Is There A Moral Imperative
Wheeee
Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13713Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13713Members, Reinforced - Shadow
in Discussions
<div class="IPBDescription">For me to help out these spiders?</div> So occasionally I have these spiders (ordinary, nonpoisonous spiders) that fall into the bathtub in my basement. They crawl in from the window, which we leave open to circulate fresh air in the basement (the basement is only half-underground).
Basically they aren't able to crawl out because the sides of the bathtub are too slick, and they end up spending days, even weeks in the bathtub.
Sometimes I even find spiders crawling around on the carpet in the basement and throw them in the bathtub.
Anyway, the end result is that the spiders get hungry and start eating each other (which is natural)...just this morning, two of the larger ones got into a fight and one got eaten. One of the smaller ones lost two legs, and one of the bigger ones fought a hornet that I trapped in the bathtub and lost another leg (hornet is dead though).
So, should I be helping these spiders? Should I take them and throw them outside? Wash them down the drain? Why?
Basically they aren't able to crawl out because the sides of the bathtub are too slick, and they end up spending days, even weeks in the bathtub.
Sometimes I even find spiders crawling around on the carpet in the basement and throw them in the bathtub.
Anyway, the end result is that the spiders get hungry and start eating each other (which is natural)...just this morning, two of the larger ones got into a fight and one got eaten. One of the smaller ones lost two legs, and one of the bigger ones fought a hornet that I trapped in the bathtub and lost another leg (hornet is dead though).
So, should I be helping these spiders? Should I take them and throw them outside? Wash them down the drain? Why?
Comments
I would, however, say it's wrong to put them in there yourself.
This is my main reason for trying to save spiders, lizards, or dragonflies who mistakenly come into the house. Other typical pests will also usually get the boot, but in a different way -- think of the Monty Python foot.
I would, however, say it's wrong to put them in there yourself. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't like them running around because I've gotten bitten by one before (and no, I wasn't provoking it...it just crawled on me and bit me while I was sleeping)
<!--QuoteBegin-Marik_Steele+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Marik_Steele)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Re-introduce them into their natural habitat of the outdoors, harming them as little as possible. Not only does this result in <insert psychological, theological, and philosophical mumbo-jumbo here>, but it also means you'll still have the benefits of their hunting around for unwanted insects in the general area of your house.
This is my main reason for trying to save spiders, lizards, or dragonflies who mistakenly come into the house. Other typical pests will also usually get the boot, but in a different way -- think of the Monty Python foot.
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I don't need a practical reason to do it, my laziness in this regard outweighs them <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Anyway I <i>might</i> pay money to see a spider fight a hornet, a small amount of money. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Anyway I <i>might</i> pay money to see a spider fight a hornet, a small amount of money. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hey! I wanted to post that! Make the "colloseum of the bugs", then charge everyone to come watch the fights. Do specials on saturdays where you have 30 bugs in there at once. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I'll defend my home from any foreign species I deem a threat or nusiance. If you were some tiny thing going into a spider's web (assume that...you can go in it and not get stuck or something) and annoying the spider, the spider would kill you. They stay out of my house, I'll stay out of theres.
I don't care that they can't realize they're invading someone else's 'home' either. If you go in a spider's web and don't realize it's a spider's web, the spider isn't going to come up to you and say, "Oh, sorry mate, this is my web, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Lizards aren't really a nusiance (in that we don't get them in Wisconsin), but if those invaded my house they'd get to leave alive, because they don't bite people needlessly.
and maby throw in a a small lizrd to spice things up
Then it's the foot for em'!
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and if it's something like a hornet or wasp i'll take it, and put it in a glass or tape it down with a magnifying glass and...
<span style='color:red'>*POOF*!</span>
Smokin'. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
i.e. As a behavioral experiment I was wondering whether they had a specific target size range (e.g. they only attack things smaller than them), but it didn't work out too well, i trapped two spiders in a cup for several days and nothing happened.
i'm also not gonna do that because i don't like the idea of selling entertainment from spider fighting. and even if i did manage to make them fight and sell tickets or something, that would probably mean that i would actually have to go out and find more spiders, as opposed to just letting them fall in on their own.
oh, yeah, one more thing...most of the spiders i throw back in the bathtub are the escapees...the ones that got lucky and managed to crawl out. Small spiders have a much easier time with this.
Note howver that this may or may not make <insert deity(s) of choice here> mad at you, and may have serious implications for your karma.
Except for wasps... those just go splat, horrible things.
Best. Argument. Ever.
I do try to help spiders and things if they are trapped, mainly because they annoy me (ever had a bumblebee buzz against a window for hours on end?) I think putting spiders in bathtubs is wrong, especially if they are fighting each other. Personally, I believe that humans are here to take care of the planet, if nto for us, for future generations, and if not for them, someone or something else. So far, we have done an absolutely crap job of it, so anything I can do to help is a little step in the right direction.
[edit] Damn double post, ignore the first one please [/edit]
I'm concerned about my useage of water, I'm gonna start trapping the mosture that comes out with my breath and reintroduceing it the water suppy.
The point being that the lives of spiders, which may or may not fight in nature anyways, are not going to make a difference for the planet. If you eat one sandwich you are responsible for the death of more organic cell matter then has ever been stuck in wheee's bath tub. The time you take saving spiders is extreamly ineficiantly spent from a logical enviornmentalist prospective. If you would spend a minute catching that spider and throwing it outside, you might as well just stomp him and spend that minute collecting bottles or properly disposing of chemicals.
Best. Argument. Ever.
I do try to help spiders and things if they are trapped, mainly because they annoy me (ever had a bumblebee buzz against a window for hours on end?) I think putting spiders in bathtubs is wrong, especially if they are fighting each other. Personally, I believe that humans are here to take care of the planet, if nto for us, for future generations, and if not for them, someone or something else. So far, we have done an absolutely crap job of it, so anything I can do to help is a little step in the right direction.
[edit] Damn double post, ignore the first one please [/edit] <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They don't fight each other to fight, they fight each other to eat (they are cannibals in nature too, just less often because the odds of having that many spiders near each other for a long time is low). If they're not hungry, they won't attack anything.
Anyway, 2 of the spiders got eaten during the night...there are now only 3 left :\
It haunted his nightmares for weeks. He kept dreaming about waking up to find the spider on his chest screaming "WHO'S GONNA DIE NOW ****?!?!?!?"
It made for a very entertaining story though.
Edit: forgot about the word filter, **** has replaced some text that involved a mother and a reproductive process.
Imagine this as a test:
If you kill it or let it die in the bath you will shift to the dark side. You have the power to save its life. I think that is more powerful than killing it and btw you make 2 people happy (you for saving its **** and the spider)