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I try my best not to kill bugs, but I will to avoid an infestation in my home or on my body. At that point I feel like it's self defense and justified, but I'm open to critique.

Once went to a philosophical retreat hosted by my master's thesis advisor (yeah I know). And one of the invited speakers was this guy who had written extensively about ecology and connection, and a whole other bunch of cool, hippie shit. This was in the middle of summer and all of us were really struggling because of the heat and mosquitoes. And this dude just lets himself be bitten by the mosquitoes, staying zen throughout, arguing that he knows they don't really pose a threat to him (no transmissible diseases where we were), and that a small discomfort is not worth killing over. I don't necessarily agree with his view, but I aspire to that level of ideological coherence.

Yay another hexbear who won’t kill me. I’m proud of you.

Welcome to the bug club, we have weevils!

I can see what you're saying; Bethesda also hates killing bugs

We have house spiders at this point so i hear you. The one in our bathroom even has a name. It's a he for some reason and is very smart in dodging us most times. I read that these guys are territorial so we just let him be.

My pov has shifted a lot with this and I'd argue it isn't just feelings. I'm lethally allergic to bees and wasps, but I just gtfo if a wasp is being aggressive. Bees are typically friends anyway. I used to live on a farm and the horseflies love me, so I hated those until this year when I read that they too are becoming rare and are so important in the ecosystem (because of course they are).

This is mosqitoue country and the final straw for me was seeing all the boomers and liberty hippies going into NATURE with a bug killing device strapped on their belt. They carry no pathogens here. It literally kills insects all around the device everywhere they go and they don't give a single fuck about it. My supposedly "friend of nature" dad is one of the people who stubbornly uses this thing when he has the need to sit outside and get drunk in the summer. Of course in capitalism this thing also wasn't banned because profit. People take these things to a fishing trip, to camping, berry and mushroom picking. Because they have to be that comfortable sitting in the literal forest which is the home of these insects and the birds who eat them.

I've turned into an absolute hater of these casual killing machines and as a result I let all the bugs be, all that I safely can. Saving a bee from a window or letting a spider outside makes me feel a bit better although I know what all the insectisides and shit are doing.

If we would get roaches or bedbugs I'd do the killing, but I realize this is all climate disaster related and the bug issues are capitalism in decline. It's not the bugs, it's the system. Same with tics. It's entirely a problem created by the powers that be. But I have to kill the tick so I don't get sick.

I am old enough to remember how car windows used to look like in the summer, that has ended years ago now. Like totally does not happen anymore..The world is just way too silent in the summer now, it scares the shit out of me.

Killed the first bug in like 5 years via windshield and I was shocked that even happened still

Now I just keep my place clean. If I see two that means there's maybe many more under the sink and shit. But are they hurting me? (That is a real question if you want to answer.)

If you're talking about roaches they can literally carry the actual plague

That's fine but i'm not going to live with bugs

I like most kinds of bugs, except for mosquitoes, horse flies, bed bugs and others who suck your blood. Stingy bugs can be annoying too, but for the most part they’ll just leave you alone.

I just think bugs are pretty cool, and I don’t want to kill them if they’re not harming me.

spoiler

Climate change is doing a way better job of that than I ever could

part of my particular conception of veganism is that i don't kill bugs on purpose if i can reasonably avoid it
generally if a bug finds their way into my house i just let it be, or if they get too annoying i'll catch them and put them outside
the only exceptions would be ant colonies (not had one in over a decade), wasps/hornets that refuse to leave, and i guess cockroach infestations (never had in my life) because of the health risks
tbh, most bugs will be spider food within a day or so anyway

if yer gonna kill a bug

don’t do it jus because

I like bugs

and i’ll tell ya why

they’re alive

and so am i

bugs

If killing wasps, mosquitos, and spiders makes me a reactionary then call me Ronald Reagan.

Congratulations on attaining enlightenment! Bugs are just minding their own business living their lives. It's not right to kill them unless they're losing some threat such as ticks which can be vectors for dangerous diseases. They have a right to live their lives.

Plus they're cute.

I don't really go out of my way to kill bugs but I will sometimes brush a moth or fly into a spider web. I like to keep a couple big scary spiders fed by my back sliding door so no bugs get into my apartment since I'm always going out for tokes.

The real question: is it more fucked up to sacrifice wild bugs to my spider gods or to go buy feeder crickets from the pet store to feed wild spiders?

Grats on enlightenment. I relocate bugs that are a problem but generally try to solve issues through hostile architecture rather than poison or violence. Like food in jars in the pantry, bookcases with feet that discourage climbing to prevent silverfish, ventilation, sweeping etc.

Most creatures just want to leave you alone. Even the scary ones usually warn you and try running first, and very few represent serious danger.