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If it's anything but a black widow or a brown recluse (the only 2 poisonous spiders in North America), let it be. It couldn't care less about you, I wouldn't worry about it.

Spiders don't bother me at all. I mean, I wouldn't want to wake up and they're crawling across my face, but regular everyday spiders can live in my place ... I hardly notice.

cockroaches are another story...!

I check the shower first [just a quick once over]. I've had one too many encounters while wet and without glasses.

In my house, we determine scary status more by whether the scittery beastie is fast, slow or (gulp) predatory... those little jumping/hunting guys are treated with extreme caution... watched one jump 2 feet towards my sister's face once... good times. And they track your movements... bleh!

All types are cupped-and-carded, though... I'm just not a life-smoosher. I would rather hastily exit the shower, turn off the water and go get the "spider kit". What's the alternative? Drowning them and the hoping their little bodies fit down the drain holes? No, thank you.

I hate spiders in the shower! They always seem to appear when I'm at my most vulnerable (i.e. naked and wet) and therefore creep me out to no end. They all die if they intrude on me that way. The rest I couldn't care less about.

I check my shower before I get in, like scaram0uche, then I cup'n'card them outside.

Their little bodies are crushed with the nearest thing that can be dropped on them unless they're outside. Even then.... sometimes they get smushed.

Aww, the furry ones are just garden spiders. I second voodoodle!

Everything gets carted outside except for brown recluses (we don't have many black widows here). In my old apartment, scorpions would come in through the dryer vent. I NEVER leave clean clothes in the dryer still...(shudder)

ok, seriously... after the scorpions-in-the-dryer comment... I am never ever leaving my lovely no-poisonous-nothin' northern new england state... not ever. I would cheerfully take 9 months of frigid winters for the rest of my life to know I am free of scorpions in my laundry. I don't think "shudder" even covers that one!!! ;)

Bugs in the shower are a no-no for me. If they're not interested in going for a swim then they should go hang out in the hallway. :)

I almost never have contacts in when I shower. So I go by, whatever I can't see, can't hurt me.

I know it seems heartless, but I crush them as quickly as I can with whatever is within reach. I feel guilty about killing other creatures--I'm serious, this is coming from a vegetarian--but a spider once dropped from the ceiling onto my face, and the whole incident was so frightening that I just can't abide them in my house anymore. Besides, the cup and card method wouldn't work in my house because I live in a high-rise condo with no balcony, so I'd have to hop out of the shower, throw something on, take the elevator downstairs and walk through our very large lobby to take it outside.

I've always had a 'catch and release' policy, except when I'm in the shower. When I am naked and wet, NOTHING survives.

I am also now scandalized by the scorpion comment. So glad I don't live in that kind of habitat.

if it isnt moving.. i can ignore it.
if it moves.. i end my shower.

if it's in my bed... i KILL it. sorry.


When I was a teenager.. i was taking a long shower (for obvious teenage reasons) and mid-way through.. noticed a bat up in the corner above me.
it was a very dissapointing shower.

spiders in shower are, sorry for them, washed down the drain.
but if i find a spider on the wall i usually leave it there because anyway it wint have much to live after my boyz see it.
Roaches tho, YAIKSSSS cant stand them and will crush and crush and crush 'em till there are no mo!
and lately with the heat our drive way is like a mini-indianapolis of roaches...disgusting!

I was never particularly anti-spider, until I moved into my current place, where spiders are frequent, huge, and REALLY DAMNED SCARY. Luckily, my dog thinks spiders are the best things ever (snacks! that move!) so if I point at any given spot on the floor or wall and yell "spider!" he scoots right over to handle it.

I don't feel bad for the spiders, because seriously, these things are to normal spiders what a sherman tank is to my dinky sedan. I do kind of feel bad for my dog, because it's so funny to watch him scrabble after spiders that I will frequently point to things that AREN'T spiders (like, say, burls in the floor), just to watch him spaz out.

We try to avoid killing spiders. They are interesting, and sometimes quite beautiful. Most spiders are beneficial so we usually rescue the very few that enter the shower.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66783241@N00/1820256968/

I remember growing up as a kid in the Central Valley and frequently finding dozens of Black Widows in the garage - and it was my job to clear them out...

...so now I live on the 15th floor - an Arachnid-Free zone.

I let the daddy long-legs live if they're outta the way. But the ones creeping around get snuffed. Unless the BF stops me & takes it outside...

I feel really really lucky right now.
1- I live in the cold northern regions of Canada, never shall I worry about scorpions in my fabrics. (OMG!)
2- I live in a high rise. I haven't seen a spider in my dwelling ever. Some cob-webs, but the creatures themselves remain hidden, as they should.
3- We don't have cockroaches here.

As far as the "do you kill it?" question, I ask myself this:
Can it kill me? If the answer is no, then I try not to kill it. If it's not gross I'll just use my hands, or the cup method.

Cold weather is not a deterrent. The biggest scariest spider I ever saw was in my cabin in the Adirondacks. It's body was as big as a fist.

i never kill spiders: they eat all the other bugs!

Saw the pic, and the first thought that came to mind was "Chamber of Secrets". Has the heir of Slytherin returned?

killing daddy long-legs is bad luck, if you squish em it will rain on your picnic

(at least thats what my mom always told us as kids)

Tissue paper for the small ones...squish. The big hairy variety either require a vacuum cleaner or someone else to do the dirty work. You can "cup and postcard" the creepy critters if you want, but I'm gonna suck 'em up with the vacuum cleaner and let it run extra long so they don't crawl back out the hose....(shiver)

I have been bitten by both the Red-Back Spider and Huntsman.

The 4 inch wide huntsman was hiding in my shoe and I walked all the way to school before I annoyed him enough to bite me. My big toe swelled up to 4 or 5 times the size it was and went a funny yellow colour. I was fine in the end and so was the spider.

I sat on a chair with a redback underneath it so he didn't like I sat there and tried to make me move on... rather quickly. I got really sick. Red back spiders kill. Anti-venim shot and I was fine-ish.

Moral of the story. Check your shoes by hitting them upside down a few times before wearing them and look under your patio furniture for nasty bitey's before you have a BBQ.

i DESTROY any bugs in my house. on my own if i have to but if my bf is around its his job. i have such an extreme aversion i literally feel completely frozen with fear.
sorry guys, a huuuge animal lover- i am. spiders-- i have no remorse.

For the past 3 or 4 months a spider has lived at the top of my shower stall. She is a small (not tiny) dark spider that usually stays pretty still, but ever so often is on the floor by the drain -"drinking?" when I am stripped and ready to step in. I take a corner of tissue and set her back up top. The other day I did that and she scrambled down my arm and onto my hair. That I don't like! No climbing on me without an invitation. I shook and squealed and she appeared on the follr again. I quickly carried her up top by one tiny leg and flung her into the corner. Then I see babies, lots and lots of tiny scramblers along the top tile rim. Now I have a whole family living here. What the heck do they eat?

Omg, i am totally with you lolashowme! Bugs do not belong in my house. End of story. The only exception might be flies, since they're too much trouble to catch and usually will just fly back outside after a while.

As for not killing spiders because they eat the other bugs, i have to question if that's actually true. Spiders eat other bugs THAT GET TRAPPED IN THEIR WEBS. Unless you all allow cobwebs filled with caught bugs in them to hang around your house (and i'm guessing you don't) the spiders are doing nothing to control the bug population of your home. Sorry spidey -- you're going down the drain/in the vaccuum/squished under a tissue.

Growing up I went to summer camp way out in the country, sleeping in log cabins or platform tents with no electricity or hot water; dealing with bugs there is one thing. But these stories of bites and scorpions are giving me the heebie-jeebies. Now that I'm a grown woman in my high-rise in the city, unless they're paying rent they don't belong in my home. Sorry.

YIKES. okay, i have absolutely no problems with other bugs in the house- even centipedes don't bug me, no pun intended, but spiders seriously freak me out. except daddy longlegs...they're okay.

I got bit by a brown recluse when I was in middle school and was sick for like a week. So now, if it is in my house and has more than four legs, it dies.

Some of the bigger spiders can catch bugs on the run.
The smaller ones eat misqitos( I can not spell today!)
gnats, fruit flies, moths and I wouldn't doubt that they could eat dust mites. The cobwebs are the old webs that are dusty, the newer webs are cleaner and harder to see.
I have an open window 3 seasons and end up with lots of little fliers and a colony of nearly invisible spiders on the ceiling. Small webs along the edges. When they had babies above my recliner and the babies started dropping from the ceiling, I flung the first two away. Then I figured it out, got the broom and swept the ceiling until I had them all and took the broom out to knock them out of the broom.

Spiders are cool and one of the most common bugs around. It is said that anywhere on the planet, you are never more than 10 ft from a spider.

My boyfriend got me one of the best inventions ever - the bug vacuum. You suck the bug or spider up through a long barrel, seal it off, and then you can take it outside and let it go. Spiders are tricky little buggers, though. They have a good grip. It often requires the "turbo blast" to suck those guys up.

Any spiders in my house that don't promptly set up a web in some corner get eaten by the cats. Maybe that's why I've never found any in the shower.

But if they're out of the way doing their own thing I leave them alone. If the cats eat them, they eat them. I may be a vegan, but I'm not against letting nature take its course, haha.

Bugs are disgusting. If they are outside, fine. But inside, anything with more than four legs dies as fast as I can grab a shoe. No exceptions.

Generally if I notice it and if it's within reach, I'll kill it. If it's crawling across the floor, I'll kill it... and if it's in the shower or sink it gets a bath (hot water naturally).

Insects belong outside.

I had a roommate my freshman year in college who was drawn into comical encounters with tiny species. We were both very nearsighted---and bohemian, which included false eyelashes for a while. One morning I heard screaming and thrashing in our bathroom, and out she fled, stark naked. It seems she had just beat the hell out of a false eyelash I had dropped and not seen in the sink. Also, she had the habit off lighting and dropping matches into the toilet bowl as she sat upon the throne. This required a degree of accuracy and vigilance, of course, and another morning she noted a strange, dark shape hanging from the underside of the toilet seat. It was a bat.

If a spider is in my shower, down the drain it goes. If it is anywhere else in my abode, then I get the vacuum cleaner and extension hose and suck the little creature up that way. I could give a flip about taking it outside; there are so many spiders in California there is no concern that the population will dry up anytime soon.

Anything that enters my home uninvited has to face my rejection/removal of it.

Spiders inside my apartment die. Always. No exceptions.

I try not to kill spiders, but I am extremely arachnophobic, so I make my husband deal with them. However, we don't see many in Brooklyn. What we do see are German cockroaches. Twice, I have found HUGE, ROILING BALLS of them in the corners of my kitchen bookshelf, behind the cookbooks and folded dishtowels (and we are pretty clean). I cannot even describe how many roaches there were. Now I put two Raid Max or Combat baits per corner, per shelf, and I have seen no roaches in well over a year.

If I see a waterbug (the 3-inch flying roach) in my home, it is dead. I take a glass bowl, put a few drops of tea tree oil in it, and invert it over the sucker. Why? Because I refuse to touch it, even with a shoe. I also really hate centipedes, but I've heard that they eat roaches, so I try to let them be, unless seen in the shower. Then it's bye-bye. We're planning to move to a more buggy, warm part of the country eventually, so I'm going to have to just deal.

I know that there are only two poisonous spider species in the US, but something bit me bad in my sleep when I lived in Boston, and as far as I know, that place doesn't support either species. It made my stomach hurt, and then I got dizzy and my knees, elbows, and back broke out in a red rash and my skin prickled all over for the rest of the day, as though I had a fever. The bite site still has a scar. Of course I was young and stupid, so I didn't go to a doctor, just went to my crappy job and waited to feel better. Ick. To this day I don't know what it was.

the only spiders i kill are wolf spiders. my boyfriend's basement (where the only currently working shower is) always has them. it never fails that as soon as i go to step into the tiny stall shower there is one waiting for me. one of these days i will remember to check the shower before turing on the water and getting naked.

Too many encounters, no more patience. Any and all critters are more than welcome to live anywhere outside my 1000 sq. ft. Inside, they are dealt with quickly, with whatever is handy.

I remember visiting my great-aunt in Glendale, AZ in the late 60's and each night newspapers were put on the floor around the beds (so scorpions could be heard), and shoes were kept on the bed at night (so they couldn't crawl inside). Totally creeped me out, and something I'll never, ever forget.

Having lived in AZ for 15 years with the variety of indigenous creepy crawlers, and the strange ones in the CA mountain town I used to live in (sun spiders?? and my first encounter with a brown recluse) I still shake and bang shoes together and look inside before putting them on. If something has been hanging in my closet for more than a few days, it gets a good shake before I put it on.

I live in the south where there are wolf spiders the size of your hand. The run faster than cheetahs (in my opinion) and can jump up to six feet (fact). I had one under my bed the other night. I tried to get it out with the handle of a broom and it jumped at my face. Freaked me out.

I kill bugs pretty much always. Though one time I did rescue a fuzzy bee and put it outside.

Correction, black widows, brown recluse, and ALL other spiders are poisonous.

Washington State University:
http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1548/eb1548.html

Not all spider venom will kill humans; however, most spider bites will leave a painful or at least itchy welt.

Humans are primates. Insects on our skin and/or fur are threatening. It's perfectly natural to want to remove them by washing them down the drain, crushing them, or relocating them.

"If it's anything but a black widow or a brown recluse (the only 2 poisonous spiders in North America), let it be."

This isn't exactly true. The hobo spider was introduced to the Northwest many decades ago and is now the leading cause of serious bites in Washington, Idaho, Oregon... I don't know how far its range has extended. Furthermore, it's a rather nondescript spider and many people see them and don't realized they're venomous.

Also:
Venomous = something that injects venom in your skin.
Poisonous = something that makes you sick if you ingest it.

Snakes are venomous; blowfish are poisonous.

If I had a bat in my shower or in my toilet like previous comments, I would seriously have a heart attack. I will take spiders no problem, even the cave crickets that jump 4 feet in my mom's basement. Bats? game over. I'm out. Those things freak me the hell out!!

Ya gotta watch this... Spiders on Drugs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc

I grew up in a 100 year old farm house and I can tell you, to this day I have no problem with washing a big, nasty wolf spider down the drain. They may not be deadly but they reproduce fast and leave a lovely dark welt when they bite. Oh and they really love to hide in dark warm spaces such as a bed or a bath towel. uggggggg.

Leela - I can't believe you leave centipedes alone. Those, and millipedes, are the only insects that I absolutely can't stand. I am so irrationally afraid of them. Just looking at a picture makes my skin crawl.

My mother got bit by a brown recluse spider. She saw it, but wasn't able to catch or kill it before it scampered off. The skin around the bite began to rot away, and my mom eventually realized she had to go to the hospital. We live in New York, so it's not like we're used to brown recluse spiders. The doctor at the hospital wouldn't believe her description of the spider because "There aren't any brown recluse spiders in New York!" and kept trying to treat her for Lyme disease. We all thought that was pretty ridiculous, because I've had Lyme disease about ten times and my siblings have all gotten it more then once, and never once did the area around the tick bites rot away. Moronic doctor. We've compared the pictures of her bite to pictures of brown recluse spider bites on the internet, and we're fairly certain that she was, indeed, bitten by a brown recluse.

We later found out that it's a pretty widely accepted theory that brown recluse spiders get transported to places like New York with shipments of food and stuff like that. There have been other reports of brown recluse spiders in our area, we even have a friend who caught one in his back yard. He sent it to some establishment that deals with poisonous animals, and they confirmed that it was a brown recluse.

When I was a kid, my brother had a scorpion in hiding in his shoe--my mom was late for work and just wanted us to get dressed and didn't believe him when he said he felt something moving in his shoe. Until it stung him. There was much screaming and painful toes that day for him. Ever since then, like venus_thames, I upend and tap my shoes together to check for anything hiding.

Anyhow, on the subject of spiders. I have an agreement with the creepy crawlies in my house: we can live together in peace as long as they stay hidden. The moment they wander out into the open, they break that pact. If they scuttle off before I can retrieve a swatter or bugspray, they'll live to see another day. If not, they're a smudge on the wall. And I won't feel at all guilty.

Ajax - I *try* to leave centipedes alone. I don't always succeed. I cannot stand them, they make me sick. I freak when I see one. But then I just try to remember....they eat roaches...I don't wanna imagine it but it's OK with me...OK...breathe....but if it's in the shower it's dead. On a side note, why are there so many centipedes in Brooklyn?

So anyone know what kind of spider venom causes redness in the joints, dizziness and stomachaches? I've always wondered what the hell it was that took a bite outta me years ago.

KILL THE LEGGY CREATURES!!! They do not get to live. Growing up in FL they have monster spiders the size of your hand, you could hear them run across the wall! I was horribly traumatized by them as a kid, and hold no warm and fuzzy feelings for them, including Charlott and her webs.

Since I was three years old I have checked for spiders before using loos or showers. Now after a trip to Italy, many years ago, I have to check for scorpions. I usually call for help as I know they catch flies etc. and don't like to kill them.

I haven't seen any bugs (except for butterflies and bees) here in San Fran. I am utterly terrified of the idea of seeing a cockroach! Also, I can't understand how most of you seem to be fine with the daddy longlegs..those are the ones that freak me out most!

Any ideas where I could find info on bugs that live in the Bay Area? (So I can be prepared to freak out)

Hey Lilli--yeah, I grew up in SF and never see anything but bees, flies, and butterflies for the most part. Occasionally in the summer I'll get a mosquito (and they literally drive me into a homicidal rage when they wake me up, itching, in the middle of the night. I can't rest until I have hunted them down and EXTERMINATED THEM). And I've never had any spiders in my showers, but then the other month on my deck I found this onr:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araneus_diadematus

I've never seen a spider that size in SF, in fact they're usually no more than a milimeter long on the rare occasions I do. I shooed her down into the garden with a broom, then saw her a week later on a web over on my neighbor's deck, HA. Then I saw another one, even bigger, in a rose bush in a front garden a block away. Makes sense, since they're apparently 'Garden Spiders.' It's cool to know that these orb weavers don't like to bite humans and if they do, it's totally harmless. So now I just think it's a cool spider!

You get those damned ants in SF, too. When it rained when I was a freshman at Cal (El Nino), the ants came in the apt to get out of the rain and hung out in the closet and out laundry in the hamper. NOT the kitchen, just the bedroom closet, those bastards. That was in 1982 and I still want to throw up.

I think you should call terminix or something!