Would you be less inclined to kill spiders if they had a face?

No, I let spiders live. On the other hand, I don’t let praying mantises or grasshoppers live. I like spiders because they kill the other bugs that I don’t want around my house. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

The idea of spiders with faces is so creepy I am sure I would kill them just to save them from having to be such a thing.

I would be less likely to kill spiders if they had a face, that is true.

However, the part that creeps me out about spiders is the little sharp hairs on their legs you can see under the microscope, and their preference for wrapping things up for later digestion. So I would still kill them.

I can’t kill spiders even though they terrify me a bit. I’ve gone to great lengths to trap them under a glass for disposal outside.

The only spider I would kill is one that has the potential to make me or one of my family sick/dead and that had positioned itself in a place where it might feel the need to bite one of us. Otherwise, live and let live. Ugly or pretty, with or without a ‘human type face’, arachnid or insect, they all have the right to share our planet without being squished.

You mean like this?

@ragingloli Would you be less inclined to kill spiders like that if they didn’t wear the bra?

You have no idea what she will do to you if you do not kill her.

Would it help if I had tentacles?

As long as you can evade her web, maybe.

I’m with you on this one @tranquilsea

I don’t kill spiders, I just relocate them when they get into the house.

The more I learn about spiders the more I like them.

Nope, that wouldn’t help. I kill spiders because they are somehow attracted to me, and they bite me. After being bitten by wolf spiders multiple times, and dealing with a really nasty brown recluse bite, I kill those creepy little bastards as soon as I catch them on my patio or in my house. I realize that they’re supposed to be good because they eat bugs, but they eat me too, so they gotta frickin’ go.

Oh god that’s sad. Why would you kill something for not having a face?

I always take ‘em outside and let them be free. I would never kill a spider unless it was poisonous and it was biting me (or a loved one).

How could anyone kill Charlotte?

Man @Kardamom you and I must be long lost twins

My son & I take walks in our village. For summer, we name the arachnids (same type as Charlotte) that hang out on a certain bridge. We go and check on Rosie & Nellie, etc on our walks at night.

Here at home, I set them out. My son has begun capturing them on his own and setting them free.

Faces have nothing to do with this argument as far as I’m concerned. All Creatures Great & Small deserve a chance. At least they do in my corner of the world.

@athenasgriffin and you don’t let praying mantises live because? They pretty much do the same thing as spiders, get rid of the nasty critters that you don’t want around the house, garden, etc.

As for spiders, I tend not to kill them unless it happens to be a brown recluse, black widow or something of that nature that is residing inside the house. Most others – especially wolf spiders – I’ll take outside and let them go free.

NO NO NO NO NO NO and if you want to see why spiders with faces

look at all the eyes they have to see you with and the big mouth/fangs to bite/oison/eat you with [and besides they are hairy]

Hello spiders have faces. And they are hell scary see above.

No way! I always put them outside.

Most of the spiders here are beneficial little predators. Any spider that I find in my house that’s not a Black Widow or a Brown Recluse, is left alone unless it’s in my way, face or not. If it gets in my way, then I usually brush or blow it it away.

On the other hand, wasps have faces and any that I find in my house are either immediately shown the door or doused with isopropyl alcohol spray.

@Kardamom @SpatzieLover

I cried at the end of Charlotte’s Web.

@Bellatrix

Do you have a different policy for funnel web spiders?

I don’t kill spiders, but then again, British spiders are harmless to people and beneficial to the environment. I would however, kill a venomous one whether it had a face or not. Wasps have faces but I don’t mind killing them.

I’ve noticed that the change in weather to becoming very damp and cold all year round has led to a change in the sort of spiders I see. I haven’t seen an ordinary house-spider in several years, but we now have some strange ones with small bodies and very long thin legs, as thin as a human hair. One of those came scuttling out of my laundry-basket yesterday.

@downtide: I think those might be the ones we yanks call “Daddy Long Legs!”

I’ve never met a black widow or brown recluse, but serious business poisonous spiders are the only type I would kill.

All others, I either let them eat flies in my house, or I rescue them in a jar and put them outside!

We have “Daddy Long Legs” here but they’re actually craneflies, not spiders. Oh but you’re right, I googled American pictures and that’s exactly what they are. Cellar spiders.

@Brian1946, Funnel Web Spiders are deadly and therefore have the potential to kill me or one of my family. If one was in my house, unless I could safely catch it, it would unfortunately not survive. However, we really need funnel web venom so if I could catch it safely I would (or more likely my husband would) and then the spider would do good rather than evil. Thankfully they aren’t found very often in Queensland. They can turn up but my understanding is that this is after being transported in plants and the like. Queensland isn’t their favourite location though (thank goodness).

I don’t kill spiders, I have no need to as the ones that are likely to be near me aren’t exactly dangerous and I don’t fear spiders at all.

However, this Q reminds meof the reason I don’t like getting rid of stuffed toys or buying fish whole from the supermarket, they have eyes. If I can see something’s eyes (whether the eyes are real or not) I feel some kind of compassion towards it!

Don’t feel the need to kill spiders, but wasps!!!
Those bastards could wear mini santa claus suits complete with beard & jolly smile & i’d still squash the fuck out of the buggers if they point their pointy arses at me.

Spiders have eight eyes, can you imagine if you could see a perfectly black rounded hairy face with all 8 staring right at you, saliva dripping out of its mouth, their skinny denty eight legs in a ready position to jump at your face… Cause they do jumpppp… thatsss just plain sick. Where’s my vaccuum??

I hadn’t seen a spider in ages. I answered this question yesterday and I guess what was waiting for me when I went to bed? He/she is safe and sound outside now.

Spiders kill bugs and I HATE bugs and I avoid harming spiders. I have been known to open a window and throw one outside rather than kill it like my wife wanted. I do my best to have birds, bats, and Praying Mantis around the house.

@tranquilsea they are EVERYWHERE. If you wanted to really get creeped out, imagine that all the walls and surfaces turned transparent and you could see them all. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I don’t hate bats—I may put a bathouse outside. Also, how do I lure in a preying/praying mantis into my garden?

They’re just so damn creepy

I don’t kill anything, unless I have a very good reason to. Spiders are among my most favorite creatures. Generally I don’t bother them, even when they’re in my house. I do go to great lengths to get rid of flies, mosquitos and wasps from my house though. I’m rather familiar with most species of spiders though, and I have removed a black widow once from my bedroom and placed it outside. I do have some limits.

I, an inveterate spider-hater, have adopted a spider.
Charlotte came along with a rescued rose bush, a hitchhiker.
She had carved out a home in the rotted-out core of the main branch.
When i scavenged the discarded plant I noticed that the main branch was covered with a dense web, and on bringing it home I removed the web.

But 5 days later it was back, and i knew she was in there. My first thought was to cut the rotten branch off and throw it away along with the spider, but a gardener advised against it. “They kill mosquitoes.”

This never swayed me before, but Charlotte, she hid in her burrowed out branch most of the time. She was totally small and innocuous when she emerged—1/8–¼ inch length, dark brown to black, totally innocuous.

I accepted her. Now I worry about her web after a rainstorm. I say hello to her from time to time. I can’t believe it. I adopted a spider.

Charlotte’s web:
on a dry day
on a wet day She lives in a hollow space something like the black branch-top on the right but hers is bigger and deeper and at the center of the web on the older, deader branch.

Your links don’t work for me @anartist