Advice needed: spider vs spider

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Perry
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Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by Perry »

Okay so I'm in a right kerfuffle right now!

I've had one of those spiders that just sit in the corners of ceilings in my room for weeks now, and its never done anything before really, but just now I've had a smaller spider strolling around my room.

This lazy spider I've had for a while has just come out from its corner and promptly spun the other spider in its web, and appears to be eating it.

I'm stuck with what to do! Do I interfere with nature and help the spider, making the other spider lose its meal, or do I let nature take its course, condemning the little spider to death?

Stupid I know, but I'm stuck here!

Thanks.
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Perry
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Re: Semi-emergency - Advice needed

Post by Perry »

Well, I've discovered that the attacking spider is the cellar spider, one of the few spiders that DO willingly eat other spiders, and that it kills its prey with one deadly bite, so I'd assume that the damage has been done by now, especially as the cellar spider has now returned to his corner with the tangled up smaller spider hanging underneath him.

Nonetheless, I think this is an interesting question for future reference...
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retrofuturist
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Re: Semi-emergency - Advice needed

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

I doubt there's a strict Theravada position on matters like this.

My recommendation would be to do what you think is best, whilst still adhering to the first precept.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Ben
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by Ben »

Hi pmw
The time to have acted would have been before the two spiders met. In future you may wish to capture any spiders entering your room and re-release them outside somewhere.
Kind regards

Ben
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in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
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Perry
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by Perry »

Ben wrote:Hi pmw
The time to have acted would have been before the two spiders met. In future you may wish to capture any spiders entering your room and re-release them outside somewhere.
Kind regards

Ben
You are right. To be honest, I didn't realise spiders readily ate other spiders until I looked it up a little while ago. Even so, I admit to being a bit uncomfortable around spiders. I understand this is something that must change and I am working towards it. In fact I released an identical spider last night! Whether the same spider crept back in or if it's just another of the same species I do not know.

The strange thing is I have a fear of common house spiders but am perfectly fine with tarantulas! I think this stems from when my father used to take me to pet stores and show me them up close, so while I associate tarantulas with going to the pet shop with my dad, I associate house spiders with large, fast creatures creeping around at night!

Thanks to both of you, and thankyou to Retro for changing the thread title.
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kc2dpt
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by kc2dpt »

pmwhewitt wrote:I'm stuck with what to do! Do I interfere with nature and help the spider, making the other spider lose its meal, or do I let nature take its course, condemning the little spider to death?
You don't do anything and let nature take it's course. Depriving a carnivorous animal of food is not Buddha's teaching. Saving every animal from death is also not the Buddha's teaching. What is the Buddha's teaching is to reflect on how birth is inevitably followed by death, how death comes to us all, and at any time.
- Peter

Be heedful and you will accomplish your goal.
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Prasadachitta
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by Prasadachitta »

If you feel like acting out of kindness then do it. Kindness is fertile ground for further arising of kindness. If you are confused about what action to take, I would say that it is not such a good idea to act out of confusion. If you regret not taking action then make a note to remember the lesson learned. In other words pay attention to the state of your mind. The degree to which you act out of greed hatred and confusion directly influences the degree to which you and others will suffer. Overly fussing over what is a more correct action is just a way to stay distracted from the real work involved in cultivating a more pure mind.

I believe this to be be in line with how the Buddha taught.

take care...

Gabe
"Beautifully taught is the Lord's Dhamma, immediately apparent, timeless, of the nature of a personal invitation, progressive, to be attained by the wise, each for himself." Anguttara Nikaya V.332
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tiltbillings
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by tiltbillings »

pmwhewitt wrote:
This lazy spider I've had for a while has just come out from its corner and promptly spun the other spider in its web, and appears to be eating it.
By the time the first got the second spider, even before it wrapped in its silk, it was too late, the first bite likely was administered, and it was certainly too late as it was being wrapped. There would ne way to cut through all the wrapping without tearing apart of the soon to be lunch. These are predators. This what they do.

If this sort of thing is bothersome to you, then it best to carefully catch the spider and put it elsewhere. Also, there is a likelihood your guest will lay eggs and in a while you will have hundreds of cute little baby spiders all over your room, dropping down from the ceiling on thin strands of silk, onto your sleeping face and you reflexively move your hand to brush them away, killing it in the process or getting bitten. Spiders are not necessarily the best roommates.

I had one of what is this video in my room in the wat I stayed in Bangkok. Sacred the bejusus out of me. It moved like lightning. Either I had to go, it had to go. With a bit of luck I caught it and gave it a new home.



And your entetainment:

>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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cooran
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by cooran »

Hello all,

We have Huntsman spiders about the house and yard:
http://brokenbay.files.wordpress.com/20 ... spider.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I recall one Christmas Dinner - complete with roast everything, puddings, and wine, plus a long white linen tablecloth - that one huntsman spider dropped onto the lap of one of the guests. In the general hub-bub which followed, the poor spider died of fright.

They are harmless to humans. If you get bitten - a cold pack fixes it.

metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
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tiltbillings
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by tiltbillings »

Chris wrote:Hello all,

We have Huntsman spiders about the house and yard:
http://brokenbay.files.wordpress.com/20 ... spider.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I recall one Christmas Dinner - complete with roast everything, puddings, and wine, plus a long white linen tablecloth - that one huntsman spider dropped onto the lap of one of the guests. In the general hub-bub which followed, the poor spider died of fright.

They are harmless to humans. If you get bitten - a cold pack fixes it.

metta
Chris
Another reason, along with funnel-web spiders, assorted highly poisonous snakes, box jellyfish, funny accents of being scared of Australia.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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cooran
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by cooran »

Hello Tilt,

Especially for you:
"Come To Australia" by Scared Weird Little Guys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNEeq5qGh8I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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tiltbillings
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by tiltbillings »

Chris wrote:Hello Tilt,

Especially for you:
"Come To Australia" by Scared Weird Little Guys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNEeq5qGh8I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

metta
Chris
Thanks. I enjoyed that. Actually, I'd love to come Australia and to see some, but not all, those critters. Love to see a Tasmanian devil (before they all die off) and a Quoll. Anyway, that was funny.

Is Harry Butler still around?
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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appicchato
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by appicchato »

When in Oz watch out for this guy...the funnel web spider...two hours from hit to ice (you being on it)...so I'm told...

Image
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cooran
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by cooran »

Is Harry Butler still around?
He'd be 79 years of age now. The last I heard was this script is of an interview three years ago:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/inconversation ... 689055.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ven. Appicchato - the Funnel Web can be deadly, but there have been no deaths since the intro. of the antivenene.
http://faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=84" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
PeterB
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Re: Advice needed: spider vs spider

Post by PeterB »

Hi there pmwhewitt. I see that you live in Stevenage, you dont need to worry about spider bites in the Uk. No British spider is able to pierce human skin . Now if you see a big boy, or more likely girl , crawling out of a bunch of bananas and looking a bit dazed and chilly it might be best avoided..
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