Birds also only eat spiders they see. Not sure how that’s any different

I’ve gotten brave in my old age. I only relocate them if they become extremely inconvenient …like my doorway spider (sorry frank). I ignore house spiders entirely as they transit my house. Good luck, leggy friend.

I have a pretty orb weaver on the porch (or I did last summer). Hope I get another.

That's why I only kill the roaches that venture into my house, if I see a roach in the street I leave it alone to thrive that way all future offspring will be selected for street only living.

I don't kill spiders. They are my unpaid exterminators.

Don't think this uploaded correctly

Good, we should make them even more reclusive and smarter. Honestly, an army of highly intelligent bug killers specialized in keeping out of my sight hiding in the interstices of my house sounds like an awesome idea

In our house the rule is spiders can stay if they're out the way (up high, etc). When they get too close for comfort for my wife's tolerance limits, I pick them up and put them outside. Spiders are friends.

I have zero issues with spiders living in my home, they just have to stay out of my sight.

If they evolve to be better at hiding, it's a win win.

This is why you shouldn't kill rattlesnakes. If we kill the rattlesnakes that make themselves known, over time they adapt to not rattle before striking.

Any flies that fly into my house are given a chance to leave. If I can herd them out the window, they get to live and make lots of new baby flies.

On the other hand, their chances of getting a close up view of the fly swatter increase exponentially with every minute they spend refusing to leave and ignoring the fact that I'm literally showing them the exit.

Huh, coincidentally,I just finished reading Children of Time

I once tried making a similar argument to a game warden about only hunting deer during the day. They were not appreciative of the take.

This was after I hit a deer with my car while driving home from Thanksgiving, it was not a good time.

Why kill spiders? Oh, maybe it's Australia.

I have the same thoughts about hitting squirrels with my car.

Not that I do it on purpose or feel good about It, but I tell myself that at least the survivors will pass on their survivor traits to the next generation.

this isnt true tho. we kill loads of them without seeing them.

i like the idea tho

The reclusiveness selection argument makes sense, but why intelligence? Brains are crazy metabolically expensive, and I can't see why a smart reclusive spider would survive humans any better than a merely reclusive one.

If I never know that the spider is there then we shall both live a peaceful life.

i select my spiders based on how effectively they can eat and rid me of the annoying gnats

I like smarter spiders, but not the cost of getting there.

I recognised this problem years ago and decided to also let them eat bugs in plain sight. Unfortunately my house isn't big enough to counter evolution on my own, but I feel there is more people out there who also stopped killing spiders because of this.

My house spiders are cool. They eat the flies etc and I fish them out of the way before I have a shower. The only disagreement we have is over their little lair in the kitchen. There's a tiny hole in the skirting board in one corner, and cobwebs gather there. Now and then I brush away the webs and plaster over the hole. A week later the hole is back and the webs too.

Am I missing something here? Why is everyone talking about spiders

As long as the spiders don't break our agreement they can stay. They eat the bugs and pests, and they can live in the corners of my house. As soon as they come to the floor they're dead.

I catch them in a glass and cover the top with a piece of cardboard then dump them outside. Spiders eat bugs. Go be free little guy!

Aren't they already smart?

fine by me. as long as i don't see them, they don't exist.

And cockroaches, too. They'll haul ass and scurry away every time. They know.