Hello Everyone

Its becoming warmer and warmer as summer kicks into gear but the only downside is having to deal with the inevitability of insects that fly into my home. Most times im split whether to try catching the critters inside of a cup and then taking them back outside but then at other times i will squash them and feel really guilty afterwards. What do you guys do when you are faced with insects inside your homes do you kill them and then feel guilty or not , or do you just leave them be?

It depends on the bug. Houseflies I go out of my way to kill on sight, whereas I would stop everything I'm doing to avoid hurting a spider. I'm fond of moths and kind of indifferent toward ants. I sort of have my own system based on my personal feelings toward each kind of bug.

For the most part I leave them be, and with the exception of destructive bugs like termites or carpenter bees or something, I don't really see what all the fuss is about. So there's a bug on your wall. Then what? Nothing. There's just a bug. Life goes on.

@sarek : Interesting, i can definitely relate to having a system for the different bugs that you mentioned. Its just when something is flying in front of my face then i sometimes become startled by its presence which makes me want to get rid of it from my space as quickly as possible. But i suppose i should maybe adopt less lethal ways of removing certain insects in the future.

Agreed. It depends what kind of insect it is as well as my personal attitude. I am very fond of insects, particularly moths. Fruit flies do bother me sometimes and usually I clap my hands in air to kill them, no regret. However, I do feel guilt if I accidently kill a fly or caterpillar as they do not bother me. Any and all other insects I usually help them find their way out of the house. Mosquitos is something I think we can all agree on.

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I'm a basement troll, so bugs are just part of the deal. My spider friends don't bother me, though I'm sure they feed on me at night. I leave everything alone, unless the spider is big and scary looking, then I'll capture him and release him outside so the clever little bastard can find his way back in.

Ants, though, if there are a lot of them, then I perform genocide. Funny. a few ants don't bother me, but when I see a trail of them I become Hulk.....and Hulk Smash!

It's species by species. I usually trap and release flies. Ants I don't even really think of as individual organisms, rather extensions of a colony... I'll avoid using colony-killing poisons but use caulk etc to keep them the hell out, and the ones that get in are wiped up with bleach to remove their pheromone trail. Most spiders are trapped and released except brown recluses which are killed on sight (my wife was bit by one and didn't walk for three months). Same with roaches.

This is still Nature, survival of the fittest. We can share with many species but others simply don't agree with our well-being. Each of us must find our personal balance between self protection and compassion. I love bugs in general and am in awe of Nature, and kill as little as I can. But those little shits killing our zucchini plants? Dead. Sorry, that's how it goes.

Houseflies don't bother me much so I won't kill them. They're FAR too fast anyways.
I don't mind Moths, but they are allways killed and eaten by my cats withing 5 minutes of flying into my house
I leave spiders alone too, because they help me get rid of mosquitos.


Because I absolutely HATE mosquitos. How could anyone not hate them? They can keep you awake all night
with their insufferably annoying high pitched zooming. They can bite you leaving itchy skin and to top
it off they can transfer all sorts of nasty diseases. I'm killing any mosquito on sight

And when I'm growing vegetables or herbs & spices, any bug, fungi or bacterium harming my crop, my plant allies,
are naturally my enemies too. If you love some things, you GOTTA hate some other things It's how nature works.

What is that? Lice on my Basil? Mold on my Cannabis? Molds, Lice; You're sooo dead!

If they are in my living space I will kill just about anything except moths which I try to let go even though I really do not like them for some reason, also small spiders living on my plants I will allow. Outside I don't kill anything unless it's a mosquito landing on me.

I went through some serious internal philosophical debates about the lives of bugs in college when there was an infestation of piss ants in my house and I was taking lots of psychedelics

I like the idea of sharing the world with the little creatures and I'm usually quite pacifist towards insects (with the exception of cockroaches). Once while meditating I let a mosquito bite me, that was quite an interesting experience to feel him getting comfortable, finding a good spot and after what felt like a really long time, finally penetrating my skin. Won't do that anymore though.

Recently I killed an ant while smoking changa in the woods. It happened in a reflex as the little (quite big actually) bugger crawled on my leg & under my pants. After that I got the impression that I wasn't welcome anymore in the spot I was sitting in, had to get away and then got nauseous and vomited a couple of times, which has never happened to me before on changa/ dmt.

The way I see it, we have to inevitably be killing bugs unknowingly daily just by walking outside, or driving a car or what have you, but when it comes to seeing the bug, and making a decision, I have grown accustomed to leaving them alone. I will try to coerce them outside, or I may just lament at the unfortunate situation, but I pretty much intentionally kill nothing. If there is something that is so dreaded I may get lucky in having a friend around who does not quite share the same values as me. I used to kill bugs like it was nobody's business...but then DMT happened

I only kill ticks. I feel guilty pleasure when I watch them burn, or sink to the bottom of a cup of rubbing alcohol.

its plain and simple- if an organism let's me carry on in peace, I do the same. If it sucks my blood, I crush it. I've told this to many ticks just before killing them. I am hoping the collective tick conscious finally transmits the message

Nature is all about survival of the fittest, and to that end, I have very little problem killing some bugs.

That said, all I really go after with a vengeance are mosquitoes, but that seems fair, since they seem to go after me extra-hard as well. I think my blood type is whatever is most attractive to the buggers.

Everything else is pretty harmless and it seems needlessly cruel to kill something just because it's in my space.

Ab381

Personally I am unable to kill or harm any creature intentionally no matter how big or small they are... Although if its for the protection of my health or harm is being caused to my cat or my plants I will take the necessary measures, wherever possible I always try to use natural deterrents or organic methods.

I remember spilling some milk during a mushroom journey one time and I had this overwhelming feeling that even the mess had a right to exist. I was only able to clean up the milk puddle once the effects of the mushrooms had eventually worn off, it was pretty funny to say the least.


Much Peace and Happiness

I used to hate houseflies then i watched some making love and thereafter felt a deep connection with them. I try not to consciously kill animals that are in my space unless they are detrimental to my health. I do not see blood sucking bugs as really that bad as they have to eat aswell as us; Maybe i would think differently if i lived in an area where malaria was rife. I did poison some rats a couple of years ago.

My thoughts on this tie in my pre-flight ritual for taking DMT. If i am just about to vape and there are some houseflies buzzing about, which sometimes annoys me, rather than stressing and trying to swat them i get into the headspace that these flies have as much right to be buzzing about the place as i have doing drugs.

By getting my mental house in order think that i have learned as much by preparing myself for taking DMT as i have in the aftermath.

I've had ant problems, but they don't bother me at all... they clean up the mess I don't get to.

I also have daddy-long-legs spiders rampant in almost every room of my house. This is a symbiotic relationship we have. I know they cannot harm me, but they do keep away all the dangerous spiders like red-back's and of course help with the "mozzies".

Now I just need to breed spiders that can eat cockroaches...

I used to be the kind of person who just saw bugs as bugs. They're small, can be annoying, and hey if theyre about to land on my food, die they must.

But Id say a few months back among my first massive life changes, I became much more compassionate for the fact alone that these are just little creatures on their journey thru life just like us. They don't deserve to be smashed just because we have the capability of doing so. They're annoying to us and inconvenient, but their goals are not to annoy us, or even hurt us. Mosquitos, yes, they're certainly the most irritating and they flat out suck. But their goal isn't to piss off anyone. It's to survive.

Someone I work with the other day came up and started talking to me just after Id noticed a bug crawling on the wall, and then he saw that same bug on the wall by me and just power smashed it with his hand. I looked at him and I was going to get into it with him, but it wasn't even worth it.

I do my best to scoop them up and plop them on a bush or something like that. Tonight there were fireflies EVERYWHERE that I was driving, hundreds and hundreds of them and I was doing my best to aim my car around their last glowed location haha. I could literally hear them pinging off the front end Its inevitable though as mentioned when driving, or walking. It happens. But in a situation that I can go out of my way to just put one in a safer spot is a practice I intend to continue.

I love insects!
I do kill bloodsuckers though as i am afraid of needles and piercing things.
Sometimes I have cook/fried insects as well, tasty!

I have mostly been a vegan for maybe two years but have always had a fascination with entomophagy.
Insects like cockroaches (especially B. Dubia), grasshoppers and locusts, mealworms and
black soldier flies are easy to breed in small spaces.

Entomophagy is way more sustainable then veganism in most parts of the world because you can buy
local grains and vegetables or feed them your leftovers to grow high quality proteins in your home.
No need to freight soy from south america.

They produce a lot of frass (feces) that can be used as fertiliser in your home or garden.



If I can afford it I will try to breed grasshoppers as food after my vacation.

Here's some interesting links

http://insectpoint.webs.com (Application center for edible insects, starts july 3 in the netherlands)
http://entomoproject.eu
http://www.openbugfarm.com
http://www.kunger.at/161...farm-432-insect-breeding
http://entomoproject.eu
http://www.girlmeetsbug.com
http://www.nextmillenniumfarms.com



And a seriously cool mosquito! (sabethes cyaneus)

If they eat my plants, I spray them. If they try to suck my blood I smash them. If they just fly around in my room, I take a cup and transfer them outsides.

Huntsman do I believe..or do they?

I once had a family of hunstman on my ceiling, a big mother and about 20 babies , I had a policy that if they came to head height they would get squished..
The mother of course was far too clever she kept her distance. It was fascinating watching them, most of the time they were completely still but then they would have bursts of movement but didnt attack one and other or anything for that matter they would just sprint across a section of the ceiling. They stayed for about 3 months then one day I came home and they had all dissapeared.
This summer I just had the daddylong legs that kept some of the mosquitoes at bay, but not very well.
Once it caught a poor moth and for the size of the moth it made a terrible loud panic stricken buzzing , the spider carefully kept wrapping it in a silk cuckoon and nipping it to paralyse it until it died then winched it up to its corner.
Mustve fed it for its life the spider lived maybe 6 months or so and eventually just died of old age and hung there all shrivelled up, its web still remains. Moths are cool I love the way they fly.
I squashed a mozzie about 1.5 years ago on my wall and its remains are still there not having decomposed one bit! Im seeing how long it takes. I generally do squish mozzies as they buzz by my face at night and stop me sleeping but I also use a plug-in deterrant so they stay away in the first place.
I try and chapparone flies out but sometimes lose patience and get the flip-flop out.

I have the philosophy that if it isn't causing me danger I tend to leave them alone. I won't kill ants (though my wife takes to killing them with glee if they infest our kitchen on masse much to my protest), I'll leave spiders alone if it isn't in my space and likely of biting me.

I'll kill mozzies as the ones where I live can carry Ross River fever which is a pretty nasty virus. I'll kill cockroaches as well as they can be capable of carrying pathogens and stuff not friendly for humans too.

One funny story with cockroaches, one time I discovered a decapitated cockroach body on the floor in our living room and on the wall above it was a miniature CSI crime scene with a trail of smeared brown gunk everywhere. Completely puzzled, it then dawned on me that our old house at the time had tonnes of resident geckoes that loved to feast on all the creepy crawlies and must've been responsible for the carnage. I always was a lover of lizards in general, but those cute little gecko serial killers just helped deepen my love for them even more, ha ha