Who else hates bugs? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Murk

2017-08-06, 05:58 AM

There's plenty of people who hate bugs, I think.

I personally don't. If I find a bug in my house, I catch it and put it outside. I wouldn't be proud of hating living creatures for just being what they are, or killing them out of convenience.

However, I realise those feelings come from a position of luxury. Where I live, no bug is really dangerous. There aren't any bug plagues, and you'll only see an infestation if you do not clean up for about five years. I do not have any severe allergies either. So, at most, bugs are annoying.
I understand that if you live in, say, the middle of the Amazon, it's completely different. If there are bugs everywhere, always, and they can kill you in a moment's notice (or after a prolonged period of sickness) I can understand hating them. I probably would, too.

Wristlet Eater

2017-08-06, 08:46 AM

I don't hate bugs, and if I see one that isn't bothering me at the moment there's a good chance I would just leave it alone. Although I still might kill it, and I definitely would if it is a cockroach.

Leecros

2017-08-06, 08:58 AM

There aren't any bug plagues, and you'll only see an infestation if you do not clean up for about five years.

I live in a region of the US plagued by Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_marmorated_stink_bug)(One of those red areas (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/BMSB-US-CAN-map_small05062013.png)). They're pretty much the only bug in my region that I'll go out of my way to dispose of in a deadly manner.

My hate of them began last year when we took the air conditioner out of my parents' bedroom. There were literally hundreds of them packed in the tracks of the window. They were packed in there as tightly as possible. Presumably as protection from the winter cold. I took the butt end of a pencil and slid it down the track and they came pouring out into the house. I did the same on the other side. We tried to catch as many as possible, but their house had issues with them all winter.

Bohandas

2017-08-06, 09:36 AM

There's plenty of people who hate bugs, I think.

I personally don't. If I find a bug in my house, I catch it and put it outside. I wouldn't be proud of hating living creatures for just being what they are, or killing them out of convenience.

The problem is that they get in in the first place. I think I need to start looking into decommissioned submarines and spaceships

An Enemy Spy

2017-08-06, 12:27 PM

I can't say I find them objectionable on moral grounds, but spiders are evil creatures that have no business residing outside the demon realm from whence they came. I refuse to believe something so horrible evolved naturally on this earth instead of being designed by some malicious entity. It's like every facet of their being is intentionally designed to make me hate and fear them. The most terrifying creatures in fantasy are giant spiders, bar none.

Karmea

2017-08-06, 02:42 PM

I hate horseflies, mosquitos and blackflies, because they're really annoying pests in a farm environment. Otherwise, eh, leave me and mine alone and I'll leave you alone. I have no compunctions about grabbing the insecticide if they become any sort of problem in the household, though.

I do like spiders (in nature), because they get rid of the more objectionable bugs.

Aliquid

2017-08-06, 03:30 PM

I find bugs fascinating, and if I see a unique looking one, I will pick it up and observe it closer.

Scarlet Knight

2017-08-06, 09:51 PM

While I fear many bugs, I adore others.

Fireflies on a summer night reinforce my belief in magic and my love for the natural world.

Murk

2017-08-07, 09:42 AM

The problem is that they get in in the first place.

They just want to cuddle :smallfrown:

Sajiri

2017-08-08, 05:31 PM

I don't hate Bugs. In fact my nickname among my friends since I was 13 is Bug (and many variations of it).

The only 2 bugs I cant stand are cockroaches and wetas. Wetas probably wouldnt have bothered me if it werent for my dad taking me to a museum when I was 6, showing me the display of giant wetas and telling me that he's seen them getting into the house we were staying at and they will climb in your bed and bite you. Im pretty sure nowadays he was just teasing me, but it sparked a lifelong disgust and fear of them, even though they are in a different country, and I never actually saw a real one.

Tyndmyr

2017-08-08, 05:37 PM

ImperatorV

2017-08-08, 06:52 PM

I think jumping spiders are cute though... Same with tarantulas.

I have mixed feelings on bugs. I hate flies and think they're disgusting, but I find millipedes adorable and become very sad when I see one that got stepped on. Termites and cockroaches need to die in a fire, but I find the little black ants that don't bite interesting. I've changed by stance on bees over the years, used to be I hated them but now I actually like them a bit.

Spiders though, unless they are biting spiders are great. Quite honestly I think some spider species are cuter then common pet animals like dogs. They aren't cuter then rabbits, but very little is.

tensai_oni

2017-08-08, 07:01 PM

I personally don't. If I find a bug in my house, I catch it and put it outside. I wouldn't be proud of hating living creatures for just being what they are, or killing them out of convenience.

However, I realise those feelings come from a position of luxury. Where I live, no bug is really dangerous. There aren't any bug plagues, and you'll only see an infestation if you do not clean up for about five years. I do not have any severe allergies either. So, at most, bugs are annoying.
I understand that if you live in, say, the middle of the Amazon, it's completely different. If there are bugs everywhere, always, and they can kill you in a moment's notice (or after a prolonged period of sickness) I can understand hating them. I probably would, too.

Basically this.

I make an exception for flies but then, they're not just annoying but also extremely unhygienic and spread nasty stuff everywhere. We'd definitely be better off without flies in our lives.

I am particularly fond of spiders, especially because they are very effective at fly hunting.

Mith

2017-08-10, 11:49 AM

I generally don't mind spiders. I have find memories of picking fishflies (also known as Mayflies) off of cars and onto spider webs at a cabin village we were at for the week. The spiders were really large when we left.

Potato_Priest

2017-08-12, 01:16 AM

I am fine with bugs, as long as they do not touch me. The feeling of many legs and an exoskeleton on my skin generally causes a minor freak out. I'll only avoid killing/slapping it off if I note that it is a species that has earned my friendliness. Dragonflies, butterflies, caterpillars, and stinkbugs all fall into this category.

Cockroaches are an exception. (especially the big, fast ones). I have a much more active hatred for them, and will attempt to kill them whenever I see them, even if they aren't on my skin or clothes.

I certainly understand why one would hate bugs. They're kind of disgusting, and many of them spread diseases and general filth.

GilbertRobbins

2017-08-12, 06:05 AM

I hate bugs very much.

2D8HP

2017-08-12, 09:35 AM

Also, I hate bugs.
....Also, I hate fanfictions.
Also, I hate sports...
I love sports. :smile:

:amused:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/D%26d_original.jpg/107px-D%26d_original.jpg
Does the game you play feature a Dragon sitting on a pile of treasure, in a Dungeon? Can someone play a Wizard with a magic wand, or a warrior in armor, wielding a longbow?
You're an NPC stat block (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21005376#post21005376)."I remember back when your race was your class, you damned whippersnappers!"

Extended Signature (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20919296#post20919296)

Jay R

2017-08-14, 09:07 AM

Some bugs are beautiful. When a butterfly flutters by, I try to stop and enjoy it.

Some bugs are useful. Bees make honey and pollinate flowers. Ladybugs eat aphids. Wasps, spiders, dragonflies and others eat garden pests.

Some bugs should simply be left alone. Spiders, scorpions, millipedes, etc. I don't bother them; they don't bother me.

Some bugs are annoying. Mosquitoes, horseflies, chiggers, etc. I don't like them, but I don't hate them, either. They're just annoying, like bad traffic, stepping in mud, or twisting an ankle.

But I grew up with lots of camping and spending time in the woods. I recognize that many people have emotional aversions to bugs, and I sympathize.

warty goblin

2017-08-14, 05:42 PM

I generally like insects, arachnids, and other things that fall under the umbrella of 'bug'. The near-total dearth of them this year in my area of residence is a matter of some
concern. I avoid killing or disturbing them whenever possible.

Mosquitoes, ticks, and other sundries that are trying to eat me are an exception to this, and I'll kill them without batting an eye. In a horticultural context I will also destroy potato beetles, and other such crop-devouring arthropods.

Glorthindel

2017-08-15, 07:26 AM

My like/dislike is entirely based on whether the creature has any degree of common sense or self preservation. The correct response by a small animal to an absolutely huge one swinging an arm/swatter/newspaper at it should be to flee the scene or hunker down out of the way. If said bug does that, I have no problem. I am generally afraid of spiders, but if having a newspaper waved in its general direction sees it fleeing for the darkest corner available, I am willing to live and let live.

It is ones that refuse to sod off, or even worse, summon others of is kind to assist in annoying you that drive me mad. Flies, wasps, ants, you can all die in a most unpleasant manner.

Peccavi

2017-08-15, 08:26 AM

I have a weird unnatural fear of things that fly and sting, so wasps and bees and such. We've got heaps of them around and they freak me out, like cold sweat and running for shelter. It's only a recent thing that's come on.

I know, generally speaking, bees just plain don't care about people and they've got more important things to do, but whenever I see one I get a little uneasy... I am not a flower please go somewhere else.

The wasps on the other hand are aggressive attack wasps that want to kill me! They know I don't like them and buzz right up into my face and hover there menacingly, daring me to swat at them, so they can sting me and say that I started it. They even get into the house! Frequently my wife will come home to me locked in a room or a room cordoned off.

It makes me feel a little pathetic. I'm from a rural area in Australia, I'm a former soldier, I've been doing martial arts for 25 years, I will actively hunt down venomous snakes and I used to rehabilitate large aggressive dogs for a living. But if I hear a buzzing noise too close to me I will start flapping my arms around in near-hysterics.

fire_insideout

2017-08-15, 09:30 AM

Off by one bugs are the worst.

hamishspence

2017-08-15, 02:22 PM

I'm from a rural area in Australia, I'm a former soldier, I've been doing martial arts for 25 years, I will actively hunt down venomous snakes and I used to rehabilitate large aggressive dogs for a living. But if I hear a buzzing noise too close to me I will start flapping my arms around in near-hysterics.

They're probably my most disliked insect. The British poet Pam Ayres summed them up best:

The wasp he is a nasty one
He scavenges and thrives,
Unlike the honest honey bee
He doesn't care for hives.
He builds his waxy nest
Then brings his mates from near and far
To sneak into your house
When you have left the door ajar.

Then sniffing round for jam he goes,
In every pot and packet,
Buzzing round the kitchen
In his black and yellow jacket.
If with a rolled-up paper
He should spot you creeping near
He will do a somersault
And sting you on the ear!

You never know with wasps
You can't relax, not for a minute,
Whatever you pick up – Look out!
A wasp might still be in it.
You never even know
If there's a wasp against your chest,
For wasps are very fond
Of getting folded in your vest.

And he always comes in summer.
In the winter-time he's gone
When you never go on Picnics
And you've put a jersey on.
I mean, what other single comment
Causes panic and despair
Like someone saying, ‘Keep still!
There's a wasp caught in your hair!’

But in a speeding car
He finds his favourite abode,
He likes poor Dad to swat like mad
And veer across the road.
He likes to watch Dad's face,
As all the kids begin to shout,
‘Dad! I don't like wasps!
Oh where's he gone, Dad? Get him out!’

And I'd like to make a reference
To all the men who say
‘Don't ANTAGONIZE IT
And the wasp will go away,’
For I've done a little survey
To see if it will or won't,
And they sting you if you hit them
And they sting you if you don't.

As we step into the sunshine
Through the summers and the springs,
Carrying our cardigans
And nursing all our stings,
I often wonder, reaching for the blue bag
Just once more,
If all things have a purpose
What on earth can wasps be for?

Velaryon

2017-08-18, 12:58 PM

As a general rule I don't hate bugs, but I also don't really want them around me and will make an effort to get rid of any that get into my home, whether by putting them outside or killing them.

There are certain species that I do hate, though. Cockroaches top the list, and I will try to kill any that I find indoors. Mosquitoes and flies are not far behind. Mosquitoes I hate because of the biting of course, to say nothing of the diseases they can carry. Flies are just like the most obnoxious troll creatures ever. Try to ignore one that's in the room with you? It'll fly right up in your face or buzz close to your ears. Try to chase it away? It'll go into hiding for a few minutes, then start again when you give up hunting it.

Bees, wasps, etc. I have a healthy caution around since I don't want to get stung. Other than that, it's pretty much live and let live for me.

NontheistCleric

2017-08-18, 10:55 PM

Flies are just like the most obnoxious troll creatures ever. Try to ignore one that's in the room with you? It'll fly right up in your face or buzz close to your ears.

The worst is when one flies up your nose. That happens to me once in a while and I HATE it.

Velaryon

2017-08-21, 10:26 AM

The worst is when one flies up your nose. That happens to me once in a while and I HATE it.

Fortunately I can't remember that happening to me. They seem to prefer going after my eyes and ears. I think they like seeing me smack myself trying to swat them away.

Rebles

2017-08-21, 11:09 AM

I hate wasps but that's about it. Flys and ants are annoying. But spiders? Great. I mean I don't love them but I think they are very useful.

Wardog

2017-08-26, 03:55 AM

Lots of bugs I like, and most of the rest I'm ambivilent to. However some really, well, bug me:

* Slugs. They keep coming into my house and crawling all over the livingroom carpet, or worse, all over the kitchen worktop, and that's just gross.

* Slugs again, and snails and white butterflies. Never used to dislike them. Then I started growing broccoli, and now they can all go die in a fire.

* Wasps. I know they're ecologically useful. Can they please go and be ecologically useful somewhere that isn't right in my face or where I'm eating?

* Gooseberry Sawflies. I have gooseberry bushes in my guarden. If I'm not vigilent (which at this time of the year means checking them every day and picking off their catterpillars), they can completely defoliate a bush in a couple of weeks. (Well, probably longer, but once they get going it seems like that).

* Craneflies/daddy longlegs. Especially when they get inside a lampshade and can't get out.

* Mosquitoes and other biting flies. One of the few bugs I'll kill on sight.

On the other hand, I like spiders (and will feed them any of the above to them when I catch them), and woodlice/pillbugs, milipedes etc are cute, and I'll always rescue them if they get into my house.

Velaryon

2017-08-26, 11:12 AM

The other day I found a mantis on my windshield while I was driving to the local high school open house. He was just hanging out on my windshield, probably wondering why it was so windy all of a sudden, but he lasted all the way til I got there. Was gone by the time I came back out.

Lately I've had either bees or wasps (I don't actually know how to tell the difference by looking at them) coming in through my window somehow and dying in my kitchen. My landlady has the complex sprayed every other month, and the stuff seems to be working since every one I find is either dead or dying, but I wish I could figure out where they're getting in and block it up. I've removed about five or six this week and it's getting annoying.

Honest Tiefling

2017-08-26, 02:24 PM

I don't like bugs in my living space, except spiders. You can stay, Eater of Flies. I always feel a little bad sweeping out cobwebs.

Through good news for spider-lovers and spider-toleraters! Apparently an invasive species of brown widows are pushing out black widows from Southern California. I know, I know, shouldn't be rooting for the invasive species, but I always try to be nice to brown widows I find. Be free, little one, and destroy your cousins!

Scarlet Knight

2017-08-27, 08:32 PM

I just went to the butterfly house at the Bronx Zoo; I highly recomend it.

Velaryon

2017-08-28, 12:00 PM

This morning I found FOUR wasps in my kitchen, and this time all of them were still alive. They seemed to be moving slowly so I think the pesticide sprayed by the landlady is still affecting them, but it may be losing its effect due to dilution or something. I was able to trap three of them under a cup and flush them down my kitchen sink drain (and then stoppered the drain just in case). The fourth one disappeared before I could catch him, so I'm hoping he just found a secluded spot to die off and won't still be around when I come home tonight.

darkrose50

2017-09-06, 10:58 AM

Ok so IMO if you are a insect, arachnid, etc I will not like you. (Also I have severe arachnophobia so that doesn't help.) So I was wondering if anyone else hates bugs?

Try them with peanut butter and a glass of cold milk!

Red Leaf Games

2017-09-15, 03:51 AM

All critters have their place. Though I'd like to keep the place for mosquitoes and bed bugs as far away from me as possible.

darkrose50

2017-09-15, 08:47 AM

I have a treaty with the local ant colonies. They stay out of my house, and I say out of their colonies.

Once, late a night, my daughter spilled a 2-liter of soda, and we must have done a poor job cleaning it up. In the morning there were like 50 of those huge black ants collecting the sugar.

I once broke a light covering swatting a fly.

warty goblin

2017-09-15, 10:24 AM

I've got some variety of wasp building a nest right outside my window. Last night they started getting in because there's a giant crack between the top of the screen and the window frame. So I extracted five or six rather unhappy wasps from the apartment via a jar and envelope, then taped up the seam. My girlfriend was over, and seemed rather unhappy about the wasp situation, but like my solution.

Tvtyrant

2017-09-16, 04:36 PM

I hate all bugs, especially spiders and yellow jackets. I also think it is good to kill the particularly evil looking bugs and spare the cute ones, thus putting evolutionary pressure on bugs to become cuter. For instance, if a spider wore a tiny hat I would let it live as it slightly increases the chances of all spiders having tin hats.

ZamielVanWeber

2017-09-17, 07:50 AM

I generally like bugs and even think some of them are adorable. I generally give the black widows in my apartment a respectable distance... Ants though kinda annoy me and I will sometimes react aggressively if I see them around. I freaking LOVE beetles though. If they did not have such a short lifespan I would probably keep some as pets.

BTW: If you do not like bugs have you should consider the merits of DND 3.5. In that system liking spiders makes you legitimately a horrible person. Liking bugs in general, however, makes you so morally abhorrent thay I could get in trouble describing the things you are willing to do and have likely done. (Turning into a bug is no big deal though). Just a weird anecdote to be honest, but still.

NontheistCleric

2017-09-27, 10:39 PM

If you do not like bugs have you should consider the merits of DND 3.5. In that system liking spiders makes you legitimately a horrible person. Liking bugs in general, however, makes you so morally abhorrent that I could get in trouble describing the things you are willing to do and have likely done. (Turning into a bug is no big deal though). Just a weird anecdote to be honest, but still.

That really isn't the case.

ZamielVanWeber

2017-09-29, 12:45 AM

That really isn't the case.

4 PRCS in 3.5 DND involve vermin. 2 require you to be evil, one requires you to be vile, and one has no alignment restrictions. The designers for a bunch of DND very clearly had "bugs = evil" in their heads. As I said, it is an amusing anecdote, nothing more.

Knaight

2017-09-29, 04:35 AM

I'm generally pretty ambivalent about bugs, and if I'm outside I'll leave them alone unless they actually start biting/stinging. Inside I'm a bit more hardline - moths get relocated outside, ants get swept up and thrown outside alive or dead and all surfaces that might have pheremone trails wiped, and wasps get eradicated.

Lvl 2 Expert

2017-09-30, 07:31 AM

FlammySenpai

2017-10-23, 01:30 PM

If it has anymore than 4 legs it is unnatural and should be removed from anywhere around me. I appreciate all the things insects do for us and I understand the need for them, but I do not want them anywhere near me.

Aedilred

2017-10-24, 03:55 PM

Some studies show as much as an 80% decrease (http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/where-have-all-insects-gone) in total bugs over the last 30 years. For comparison: the bug population is dropping faster than the infant mortality rate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality), and that second one has been a major focus in several fields while the first is entirely accidental. It's not just the bees, bugs are falling like flies all around. So be careful what you wish for in a thread like this.

Well, if anyone wants some of the bluebottles from my house, they're more than welcome.

I will kill clothes moths on sight, mosquitoes if I can be bothered, and bluebottles if they annoy me sufficiently or appear in sufficient numbers. If ants invade the house I may poison them just because otherwise they're very hard to get rid of. Cockroaches, obviously, are to be exterminated, and while I don't live in termite country I'd probably adopt the same policy towards them if they got into my house. If a wasp really won't leave me alone then it might be for the chop, but generally I find if I ignore them they move on of their own accord in due course and it's not worth getting worked up about.

Other arthropods I'm generally happy to adopt a policy of live and let live. Spiders in particular I will leave alone if possible (sometimes their webs have to be removed) unless they get into difficulties in which case I'll escort them somewhere better for them.

Velaryon

2017-11-03, 07:18 PM

Metahuman1

2017-11-15, 03:20 AM

I spent years camping and being outdoors as a kid/teen.

I have come to the conclusion that I despise any thing that falls under the umbrella of "bug." creature or other small creepy crawly being anywhere near me if it can be helped. If it's ecologically decidedly useful (Spiders, Bees, ext.) please go do so FAR, FAR, FAR away from me, maybe in the hell scape that decided to make the ecology such that you are useful or necessary too it.

Any of the one's that kind of don't fall into this category (Misquito's for instance.), Frankly, I'd mass extinction them given the choice and want them even further away from me!

Velaryon

2017-11-25, 03:39 PM

Predictably, the cold has caused my Venus flytrap to shrivel up and die. I've read that they do go dormant in the winter, so I hope it'll bounce back in the spring. I guess time will tell.

In the meantime, yesterday I spotted something crawling on my wall that I really did not want to see. I slammed a jar down over it and trapped the guy to get a better look. I'm pretty sure it's a cockroach. I've been trying to not leave out food and keep the apartment relatively clean to avoid this, but if there's one there's more. I don't know if they're nesting in my apartment or elsewhere in the building, though. The landlord has had people in to spray chemicals every other month since I've moved in, up to and including this month, but I guess it isn't foolproof.

Mith

2017-11-25, 09:41 PM

Aedilred

2017-11-26, 08:15 AM

So, last week Aldi had Venus flytraps for sale. Why they waited until the weather turned cold and most of the bugs were gone is anyone's guess, but I bought one anyway. They're smaller than I thought.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that Venus flytraps are cool, and I'm happy to have one now.

I think there are a number of different varieties of Venus flytrap of various sizes. I would have thought they'd be difficult to keep in this climate; I've only ever seen them in heated greenhouses in this country, as I can't imagine they stand the cold well.