The next time you see an eight legged friend that you’d rather not be friends with, here’s the best way to kill it Show
Rose Eveleth Contributor June 3, 2013 If we were all humane, nature-loving people, we would see a spider in our homes and simply smile, say hello, and let it go on its merry way. But we’re not. Many of us kill the spider. It’s okay; you don’t have to admit to it right now. But the next time you come across an eight-legged visitor that you’d rather not be visit with, here’s the best way to kill it. There probably is an infinite number of ways to kill a spider. The most common—but certainly not the best—is the “Hulk smash!” method. Find a blunt object, and bring it down upon that poor, unsuspecting arachnid, crushing it to death. The problem with this method, as anyone who’s tried it can attest, is that sometimes the spider doesn’t die. Maybe you miss. Maybe the spider is incredibly strong. Or maybe it scuttled out of the way before you could hit it. Plus, smashing is dangerous for your furniture and your paint job. Some suggest killing the spider with fire. This is how Smarter Every Day dealt with an unwelcome Brown Recluse spider: He explains the logic this way:
The downside to the fire trick is that it’s messy. Plus, it could set your house on fire. What about drowning the spider? That’s pretty cruel: it can take spiders over an hour to drown. No, the best way to kill a spider, says Real Clear Science, is not with fire or water, but with ice. Dr. Jerome Rovner, a professor at Ohio State and a member of the American Arachnological Society, told RCS’s Newton blog:
So if you have to kill the spider, do it kindly and gently—in the freezer. More from Smithsonian.com: Urbanization Is Supersizing Spiders Rose Eveleth | | READ MORE Rose Eveleth was a writer for Smart News and a producer/designer/ science writer/ animator based in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Scientific American, Story Collider, TED-Ed and OnEarth. There is no doubt about it — spiders can be creepy. They have eight legs, and they sneak around to find new places to sneak up on you. Or at least that’s what many people think. When a spider is found in your house, the most natural reaction is to kill it and feel quite proud of yourself because you have removed the evil creature from your house. You are correct. You did remove the spider from your house, and there is absolutely no way that particular spider will scare you again. Do you know what else you did? You just made the rest of the spider population healthier and sneakier than ever. Because you killed that spider, the next spider might hide better and be healthier and faster. What did you just do? Before you try to give the spider you just stepped on mouth-to-mouth or rush it to the vet to try to bring it back, let’s explain. Killing spiders obviously won’t benefit the spider you just killed. And it won’t immediately change the rest of the spider population, but it could over time. By now you know all about how organisms make more organisms through reproduction, right? When two organisms mate and reproduce, the new babies share half the traits from the male and half the traits from the female. Organisms in nature try to mate with the strongest partner they can find so their offspring has a greater chance at survival. This is called natural selection, and it helps explain many things in our natural world. In other words, the strongest survive to reproduce and spread more of the strong traits, while the weakest might not survive long enough to spread the weaker traits. This is where killing that spider comes in. Even though you feel pretty proud of yourself for outsmarting the spider and conquering it, there is something you are missing. Hopefully you realize you are bragging about seeking out the spider at the bottom on the “spider smarts” class. You found the spider that skipped the class on how to remain stealthy to evade capture. Rest assured, your pride will decrease when you realize there are many more spiders hiding from you right now all over and around your house. And those spiders likely scored better in the sneaky and stealthy class. Let’s go back to reproduction. You killed the spider that was really bad at hiding. It will no longer pass the “bad at hiding” trait to another spider. However, the spiders that like to hide under your couch, in dark corners or in your basement are doing just fine. They will reproduce with success. They could have mated with the spider you killed that liked to walk out in the open, but that spider is no longer available. Instead, the sneaky spiders will mate with another spider that might be sneakier than the one you killed. So what did you just do? You just made the spider population in and around your house just a little smarter, sneakier and better. How do you feel now? The truth is this isn’t just true for the spider you are scared of. Scientists have found even the hand sanitizers and medicines you use are backfiring on humans. Hand sanitizers claim they kill about 99 percent of the germs on your hands. But what is left? What is left is the 1 percent strong enough to survive the harsh chemicals. Those left are the only ones reproducing, so the next round will be even stronger. The same goes with medicines. Some viruses have become resistant to medicines, so scientists are having to develop new medicines to keep us healthy. It even happens in farming. Farmers have discovered some of the chemicals that previously killed the weeds and insects in their gardens no longer work. To quote Jurassic Park, “Nature found a way.” They found a way around our defenses against them, and they are stronger because of it. Scientists are worried that over-using germ killers is slowly producing a super germ that will be more damaging than the past germs ever were. We want weaker germs to stay alive because they help keep the overall population of the germs a little weaker. And let’s go back to the spider. Besides the fact that killing a spider just creates better spiders, there is another reason not to kill them. The spiders around your house actually are keeping you from being overrun by many other insects. Even though they might look a little creepy, they are doing you a big favor. What happens if you kill spiders?So killing a spider doesn't just cost the arachnid its life, it may take an important predator out of your home. It's natural to fear spiders. They have lots of legs and almost all are venomous – though the majority of species have venom too weak to cause issues in humans, if their fangs can pierce our skin at all.
Is it wrong to kill spiders?Spiders Rid Your Home of Pests
In fact, spiders even prey after disease-carrying insects. They go for those nasty indoor pests such as cockroaches, mosquitos, earwigs, and even clothing moths. The more you keep daddy long-legs around, the less mosquitos you'll have floating around your home.
Why should I not kill a spider?Spiders even prey after disease-carrying insects. They go for those nasty indoor pests such as cockroaches, mosquitos, earwigs, and even clothing moths. The more you keep daddy long-legs around, the less mosquitos you'll have floating around your home. Check out the most elaborate spider webs found in nature.
Do spiders revenge?Spiders View Humans As Predators
But what about getting revenge? Spiders will not try to get revenge on you for one simple reason: you are a predator to them!
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What happens when you kill a spider
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