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House Critters


Purple Wanderer

Critters  

76 members have voted

  1. 1. There is a Spider in the House. Do you...

    • Live and let live
      31
    • Kill it dead!!
      16
    • Catch and release outside
      21
    • Cry! and hope someone else deals with it!
      8
  2. 2. A massive Moth in your room... Do you:

    • Leave it be
      8
    • Open a window and hope it leaves
      26
    • Kill it dead
      10
    • Catch and Release
      28
    • Cry and hope someone else deals with it
      4
  3. 3. A Mouse/Rat in your house!

    • Kill it dead! (Poison)
      2
    • Kill it dead (trap)
      14
    • Catch and release
      26
    • Panic!
      8
    • Live and let live!
      7
    • Hire a professional...
      19
  4. 4. Cockroaches!

    • Kill them dead!
      53
    • Catch and release
      8
    • Live and let live
      2
    • Cry and let someone else deal with them!
      13

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Purple Wanderer

I don't know about any of you but my house is being visited by bigger and bigger spiders...

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Spiders and cockroaches are kill on site. Moths I leave be or catch and release; I actually like moths tbh. If it’s a mouse or rat my cats would probably take care of it, otherwise I’d get a professional.

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Sister Mercurial

Moths I swat. Touch wood, not had cockroaches, but I'd probably squash them too.  For mice and rats I'd use a no-kill trap and let out elsewhere, maybe by deliberate accident in the council offices while complaining about the binmen's strikes causing the estate to be riddled with vermin.  One effect of the binmen's strike I have observed is a plague of flies because I haven't been able to take the rubbish out as often as I need to, so I'd leave spiders alone to deal with the fly problem.  

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I'm happy to see no one wants to poison rats, because that would endanger cats.  

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Purple Red Panda

I try and catch stuff and put it outside or leave a window open for moths and other flying insects. Spiders have to be removed as my housemate is arachnophobic, I'd be happy to live and let live but she really hates them so I'm the designated spider wrangler.

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I love animals... except for cockroaches.

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Live and let live for spiders. They help with other insects and I don't mind them since they keep to themselves. Unless I feel threatened by one, in which case I catch and release.

 

Flying insects in my space annoy me beyond belief so I always open a window or door and try to coerce them outside with lights and shooing. 

 

Rodents, definitely catch and release. One time I came home to a mouse having caught itself for me in an empty trash can. What a lucky day because they're hard to catch! 

 

Cockroaches... cry and let someone else deal with them. Yuck! I don't even want to be close enough to kill them. I can't bring myself to kill anything other than ants anyhow. 

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2. I actually turn off all my lights and turn on the light in the hallway, disturb it, and usually it leaves within a couple minutes. 

 

4. If there's one, there's a million. Hire a professional. (At least, if you live in a wooden house/apartment)

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For spiders depending on how big they are and where they are I either leave them or kill them.

 

I haven't really encountered a moth indoors before but I'd probably hit it with a shoe.

 

For a mouse or rat I'd panic and let someone else handle dealing with it.

 

And for cockroaches I would get scared for a second usually then end up killing them, unless they are huge then I panic and get someone else to handle it.

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RoseGoesToYale

#4 needs a fifth option... cry and kill them dead because you live alone. 😭😂

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J. van Deijck

Some options are not fully relevant to me. While I catch and release spiders, I let my cats take care of the rest of the living beings :lol: so they catch moths and bugs, they'd probably catch anything else if it appeared in our house.

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The cats take care of most of it (cheapest professional pest control available, non-toxic methods, and they work 24/7).  I mostly leave the spiders alone (although I break webs if they're in my way).  I don't think I've ever encountered a roach—either this is north of their range, or I've just been lucky.

 

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I catch and release almost everything. Not cockroaches though, and not things that sting because I'm terrified shitless of them (except for bumblebees, they're far too fuzzy to hurt). Although I prefer someone else deal with the stinging things, because when I say 'terrified shitless' I mean it. I've run across multiple lanes of traffic to get away from a wasp. There was one in my flat a couple months ago and I screamed and hid in the bedroom while my partner killed it and flushed it down the toilet.

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Oh, ants. I kill those fuckers too. I used to live in a very overpriced apartment building with a bad ant infestation and they disgust me.

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Yeah, I'll kill ants for sure.

 

 

Here's the thing with spiders. They are carnivores. I want them to live in my house.  If a spider is making a living in my house, it is because there is a food source, and that means I have other smaller bugs in my house. That spider is doing me a favor of being natural pest control.  Sure, I'll sweep cobwebs out of the corners every now and then, because one does want to have a semblance of tidiness.  Shouldn't let the spiders run away with the show.  But by all means let the spiders live in my house because they are doing me a service.

(To be clear, I wouldn't want venomous massive kill-you spiders of Australian mythology in my house, for sure, or even the more mundane U.S. brown recluse or other such spiders whose bite might do real harm to a human, but just  normal old American spiders, bring 'em on.) 

 

 

 

Mice, on the other hand, make me scream.  It's not rational. I don't actually believe with my brain that the mouse will cause me any harm, because rationally I understand what mice are like.  But my psyche believes absolutely that the mouse is going to do me grave harm and I have to be far far away from the mouse.

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Actually, first I would panic, and then I would kill whatever it was, after I finished panicking. Or open the door and chuck it as far as I can, if I’m willing to touch it with a paper towel or something.

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Silverfish are kill kill kill asap! Disgusting little buggers. I have no problem with spiders whatsoever, so I just leave them be, especially if they're somewhere high up on the ceiling, so I can't reach them anyway. 

 

Moths I'd catch and release or open the window if possible, especially because they're just really annoying fluttering against lamps and windows

 

Cockroaches... Try to catch and release. But luckily don't have them around here :lol:

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  • 2 months later...

I did say "live and let live" with spiders, though actually it depends on where I catch the spider.

 

I love them, always have... unfortunately the family hates them. As in "kill them all" hates them. Plus I have 3 cats and 2 dogs, so the spider might be in danger from them as well.

So I am "live and let live" whenever possible, but "catch and release" if it's safer for them (if my family sees them I catch and release them, if they are big spiders and low on the ground - likely to attract one of the dogs/the cats I catch and release them).

 

We actually had a big rat problem in 2020 - the lockdown meant the cars stayed in the garage for some time and apparently rats decided that they were awesome houses. Family wanted to go straight to the "kill them!", I put my feet down and said "no way in hell". It took some time, catch and release, ultrasounds, a lot of moving around their spots to unnerve them and make them consider not safe anymore... but they moved. The neighbourhood is still full of them obviously, but they're staying out of our house and cars (as a side note, neighbours went for the "kill them" solution - they tought it was faster and more effective. They are still getting rats inside the house).

 

As a rule I try to catch and release/live and let live, depending on the animal. Even with bees/wasps, even though I'm allergic: either I catch and release them or family kills them, so I usually do that - except when it's a wasp hive, then I'm staying as far away as possible because I might brave a single wasp... I'm not braving a full hive, I'm not suicidal. Cockroaches are the only exception: dangerous for our health and hard to keep contained, a cockroaches infestation is not something I'd want to face so I prefer to take care of the situation asap.

 

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Kill spiders and cockroaches. Catch and release moths and mice/rats.

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Grumpy Alien

#3 - catch and keep

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My grandmother's house had rats when I lived there. They ate my clothes and food. I would hear them at night, they'd be really loud. I'd always be worried about seeing them and the possibility of getting bit. I had to hide all my cords because they would chew through those too, and I was concerned for my more expensive electronics. I had to start putting all my food in the fridge. They were getting in through a literal hole in the house that grandma refused to fix. The exterminator said so, and also said her clutter attracted them. 

I was so relieved when I moved out. I love my grandma and appreciated the roof over my head, but her house is like a hoarder's house. 

After that, I don't tolerate rats. Sometimes when I hear random noises I think I heard a rat, then I realize it's just someone doing something outside. I live on the ground floor, I can hear what's going on outside quite well, sometimes even with the window closed. It's freeing not having to store macaroni and cheese in the refrigerator. 

When it comes to spiders and moths, I love them. I hold them if they let me. 

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I'll kill wolf spiders or put a cup over them and get someone else to take them outside, depending on where they are. Other types of spiders I just leave alone.

I have a severe phobia of moths (it's hard for me to even type the word out) and couldn't get close enough to one to kill it. I'd get someone to catch it. If no one was home, I'd leave the room, close the door, and stuff a towel under the door. Maybe put one of my cats in there to catch it.

Rats and mice, I'd just leave alone. There's some mice in my house, but I never see them unless my cats catch them, so it doesn't bother me. When my cats catch them, I'll catch them and bring them outside if they're still alive.

The only roaches that exist in my area are pretty small, so I'd just catch them.

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Spider: Catch and release
Moth: Open window or leave it be
Mouse: Live and let live. They stay in the walls until summer 

Cockroaches: I have never seen one. They're super rare where I live. So I don't know what I would do. Catch and release probably...

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Spiders are welcome. They eat the flies. Plus the house spiders don’t cope outdoors, and if you put them out they either die or come back in. Letting them be is both kind and labour saving.

 

Moths: meh. But the flapping at night is reason enough to get them out.

 

Mice: every year I get visitors come autumn. (I live in a very rural area; they’re field mice.) I leave them be to begin with . Most years, they sightsee and move on. If they don’t, it might be a job for the pros.

 

Cockroaches: fortunately not in my house, but we did have them in an inner city office I worked in. Poison put down in the corridors seemed to work for about 3 months, then they’d reappear. I caught one and showed it to the janitor to show they were back. That office also had mice. We got used to them. There were rats too, but I only ever saw them (and the traps) outside.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Spider: Live and let live. I used to have a flat mate called Aaron, who was a spider. Not a pet, he just moved in. I am terrified of all insects, but we had an agreement to stay out of each others way.

 

Moth: Catch it and release it outside. Though my windows are closed before it gets dark, so never get any in anyway. Actually, I have had one insect in here in four months since I moved in.

 

Mouse/Rat: Call my Dad to catch it and release it.

 

Cockroach: Cry and call my Dad.

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No matter the type of critter, I always catch & release first; then if they keep coming, call a professional. (But only as a last resort, because I hate killing critters)

 

Unfortunately, ants are too tiny (and usually too numerous) to catch & release, so those are an instant "call a professional" response. I've never encountered cockroaches before, but I imagine they would be the same.

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House spiders i let them go about what their business. They're big and hairy but don't bother me as long as they don't take me by surprise. Other kinds of spider i trap and release. I can't say I'd feel the same if I lived somewhere with larger, bitier and more dangerous species.

I love moths, especially the big furry ones. I always put them back outside where they belong. 

Mice, it depends. If it's a single mouse i catch in a box and take them off into the woods. I've had a mouse problem before. Ended up getting a professional in.

Cockroaches are the odd one out. They're gross and I'd bug spray them on sight. But I've only come across them abroad and that wasn't in the place i was staying. 

 

 

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