How big is too big to squash?

I LOVE THIS QUESTION.

i know what you mean. i am terrified. TERRIFIED…of caterpillars. but i cant squash them because they are too big. then i have gunk all over my shoe, and you HEAR it POP when you step on them. currently gagging at the thought same with spiders, when they reach a certain size…i’d say an inch in diameter, i chase them away rather than squashing.

EW.

Big or small, a pest is a pest. I kill them all.

What happened to enlightenment, recently discussed here?

When one is enlightened he will by nature:

Refrain from harming living creatures.
Refrain from intoxicants.
Refrain from telling untruths.
Rrefrain from sexual misconduct.
Not take what is not his.

If a flock of spiders needs to remain in my room in the middle of the night while I continuously peer at them out of the corner of my eye and struggle to sleep for me to be enlightened, then it is something I will never be.

That are what 2×4’s are for.

I have stepped on pests up to and including mice, without compunction.

@Snarp HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHH

@gailcalled Bacteria, fungi, and viruses are living creatures too. One has to draw the line somewhere.

I try never to squash.

I WOULD NOT have tried this

gag eww I caan’t stand any of it

@ChazMaz
Another pest-clearing aid: the .22 rimfire shotshell. Probably not powerful enough to do real damage to the house.

I never squash. I either tolerate, trap and release, or chase.

Spiders do good work trapping and eating critters so I don’t have to tolerate, trap or chase.

Just.. ew.. on the popping caterpillars. And squashing mice?? For shame. :(

Pretty much all critters get captured and put outside. It’s wrong to kill things and it feels wrong to me to kill something just because I don’t like it. They have just as much right to live as we do.

@Nullo Those are just plain FUN. Lol

@Darwin
These aren’t any good in the house, AFAIK.

UUUUUGUGGGGGGGH im going to be squirming all day.

@Nullo – They make a .22 shell that just uses the primer with no power. It throws the bullet pretty good, but not enough energy to penetrate.

@ChazMaz
What do they call those? Might be fun for around the back yard.

I don’t squash anything outdoors, but if it’s in my house, and it serves no beneficial purpose to me in my house, is likely to carry disease, and is just going to come back in if I put it out, then it dies. That includes mice.

This is a problem I hope I never have to face. Ugh. Little spiders and other bugs are no problem, after a quick psyching myself up. But centipedes of any shape, size, age, color, ethnicity, or religion are my downfall. I just can’t do it.

If I can see it, I’ll do my damnedest to keep from squashing it.

@Nullo – Your own source says:

“Although they appear intimidating, they are harmless to humans. They may cause minor damage to stored items, but are easily discouraged by eliminating the dark damp habitat they prefer.”

Sounds like something to tolerate if you happen to live in a dark damp place. Since I don’t all I can say is What, me worry? – Alfred E. Newman.

@Nullo I have those in the garage, but they don’t bother me. Never had one in the house. We do have these things my wife calls “monsters”, they look like some kind of centipede with very thin long legs. They’re supposed to like underground places, but keep cropping up on the ceiling. They get pretty plump, the wife won’t squish them, so I have to dispose of them when they show up.

I’d say something bigger than a marble is too big. I would exclude cockroaches from this though. The bigger they are the more I want to squash them.

@Darwin
They’re in my basement somewhat more than I would like. Oh yes, they’re mostly harmless (though they do have a tendency to chirp all night long), but I’m no fan of them and, unlike spiders, they do nothing for the local pest population.

@Nullo – But they do help support your spider population, and, if you have any, provide entertainment for the family cats.

Have you considered installing a dehumidifier and a permanently-on light in your basement? That should lower the population somewhat.

I, too, am dealing with the visible. The microscopic needs no assistance from me.

I only squash flies, if they’re in the house. Maybe a small spider here and there, but I try to stay away from spiders because they freak me out. Anything else gets caught and released or as I’ve probably mentioned a hundred times here added to my son’s insect collection.

I don’t even squash wasps or bees that get into the house. They are highly beneficial insects, and it’s very easy to catch them in a jar or cup and let them go outside. We sometimes have yellowjackets build nests around the yard, and we don’t bother them. They are fascinating to observe. We also have these very cool wasps called pipe organ mud daubers. The females build mud nests shaped like pipe organ pipes right near our front door. Each cell of the nest has a paralyzed spider in it, which the female lays an egg on. When the female is adding mud to the nest, she fans it with her wings to make it dry, producing a strange humming sound. When the new wasps are grown, they chew their way out of the nest. The kids and I enjoy watching the progress of the nest-building and waiting to see how long it takes for the babies to grow up. Once the nests are empty, we scrape them right off the house. It would be a shame to squish them and miss out on all that free entertainment and education. :)

Speaking of flies.. they’re one of the few creatures I will kill if I find them in the house. I used to not care, thinking they’d either find their way out or die… until I woke up one morning to something out of Amityville Horror—a gazillion flies on all the windows. Ugh… shudder.

One has to remember that field mice and rats have been known to carry the hantavirus. It’s in their droppings, urine and saliva which them becomes airborne. Very nasty.
I get so creeped out by spiders that I can feel my skin crawl, especially if they’re big’uns. I force myself to stalk them, put a bowl over them, slide cardboard under them and pop them into the freezer. There is where they die. Squashing is OUT of the question. Just thinking about it makes me feel like having a sympathy urination. Eeeewwww.

Size is not the issue. It’s the squish factor. That would be a great name for a band, man.

I don’t think it’s right to kill anything unless it’s hurting/posing a health threat to you and/or a loved one (and that includes pets). So when it comes to squishing don’t ask yourself when to say when, ask yourself “Is it a potential danger?”, if so try to just chase it out. Killing things just because you can is the same thing that serial killers do.

@Self_Consuming_Cannibal actually, I think serial killers get some sort of psychological payoff from the killings they commit. I think that they enjoy killing, do it for the thrill, and all sorts of other things that make them a danger to society. To put me on the same level as a serial killer because I can’t stand the thought of a spider touching me is frivolous and insupportable. Chasing a bug out of the house does not guarantee it won’t come right back in again.
Welcome to the collective.

Not all serial killers kill for fun, some of them feel like they have to, sometimes it’s like an addiction, other times they are actually ill enough to believe that if they don’t kill the person they kill, that they pose a threat to him/her. I’m not saying you’re as bad as a serial killer, I’m just saying that, that is the same disregard for life that they have.
Where do you draw the line? What if you didn’t want a hamster to touch you, and it’s running around free in your house does that give you the right to kill it? Still not big enough to count? How about a puppy? Overall, a spider isn’t interested in touching you, if it does it’s usually because it’s too dumb to know it’s touching something that could easily kill it.

I don’t know why you are taking my opinion so personally, it wasn’t directed at anybody.

Welcome to my opinion.

@Self_Consuming_Cannibal
Consider the cave cricket that I mentioned above.
They are an ugly nuisance, born in the house and destined to die there of old age if not by the shoe. They are excellent jumpers, making capture or even herding impossible (since the end of their trajectory is highly variable).
I don’t kill things because I can. Most people don’t. I kill residential bugs because they are troublesome to have around and I, as the bigger, smarter creature, do not have to put up with them.
Now, when I go hunting, I leave the grasshoppers and spiders and what-have-you alone; that’s their place, and they are in it, and anyway there are fewer things less realistic than de-bugging the world with your slipper.

@Nullo
Well not that you need my reassurance or permission, but I respect your POV, I was just expressing mine. I think all life is sacred until it is some sort of threat (not nuisance) to me or my loved one’s. I mean sometimes kids and puppies are nuisances but someone would be considered pretty sick in the head, if they stomped them to death.

But anyways, I like you, you don’t take me disagreeing with you personally and you present your side with intelligence and respect. I give you props and a GA +5 lurve. :)

And (I admit) there is the issue of ticks in my ‘hood, which do cause illness and possibly long-lasting misery. We unanimously declare the “live and let live” policy null and void when a tick attaches, imbeds and grows from this ° to something the size and color of a Concord grape.

@gailcalled
I completely agree with declaring the “live and let live” policy null and void when it comes to ticks. Because, yes, they can cause illness which poses a health threat to me and/or my loved ones. As one of my earlier answers state: “I don’t think it’s right to kill anything unless it’s hurting/posing a health threat to you and/or a loved one (and that includes pets).”

Ewwwwww ticks! I’ve had to pick a few off my kids. They’re so disgusting.

I have no problem at all squashing any size bug or pest under my shoe. They are so nsty and ugly they deserve to die a disgusting death. haha