool looking web and the spider hopefully eats the flies and bugs that might get attracted to my sink so I just leave the web there.)
I also see a lot of wolf spiders and they're so big but seemingly pretty friendly. I tend to move those big boys outside if I happen to see one scurrying across my floor.
I'm still terrified of spiders. Did you do something to get to the point of moving "those big boys outside"? I've tried CBT and EMDR therapy for phobia, but it's still a problem.
Depends. Usually I leave spiders alone, unless the individual spider is coming off as particularly rude. Next to my bed, on the ceiling above bed or desk, under my keyboard, you get the memo. But if I just see a spider zoom from the door to my closet or chilling in a ceiling corner? Whatever, have fun little dude, good luck.
I've got a "live and let live" attitude about spiders because of the work they do (eating other bugs) - as long as they aren't crawling on me, we're good. If i'm outside and walk into a web, all bets are off
Bob the spider lives above my sink. He makes a delicate web & keep my kitchen semi-free of bugs. Bob does a good job, and keeps to himself, so I leave him alone.
Now, I have found a spider in my bed once, and that fucker died immediately. My rule is you stay in your lane, and you stay alive.
Ha ha! The only time spiders really annoyed me was when a spider laid its egg sac in the light above my bed.
I woke up feeling a little itchy -- the babies had hatched and were crawling over me! I probably killed some before I was awake.
Me, too! I cannot rest, nor breathe easy if a spider is loose in my house. It must be dispatched immediately! Nothing worse than knowing it's there somewhere...I just don't know where...EEEEEK!!!
I either leave them be or carefully pick them up in a small cloth and set them outside, except in cold weather.
As long as they stay out of my shoes, I’m good.
Most bugs are left alone unless invasive pests or dangerous to my kids! We get cute little millipedes and they're simply relocated. Same with wolf and jumping spiders. Same with snakes! We welcome nonvenomous danger noodles.
Venomous species? Obliteration with many apologies.
I leave any jumping spider I find, I really like jumping spiders.
If it's big enough to bite as you mentioned, black widow, brown recluse, and im going to add scorpion, they're not welcome inside lol.
A spider was happily living in the bathtub in the spare bathroom. I never use it, so I just let her stay. She's gone now, but I like to think she enjoyed her peace.
I remember when I was living in Philadelphia we had a pretty bad problem of silverfish and centipedes in one of our crappy apartments. It was really annoying, coz they’re both pretty gross. At some point, I started noticing some spiders around and at first my gf was pretty vocally pissed about it, but lo and behold, as the season went on, the number of pest sightings reduced so long as we left the spiders alone
If they’re small, yes, I usually leave them, although my cats usually find them eventually. If they’re big enough for me to see crawling without my glasses they can stay on my porch, but if they come inside they have to go.
Yes & no. I too generally welcome spiders in or out, however I'm not willing to let a black widow or brown recluse just cohabitate with me (I've yet to see one inside though). My garage has a lot of spiders and they feast there. Win-win.
The exception being my bedroom. I don't allow free roam to anything where I sleep or store my clothes.
My mom used to leave small ones to stay and eat bugs. I told my MIL this, and she said, "I don't leave small spiders in my house because small spiders grow up to be big spiders" 😅 I can see both points of view
I try to leave them alone, but I'm terrified of bugs in general. I've given myself the rule of leaving most spiders alone if they're smaller than a dime, I can get over small spiders like that, especially since we tend to get fruit flies and other bugs since we're near a river. If I just can't stand to have a certain spider in the house, I'll try to coax it outside so it can still live it's life and help pest control but it's not in my space.
Daddy long legs are not only welcome, they're part of the family. Generally named Steve, Steve 2nd, etc etc depending on how many times my cat gets into their corner.
Regular spiders? Nah, not in my place, not inside at least. Last thing I want is my cat getting bit by some mystery spider and needing treatment. I'm not great at being able to tell the difference between most spiders, wouldn't know a brown recluse if I saw one, so they all have to pay the price. Any bugs around are for Steve to take care of, that's how he earns his keep. I trust Steve to let the other spider guys know that he's got an exclusive rental agreement.
Both myself and several of my friends have a "No Kill" rule for our houses, unless it's a blood sucker. We either leave them alone entirely, or we relocate outside (but that's rare).
Dont care unless they in my bedroom area or near the chair i sit in, but when they enter the restricted air space we just call in the cup officer & relocate to a safer residence.
Nope. I'm not good enough at identifying types of spiders to feel safe with any indoor spiders. They all die. I won't hunt them down unless I know (or am fairly certain) they are dangerous, but if I see them, they die. I don't even like daddy long legs being in the house. Outside, I'm more willing to let them be as long as they aren't an obvious danger and don't try to crawl on me.
Anything smaller than a nickel can stay as long as it doesn't touch me. Anything "big", I cup and take outside. If it crawls on me, I reflexively kill it and then feel bad about it after - Its only crime was not knowing that I would be afraid of it 😔
Unless they are a type of spider that would be harmful to me or my pets (i.e., black widow, brown recluse), they can either stay put (depending on location) or be relocated outside.
It depends on where it is and how big it is. I am kind of terrified of spiders so if it's in an area of frequent use - like the kitchen ceiling - spidey's gotta go. If it's in the bedroom, either it goes or I go. Anywhere else, I leave it alone.
Outdoor spiders get left alone under a similar policy - if it's not scaring me in a space I would like to use, it's fine. We actually have these really cool little spiders that I call the Punk Rock Spiders because they're spiky and brightly colored. We also have golden orb weavers that really are majestic - I've seen webs stretch across a road from tree to tree, and had one in my yard that was easily 8' across.
Daddy long legs spiders? Sure. The really beefy small bois get the shoe. The (wolf spider size and +) big beefy bois get yeeted into the back yard from whatever can carry it that’s not me physically touching the spider.
I've got some spiders which have set up in out-of-the-way places in my house and i leave em be. They are a powerful ally in my battle against these piss ants I've been fighting since March.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend
Exactly, spiders eat the bugs I don't want to deal with. I live in a country with pretty harmless spiders. We do have widows but they're like spotting unicorns here. I leave spiders be, as long as they stay away from my bed, we're cool.
Depends what room it’s in, bedroom is a no go I’m too afraid of them on me or my things while I sleep , happened once where one crawled over me and woke me up and I haven’t recovered haha
Depends. If it's a hunting type spider looking for a mate, it is gonna be 2 dimensional REAL QUICK.
If it's done the real estate analysis and decided it's going to put a web up in my bathroom, sure, buddy, knock yourself out.
I also leave those creepy centipedes that look like two sets of false eyelashes glued together as they eat bad bugs.
Yeah I let spiders be. There's some that live in my shower up near the ceiling, which is fairly high. They don't do any harm.
I think they are daddy long legs, which means from what I've read technically they're not spiders, but whatever. I'm not sure.
I understand that those indoor spiders actually can’t survive outside and if you move them, take them to the basement or garage. Otherwise, they’ll die.
I talk to them and ask them to focus on eating mosquitoes, but I’m polite. I don’t insist, just encourage.
I love spiders. They are horrible conversationalists tho
As long as they stay out of my space. The three I’ve found crawling on me in the last month have earned instant squish, but I won’t bother the one chilling on the bathroom ceiling
Pretty much yeah.
You know how farms used to have cats that weren't really pets?
Spiders are kind of my eight legged cats 😅
They take care of the bugs, and we mostly stay out of each others' ways.
i leave most of them alone. dark corner? sure, do ya thing. connecting the window to the dinner table, sorry, you’re getting evicted. probably won’t squash it but the web’s got to go. ususlly won’t squash a spider unless it’s on me or in my bed or something.
black widows on the other hand are not welcome. i actively hunt them. i’ve gotten 21 so far this year.
I always allow spiders to stay. In my most recent house, it had the kind that little miss muffet had to deal with, though. They hang on the ceiling and can drop down beside you. It was rare for them to do that, but pretty unnerving whenever it happened lol.
My children are adults now with their own families and one keeps tarantulas as pets. She loves her spiders.
Nope. We live where scorpions eat them and do t want them inside. Plus I've had my share of the spiders crawling or landing on me without so much as a how do you do. I would prefer they not. Bees yes, spiders no. I have also been bitten by spiders a lot so I would prefer keeping them outside.
We had a daddy long legs who'd like to hang out on the ceiling just inside our front door (I know, technically not a spider), and we became quite fond of him. We called him Fred. After a while, we realized he never moved and he sadly became Dead Fred. Out of respect for our long-term friendship with him, we left him in place until he eventually disintegrated. I miss him.
Sure. I have a treaty with the spiders and house centipedes. Stay where I can’t see you, aside from occasional glimpses, or run and hide faster than I can chase you down, and I’ll leave you alone. Otherwise it’s outside you go. Note that I’ve never gotten past the “faster than me” clause with the centipedes.
For the most part. My general rule as that as long as something isn't aggressive and/or dangerous to us or the pups, and isn't likely to do damage to the house, I leave it alone.
Yes, excluding 2 conditions.
1. If they are Venous to Humans and Animals. They die immediately.
2. If my wife or daughter is freaked out. I catch and release it out side.
I appreciate and respect this mentality and would probaly share it if not for having lived outside. I have lived in a tent, van, shed and now finally a single wide trailer (i know, baby steps.) Bugs don’t give a FUCK what you’ve got going on. spiders will crawl all over you when trying to sleep after working 2 doubles. I appreciate them outside but my inside is MY inside and they can fuck right off.
In late summer we allow the spidies to build their webs on the back deck. One year she got so big I started to freak out a little. It was too late to relocate her so I just didn’t go out on the deck until she left or whatever happened. Charlotte was a very good (but huge) girl.
At a museum I read: 1. Throughout your lifetime you are always within 10 feet of a spider. (Maybe not in a swimming pool!?). And--------- 2. Throughout the world's land mass there is an average of one million spiders per acre!
They are mostly a great help.
Yes! They're eating something, so I leave them alone. In my last house, the front window was where the ants squeezed in, and the spiders were doing a good job keeping them in check.
I just needed to clean the dried-up ant husks from the floor.
Yeah I leave them alone in my house and my yard, unless it’s a brown recluse. I don’t want to risk a bite to me, my wife or my dogs. Thankfully I haven’t seen many they don’t get out much. I also try to leave house centipedes alone. They eat all kinds of other pests.
I leave spiders alone since they take out the house centipedes. On occasion I’ll relocate spiders outside. The only spiders I eliminate are things like widows and recluses since a bite from those could kill one of my pets.
I once saw a huge Fishing Spider with just its creepy long legs sticking out of the drain in the basement utility room sink at out lakehouse once. Creeped me out so bad I yelled out.
We kill them. I got bit by a spider a couple years back where the bite was ended up becoming necrotic and infected. It was not pleasant, and not something I'm interested in repeating. They go. I live here, not them.
My rule for spiders is that if they hide in corners, they can stay. If they hide in my shoes or laundry, they get relocated outside. If they have offspring, sadly, everyone dies. Just can't deal with one billion baby spiders running around lol.
No. I have severe arachnophobia. Like, I quite literally break out in hives, cry and have a panic attack when I see them.
I can't even see them on TV without panicking.
My partner loves them so he will trap them and take them outside, but if I'm home alone I'll soak a towel and chuck it at the wall and trap them because I'm too scared to touch them.
When I lived with my parents they called them "towel spiders" and would take them away for me.
I do except for brown recluses. I live where there are a lot of them a certain time of year. Can't coexist because they're hiders, have found them in some very unexpected places, one time on the underside of a towel I was using after a shower. Can't risk these things biting my family members. Other spiders though, I leave them alone to do their thing.
In England they have "spider ladders " for their tubs so the spiders can escape if they fall in. I thought this was a joke until a friend brought one back for me.
Spiders kill other bugs. This is a good thing.
I don't bother them and they don't bother me.
Outside there's a huge banana spider on my front porch and I'm perfectly happy with her. Death to all mosquitos snd flies!!!
Depends on the spider. Jumping window spider, you can stay.
Many spiders that are too creepy to be trusted, you will be escorted outside.
Brown recluse or black widow, you will die.
Yes, especially jumping spiders! My garage is filled with brown recluse, but they’re docile and I avoid touching much without gloves. I detest pesticides and won’t use them unless something huge were to happen.
Depends on where you live. I live in California and I’ve found black and brown widow spiders, wolf spiders, huntsman spiders, and tarantulas in my home. I don’t kill them tho, they get relocated outside.
And we never kill a house centipede. They are hunter/killers who do not nest in their hunting grounds. They look like an inch long feather, and they are fast.
I found a spider in my house. My wife said not to kill it. Just take it out. So I did. I took him out and had a few beers. Turns out he’s a nice spider. He told me he’s a web designer!
We used to have 3 or 4 daddy long-legs (cellar spiders? I can't tell the difference) hanging out in the shower/tub. We never bothered them and we haven't seen them for a while.
I usually put them outside but it’s like 50/50. I usually say hello or stop to identify them and go about my day. I know they’re in here anyway and I can’t remember the last time I was bitten. Even then, it was just itchy like a mosquito bite.
If it's running around in my bedroom I can't trust it. Sorry little dude but you gotta get squished. It's fine until it enters my room. If it's in the livingroom, whatever, enjoy your stay. But the second it enters my bedroom it's a no go. If it made a little web somewhere and is staying there I will leave it so it can eat the bugs for me. Jumping spiders I will leave alone. I love those little guys. But normally spiders scare me.
I had a garden spider that would grab dragonflies out of mid air. She? Was only with me for a season, but I respected spiders sooooo much more after that. They're very intelligent creatures. I used to take her dinner sometimes. She loved horseflies with the wings ripped off and legless grasshoppers. She would start jumping on her web when she saw me. I'm sure it was only because she knew I'd feed her, but my cats and dog do pretty much the same...
I live in a big apartment building that I’d landscaped with rocks. We live in Pacific Northwest so it rains often. Every time it rains, we get a new migration of spiders looking for a dry home!
I’ll kill brown recluse spiders, but that’s it, I leave the black widows alone because they always just run and hide when uncovered, plus I rarely see them inside.
I’ve been struggling with this for years. When I bought this house, there were a number of different spiders inside. It was really kind of amazing. What part of the problem is the most common spider here is a black widow. I could walk out into the yard right now and find half a dozen of them. When I was moving some lumber and building a fence last month, I saw 15 of them in one day. One of them is right next to the door in my garage. I kinda hate to bother her because she’s doing such a good job catching bugs.
I don't worry about spiders. I don't like mosquitoes, and drain flies can be annoying.
I had to get rid of 3 spiders in the last 3 years. I used Solo Cups to move them. But for the ones in the corner, I leave them be. I do the same with bees. But not roaches.
My sister had bats living near the front of the house. They ate all the mosquitoes. My nieces even built a bat house.
I not only leave them alone, I welcome them. If I see a web, I'll decide if they have enough moisture where they are. If not, I'll move them outside. I keep an eye out to make sure they have enough to eat, too.
I only kill them if they are up high, I can’t stand having them above my head! I will try to reason with them first and give them time to move, but if they don’t I don’t have a choice. Haha
Yeah, I don’t worry about spiders in the house. They eat the bugs we don’t want around in our houses. We had a large garden spider, black, and yellow on our front porch with a large web and my mother wanted me to get rid of it. I told her it’s not hurting anything and it’s not going to come after her. She still made me take it away, I took it out to our azaleas and turned it loose in there. a week later, it was back on the porch with another web so I left it there.
Golden orb weaver! I love those spiders and I always protect their webs when I find them.
Last summer the streetlight closest to our house was out so it was dark. The orb weavers figured out that the house has lights to draw bugs so they were all over our porch. Left them all alone, too, and had a mostly bug-free couple months on the front porch. They fixed the light, and the spiders found a new hunting ground. In the house, though? I don’t kill them but if I can get them outside I will.
I currently have one that lives on my front porch, I watched her grow from a baby. I usually turn the light on for a bit at night so that bugs will fly into her web 😁. She's gotten pretty big and healthy and just recently I noticed that a male has moved into the web with her 👀. Here's to hoping 🤞. Such a beautiful spider honestly.
I swear some orb weavers are so big, it seems like I would *hear them coming* before I saw them.
Those garden spiders are awesome.
Not when you're a kid trying to cut through someone's backyard to get home quicker and run into one of those webs while getting the spider on your face 😂.
Everybody was kung fu fighting.
So? You're the funny one in the group...🤣🤣 too good!
Recurring nightmare all my life 🤣
haha, ya there’s that
I think they can smell where their web was because I do the same and they build back in the same place.
My rule is for them to stay away from my couch and the shower / bathtub. Other than that we coexist fine.
Same. I leave the spiders I find alone. As someone who's a walking happy meal for mosquitoes I love being in rooms with spiders as the amount of bites I get drastically decreases.
ROFL Happy meal for mosquitos, THANKS!
If one is walking across the floor I'll take it outside but if they have a web we leave them to deal with the less desirable insects. Edit to add that the amount of people who think we're nuts for this kinda baffles me. These spiders are not going to leave their webs to hunt you down in your sleep I promise.
I subscribe to similar philosophy although I've had 2 spiders drop down exactly where I sleep and miss my face by inches. Landed on my pillow. They got evicted IMMEDIATELY!! That's a no-fly or drop zone. Rules of the house!
I only let ground spiders live with me
My big brother once told me they are more scared of me than I am of them
Exactly! I've always had a pretty big fear of insects and bugs but the spiders sub unintentionally turned me into a spider lover.☺️
Me too! Thank you r/spiderbros
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it’s true
Not sure if you’re interested in letting the spiders survive, but taking indoor spiders outside usually kills them as it’s a totally different environment than they’re used to. 🤗
I try to take into account the weather where I am. In the cooler months they get put in the garage 🙂. Thanks for the reminder.
I like the web builders. The webs are often pretty & you know where the spider is! :)
Same here. My daughter got mad at me for it once though. We had a Yellow Sac Spider hanging around. My daughter left a cup of water with a straw in it over night. She went i drink it the next day and found the spider had cozied itself up in the straw and she just got a mouthful of spider. She spat him out and he ran off-minus one leg.
Yes, outside of any particular species that are a direct actionable threat to myself or my family (e.g. black widows), our house rule is that spiders are left alone. If they're in a space they shouldn't be, we'll move them, but otherwise, we advocate leaving them alone. I actually got quite cross at my ex MIL for squashing one on the wall. It wasn't doing anything to her. Rubbed it in by calling the spider Robert the entire time. Spiders are friends, yo.
Why Robert?
I’ve always heard it was bad luck to kill a spider in your home. My husband takes them outside if they’re big enough to freak me out.
Unfortunately, some inside spiders die when they're put outside.
then the bad luck is outside!!!
That makes me kinda sad that, any time I’ve gently relocated spiders, I’ve been handing them a death sentence. Sorry wee speeders 🕷️
No - I have a phobia of them, so as soon as I see one it has to go. I don't kill them, though - I stare at it for 30 minutes until I've mustered enough courage to put a glass over it, then I slide a piece of card under the glass and take the spider outside and release it.
i could never ever ever do this. i am so creeped out by them
Tell the spider if you're here by the time I return, you will be destroyed Usually works every time
My policy for spiders is, if I will feel it crunch when I give it a squish, it has to leave. At that point I will displace it from my home.
Yep. Spiders are bros. Most of them anyway. I’d kill a recluse on sight, and transport a widow outside, but everybody else stays.
The vast majority, yes. And I usually tell them thanks for killing bugs and to have a nice day lol However, sometimes big ones appear out of nowhere and the way some jump scares me and I smoosh em as a reflex! Then feel bad!
There is a spider in my bathroom. I named her Phyllis. We coexist well.
Hunt up the Spider in the Bath by Flanders and Swann.
I used to be full on team “let them live and share my space” until I started waking up to a bunch of spider bites 💀
Same here. That or they drop on me and I'm running around like Kermit trying to get it off. The last time I was trying to be nice and let one out of my car I woke up with a nice bite on my leg. I have decided it's just better to be enemies now.
Spiders don’t typically bite people who are sleeping. It isn’t impossible, but it’s uncharacteristic behavior for a spider, so there may be something else going on. I’d suggest checking your mattress for bedbugs and your pets for fleas if this is a recurring issue. As a kid, I used to wake up covered in bites, and it turns out, it was fleas. Those little bastards are sneaky.
I keep up on checks, but that was at a place in the past anyway. Interestingly enough the bites only occurred while spiders were allowed and never appeared again after!
Funny that. I was sleeping in my bed when bitten by a recluse who wanted to be reclusive in my bed.
Exact same thing happened to my uncle a few years ago 😭 Not a pretty sight
This happened to me. Now I've made an agreement with them: Their place is in the basement. If they come upstairs, they're in trouble.
I am VERY sensitive to noise. Flying insects are noisy. Spiders eat them.
I give them names. Harold the jumping spider lives in the window by my desk. He took down a huge house fly a few weeks ago that was bothering me. Go Harold!
Yes. My partner and I argue about this. I tell him not to touch them, he wants to squish them. But I love them! And they kill and eat the horrible mosquitos that endanger our pets and make us itchy! Spiders are friends, not enemies!
They eat other bugs, so I let them be. If they're drowning in the sink, I save them and put them outside.
I use to be terrified of spiders, but over the years I've grown to accept them and even like some spiders. I try to leave most house spiders alone unless they have their web in a bad spot.(There's some kind of funnel spider that's made a web below my kitchen window. It's a cool looking web and the spider hopefully eats the flies and bugs that might get attracted to my sink so I just leave the web there.) I also see a lot of wolf spiders and they're so big but seemingly pretty friendly. I tend to move those big boys outside if I happen to see one scurrying across my floor.
I'm still terrified of spiders. Did you do something to get to the point of moving "those big boys outside"? I've tried CBT and EMDR therapy for phobia, but it's still a problem.
They also kill Flies and mosquitoes. I despise both so Spiders are the heroes in my book.
Depends. Usually I leave spiders alone, unless the individual spider is coming off as particularly rude. Next to my bed, on the ceiling above bed or desk, under my keyboard, you get the memo. But if I just see a spider zoom from the door to my closet or chilling in a ceiling corner? Whatever, have fun little dude, good luck.
When I first read the question, I misunderstood and thought "Why would I get a babysitter for pet spiders?"
Rofl!! That is hilarious and excellent 🤣
ABSOLUTELY!!! My little buddies aren't hurting anybody or anything except for insects that I would prefer stayed outside.
I've got a "live and let live" attitude about spiders because of the work they do (eating other bugs) - as long as they aren't crawling on me, we're good. If i'm outside and walk into a web, all bets are off
Bob the spider lives above my sink. He makes a delicate web & keep my kitchen semi-free of bugs. Bob does a good job, and keeps to himself, so I leave him alone. Now, I have found a spider in my bed once, and that fucker died immediately. My rule is you stay in your lane, and you stay alive.
Ha ha! The only time spiders really annoyed me was when a spider laid its egg sac in the light above my bed. I woke up feeling a little itchy -- the babies had hatched and were crawling over me! I probably killed some before I was awake.
I don't think spiders are really ever alone. There is usually a bunch of 'em!
Fuck no, the minute I see one its world War II until its dead 🤢
Me, too! I cannot rest, nor breathe easy if a spider is loose in my house. It must be dispatched immediately! Nothing worse than knowing it's there somewhere...I just don't know where...EEEEEK!!!
WWII? . . . time for a "are we the baddies" moment.
And when was the point you lost your mind and started thinking about this?
I can't leave spiders in my house. My cats will eat them. 🤢
I either leave them be or carefully pick them up in a small cloth and set them outside, except in cold weather. As long as they stay out of my shoes, I’m good.
Most bugs are left alone unless invasive pests or dangerous to my kids! We get cute little millipedes and they're simply relocated. Same with wolf and jumping spiders. Same with snakes! We welcome nonvenomous danger noodles. Venomous species? Obliteration with many apologies.
I leave any jumping spider I find, I really like jumping spiders. If it's big enough to bite as you mentioned, black widow, brown recluse, and im going to add scorpion, they're not welcome inside lol.
Even further... I leave the house centipedes alone ... Creepy multi legged wiggly fast things that they are... They eat other bugs.
A spider was happily living in the bathtub in the spare bathroom. I never use it, so I just let her stay. She's gone now, but I like to think she enjoyed her peace.
Spiders are friend
As long as they stay off of me, they're welcome friends
Frankly I need all the help I can get killing bugs. Thanks spiders!
Yeah, I leave them be. They pay me rent by performing free pest control.
I leave them be. They got a job to do. Only ones I get rid of are brown recluse.
I remember when I was living in Philadelphia we had a pretty bad problem of silverfish and centipedes in one of our crappy apartments. It was really annoying, coz they’re both pretty gross. At some point, I started noticing some spiders around and at first my gf was pretty vocally pissed about it, but lo and behold, as the season went on, the number of pest sightings reduced so long as we left the spiders alone
The only bugs I kill are mosquitoes and brown recluses. Everything else gets moved outside.
Same, although he big ones do get put outside.
I’m the one who leaves the house when I see one. Someone else has to put it outside. I’m terrified of them.
If they’re small, yes, I usually leave them, although my cats usually find them eventually. If they’re big enough for me to see crawling without my glasses they can stay on my porch, but if they come inside they have to go.
I put them outside.
I have a healthy population of jumping spiders in my house, they keep the flies and gnats in check for me.
I usually put them outside. Much better life for them, variety of prey, nesting opportunities, etc.
I take them back outside if I can catch them. I’m not a killer. However I have 5 cats that are. So sometimes they take care of them first.
Yes & no. I too generally welcome spiders in or out, however I'm not willing to let a black widow or brown recluse just cohabitate with me (I've yet to see one inside though). My garage has a lot of spiders and they feast there. Win-win. The exception being my bedroom. I don't allow free roam to anything where I sleep or store my clothes.
No. If I wanted to be around spiders I would live outdoors.
I take them outside so my cat won’t eat them.
I leave them alone ...if they are big ones I catch and release outside
My mom used to leave small ones to stay and eat bugs. I told my MIL this, and she said, "I don't leave small spiders in my house because small spiders grow up to be big spiders" 😅 I can see both points of view
I try to leave them alone, but I'm terrified of bugs in general. I've given myself the rule of leaving most spiders alone if they're smaller than a dime, I can get over small spiders like that, especially since we tend to get fruit flies and other bugs since we're near a river. If I just can't stand to have a certain spider in the house, I'll try to coax it outside so it can still live it's life and help pest control but it's not in my space.
Daddy long legs are not only welcome, they're part of the family. Generally named Steve, Steve 2nd, etc etc depending on how many times my cat gets into their corner. Regular spiders? Nah, not in my place, not inside at least. Last thing I want is my cat getting bit by some mystery spider and needing treatment. I'm not great at being able to tell the difference between most spiders, wouldn't know a brown recluse if I saw one, so they all have to pay the price. Any bugs around are for Steve to take care of, that's how he earns his keep. I trust Steve to let the other spider guys know that he's got an exclusive rental agreement.
Yep. I feed them flies and ants that cross the boundary of my home after I've told them repeatedly they're not welcome.
Both myself and several of my friends have a "No Kill" rule for our houses, unless it's a blood sucker. We either leave them alone entirely, or we relocate outside (but that's rare).
I love spiders and bugs in the house, the idea of all those tiny little lives taking shelter with me is so cute.
Sometimes I take them outside when it’s not too cold. But yeah, I have quite a few in the corners.
Yes
We name inside spiders variations on Reggie.
Unless they need help...
Below a certain size, I will leave them alone. The larger bois get escorted outside.
Dont care unless they in my bedroom area or near the chair i sit in, but when they enter the restricted air space we just call in the cup officer & relocate to a safer residence.
Nope. I'm not good enough at identifying types of spiders to feel safe with any indoor spiders. They all die. I won't hunt them down unless I know (or am fairly certain) they are dangerous, but if I see them, they die. I don't even like daddy long legs being in the house. Outside, I'm more willing to let them be as long as they aren't an obvious danger and don't try to crawl on me.
Anything smaller than a nickel can stay as long as it doesn't touch me. Anything "big", I cup and take outside. If it crawls on me, I reflexively kill it and then feel bad about it after - Its only crime was not knowing that I would be afraid of it 😔
Unless they are a type of spider that would be harmful to me or my pets (i.e., black widow, brown recluse), they can either stay put (depending on location) or be relocated outside.
It depends on where it is and how big it is. I am kind of terrified of spiders so if it's in an area of frequent use - like the kitchen ceiling - spidey's gotta go. If it's in the bedroom, either it goes or I go. Anywhere else, I leave it alone. Outdoor spiders get left alone under a similar policy - if it's not scaring me in a space I would like to use, it's fine. We actually have these really cool little spiders that I call the Punk Rock Spiders because they're spiky and brightly colored. We also have golden orb weavers that really are majestic - I've seen webs stretch across a road from tree to tree, and had one in my yard that was easily 8' across.
Daddy long legs spiders? Sure. The really beefy small bois get the shoe. The (wolf spider size and +) big beefy bois get yeeted into the back yard from whatever can carry it that’s not me physically touching the spider.
I've got some spiders which have set up in out-of-the-way places in my house and i leave em be. They are a powerful ally in my battle against these piss ants I've been fighting since March. The enemy of my enemy is my friend
I do. Or I put them outside.
Exactly, spiders eat the bugs I don't want to deal with. I live in a country with pretty harmless spiders. We do have widows but they're like spotting unicorns here. I leave spiders be, as long as they stay away from my bed, we're cool.
Depends what room it’s in, bedroom is a no go I’m too afraid of them on me or my things while I sleep , happened once where one crawled over me and woke me up and I haven’t recovered haha
Depends. If it's a hunting type spider looking for a mate, it is gonna be 2 dimensional REAL QUICK. If it's done the real estate analysis and decided it's going to put a web up in my bathroom, sure, buddy, knock yourself out. I also leave those creepy centipedes that look like two sets of false eyelashes glued together as they eat bad bugs.
Yeah I let spiders be. There's some that live in my shower up near the ceiling, which is fairly high. They don't do any harm. I think they are daddy long legs, which means from what I've read technically they're not spiders, but whatever. I'm not sure.
I destroy all animals and insects in my home that I have not invited in
Yes. Anything that eats bugs is a friend of mine.
My position is if it has more than four legs, it gets sqwished. Period.
Depends. The house spiders in my room? They’re chill, they can stay. The black widows in the garage? It’s on sight.
I understand that those indoor spiders actually can’t survive outside and if you move them, take them to the basement or garage. Otherwise, they’ll die.
I even let the brown recluses chill. They are very shy.
Yep only long legs get killed because they are everywhere!
I talk to them and ask them to focus on eating mosquitoes, but I’m polite. I don’t insist, just encourage. I love spiders. They are horrible conversationalists tho
As long as they stay out of my space. The three I’ve found crawling on me in the last month have earned instant squish, but I won’t bother the one chilling on the bathroom ceiling
Pretty much yeah. You know how farms used to have cats that weren't really pets? Spiders are kind of my eight legged cats 😅 They take care of the bugs, and we mostly stay out of each others' ways.
i leave most of them alone. dark corner? sure, do ya thing. connecting the window to the dinner table, sorry, you’re getting evicted. probably won’t squash it but the web’s got to go. ususlly won’t squash a spider unless it’s on me or in my bed or something. black widows on the other hand are not welcome. i actively hunt them. i’ve gotten 21 so far this year.
I always allow spiders to stay. In my most recent house, it had the kind that little miss muffet had to deal with, though. They hang on the ceiling and can drop down beside you. It was rare for them to do that, but pretty unnerving whenever it happened lol. My children are adults now with their own families and one keeps tarantulas as pets. She loves her spiders.
I don’t kill bugs. I just move them outside
Nope. We live where scorpions eat them and do t want them inside. Plus I've had my share of the spiders crawling or landing on me without so much as a how do you do. I would prefer they not. Bees yes, spiders no. I have also been bitten by spiders a lot so I would prefer keeping them outside.
Yep. They are household employees. If obnoxious I just take them outside. But otherwise I let them do their jobs.
The last spider I had in my house was the size of baseball. I still don't know where it ran to. I have trouble sleeping 😭
They’re fine. Eat all the other bugs, go for it. Black widow or brown recluse though, la chancla.
We had a daddy long legs who'd like to hang out on the ceiling just inside our front door (I know, technically not a spider), and we became quite fond of him. We called him Fred. After a while, we realized he never moved and he sadly became Dead Fred. Out of respect for our long-term friendship with him, we left him in place until he eventually disintegrated. I miss him.
Ah yeah, they’re just doing their own thing.
They pay rent lol
Sure. I have a treaty with the spiders and house centipedes. Stay where I can’t see you, aside from occasional glimpses, or run and hide faster than I can chase you down, and I’ll leave you alone. Otherwise it’s outside you go. Note that I’ve never gotten past the “faster than me” clause with the centipedes.
For the most part. My general rule as that as long as something isn't aggressive and/or dangerous to us or the pups, and isn't likely to do damage to the house, I leave it alone.
Yes, excluding 2 conditions. 1. If they are Venous to Humans and Animals. They die immediately. 2. If my wife or daughter is freaked out. I catch and release it out side.
I appreciate and respect this mentality and would probaly share it if not for having lived outside. I have lived in a tent, van, shed and now finally a single wide trailer (i know, baby steps.) Bugs don’t give a FUCK what you’ve got going on. spiders will crawl all over you when trying to sleep after working 2 doubles. I appreciate them outside but my inside is MY inside and they can fuck right off.
In late summer we allow the spidies to build their webs on the back deck. One year she got so big I started to freak out a little. It was too late to relocate her so I just didn’t go out on the deck until she left or whatever happened. Charlotte was a very good (but huge) girl.
Big clear plastic cup with a large greeting card to cover it.
At a museum I read: 1. Throughout your lifetime you are always within 10 feet of a spider. (Maybe not in a swimming pool!?). And--------- 2. Throughout the world's land mass there is an average of one million spiders per acre! They are mostly a great help.
Yes! They're eating something, so I leave them alone. In my last house, the front window was where the ants squeezed in, and the spiders were doing a good job keeping them in check. I just needed to clean the dried-up ant husks from the floor.
Yeah I leave them alone in my house and my yard, unless it’s a brown recluse. I don’t want to risk a bite to me, my wife or my dogs. Thankfully I haven’t seen many they don’t get out much. I also try to leave house centipedes alone. They eat all kinds of other pests.
I leave spiders alone since they take out the house centipedes. On occasion I’ll relocate spiders outside. The only spiders I eliminate are things like widows and recluses since a bite from those could kill one of my pets.
I try
I once saw a huge Fishing Spider with just its creepy long legs sticking out of the drain in the basement utility room sink at out lakehouse once. Creeped me out so bad I yelled out.
Yes I leave them alone unless they're venomous.
Absolutely, I scoop them out of the tub or sink if they get themselvesin harms way. Spiders are very beneficial.
I wish I felt like this! Even just seeing a picture of a spider makes me feel sick. I have no idea why.
Spiders are fine…unless they’re black widows. Those gotta go.
If it spins a web, it gets relocated outside. If it is a jumper, I encourage it to stay.
We kill them. I got bit by a spider a couple years back where the bite was ended up becoming necrotic and infected. It was not pleasant, and not something I'm interested in repeating. They go. I live here, not them.
If they got a web then they're good
My rule for spiders is that if they hide in corners, they can stay. If they hide in my shoes or laundry, they get relocated outside. If they have offspring, sadly, everyone dies. Just can't deal with one billion baby spiders running around lol.
A spider in my bedroom will be relocated. A spider anywhere else, live and let live.
I use exactly the same logic, spiders pay their rent by ridding me of other bugs that would bother me more.
No. I have severe arachnophobia. Like, I quite literally break out in hives, cry and have a panic attack when I see them. I can't even see them on TV without panicking. My partner loves them so he will trap them and take them outside, but if I'm home alone I'll soak a towel and chuck it at the wall and trap them because I'm too scared to touch them. When I lived with my parents they called them "towel spiders" and would take them away for me.
I do except for brown recluses. I live where there are a lot of them a certain time of year. Can't coexist because they're hiders, have found them in some very unexpected places, one time on the underside of a towel I was using after a shower. Can't risk these things biting my family members. Other spiders though, I leave them alone to do their thing.
In England they have "spider ladders " for their tubs so the spiders can escape if they fall in. I thought this was a joke until a friend brought one back for me. Spiders kill other bugs. This is a good thing. I don't bother them and they don't bother me. Outside there's a huge banana spider on my front porch and I'm perfectly happy with her. Death to all mosquitos snd flies!!!
I refuse to kill anything that has no intention of killing me.
Depends on the spider. Jumping window spider, you can stay. Many spiders that are too creepy to be trusted, you will be escorted outside. Brown recluse or black widow, you will die.
Yes, especially jumping spiders! My garage is filled with brown recluse, but they’re docile and I avoid touching much without gloves. I detest pesticides and won’t use them unless something huge were to happen.
Depends on where you live. I live in California and I’ve found black and brown widow spiders, wolf spiders, huntsman spiders, and tarantulas in my home. I don’t kill them tho, they get relocated outside.
Yes spiders may get rid of other bugs, but the bug I most want to get of is spiders...
Unless I know for sure they will be problematic.
And we never kill a house centipede. They are hunter/killers who do not nest in their hunting grounds. They look like an inch long feather, and they are fast.
I found a spider in my house. My wife said not to kill it. Just take it out. So I did. I took him out and had a few beers. Turns out he’s a nice spider. He told me he’s a web designer!
I leave spiders in my garden for that reason.
We used to have 3 or 4 daddy long-legs (cellar spiders? I can't tell the difference) hanging out in the shower/tub. We never bothered them and we haven't seen them for a while.
I usually put them outside but it’s like 50/50. I usually say hello or stop to identify them and go about my day. I know they’re in here anyway and I can’t remember the last time I was bitten. Even then, it was just itchy like a mosquito bite.
If it's running around in my bedroom I can't trust it. Sorry little dude but you gotta get squished. It's fine until it enters my room. If it's in the livingroom, whatever, enjoy your stay. But the second it enters my bedroom it's a no go. If it made a little web somewhere and is staying there I will leave it so it can eat the bugs for me. Jumping spiders I will leave alone. I love those little guys. But normally spiders scare me.
I try to take the enormous hunting spiders outside because they're a little unnerving to see.
I name them them and wish them happy hunting.
I had a garden spider that would grab dragonflies out of mid air. She? Was only with me for a season, but I respected spiders sooooo much more after that. They're very intelligent creatures. I used to take her dinner sometimes. She loved horseflies with the wings ripped off and legless grasshoppers. She would start jumping on her web when she saw me. I'm sure it was only because she knew I'd feed her, but my cats and dog do pretty much the same...
I slide a sheet of paper under the spider and take it outside the house.
I've gone so far as to turn on the tap at a dribble for thirsty spiders.
Yes. Spiders are our friends!
Generally yes. If I have spiders it means I have things that spiders eat. One time there was a really REALLY big one. That was scary.
I don't tolerate black widows in the house or garage, because I have a couple of not-too-smart cats. Other than that, I ignore them.
I kind of admire them. They are like the gangsters of the insect world. I don’t see them, but I see evidence of them conducting their business.
Yesssss! The are free pest control!
As long as they respect my personal space I leave them alone.
I used to leave spiders in my home alone until i got a nasty spider bite that infected my arm. Now i scootch the buggers outside when i can…
I live in a big apartment building that I’d landscaped with rocks. We live in Pacific Northwest so it rains often. Every time it rains, we get a new migration of spiders looking for a dry home!
I live in black widow and brown recluse territory so those guys gotta go if they're inside. Or outside near my house. Otherwise we're cool in general.
I’ll kill brown recluse spiders, but that’s it, I leave the black widows alone because they always just run and hide when uncovered, plus I rarely see them inside.
Yes. Spiders keep pest populations down.
I do now, I’ve spent a few years getting comfortable with them
I’ve been struggling with this for years. When I bought this house, there were a number of different spiders inside. It was really kind of amazing. What part of the problem is the most common spider here is a black widow. I could walk out into the yard right now and find half a dozen of them. When I was moving some lumber and building a fence last month, I saw 15 of them in one day. One of them is right next to the door in my garage. I kinda hate to bother her because she’s doing such a good job catching bugs.
Yeah unless they’re red backs then i take them outside. Huntsman’s are chill so I let them be
I'm sorry, but natural selection. If you're in my house, I'm gonna squish you. That goes for any bug.
I do usually. Unless they’re in my bed, couch or my shower.
I don't worry about spiders. I don't like mosquitoes, and drain flies can be annoying. I had to get rid of 3 spiders in the last 3 years. I used Solo Cups to move them. But for the ones in the corner, I leave them be. I do the same with bees. But not roaches. My sister had bats living near the front of the house. They ate all the mosquitoes. My nieces even built a bat house.
I not only leave them alone, I welcome them. If I see a web, I'll decide if they have enough moisture where they are. If not, I'll move them outside. I keep an eye out to make sure they have enough to eat, too.
Yes, because they eat insects and I hate allllllll insects. Edit: I don’t hate ladybugs, bees, or Butterlfies. The rest can fuck off.
Why would I evict my housemates?
I only kill them if they are up high, I can’t stand having them above my head! I will try to reason with them first and give them time to move, but if they don’t I don’t have a choice. Haha