Shhhh - don't tell the ecosystem!

My husband and I have an on going debate over what to do with insects. He prefers to catch them and release them to the wild and I prefer to kill them. I see his point about maintaining the ecosystem but I don't want to have to catch them. I'm a little bit afraid of bugs. There it's out - I said it - I'm not a fan of bugs.
There are a lot of bugs out here in the Northern Rainforest. It seems that bugs grow a little bigger and multiply faster when it's raining. The house we live in has spiders that live in cracks inside and outside the house. Sometimes they even leave a web for you to walk through on your way down the driveway. Delightful!

There is a large spider that lives in the crack in the wall inside our doorway. I have seen it several times and when I go to kill it I remember my husband's loyalty to the environment - and I don't kill it.
However, the other day I was walking through the doorway and saw not just one big spider but TWO big spiders hanging out on the wall. This means that they are multiplying. And so - without a moment thought- I killed one of them.

My issue with spiders is the following - there is a statistic that you eat 4-8 spiders every year in your sleep. So, when I see a spider in my house, I think , "Do I want to have that in my mouth?" I mean, if you are going to have a spider in your mouth either way you might as well have a small spider crawl into your mouth. And if this spider is reproducing, the chances of one of them finding their way into my mouth at night while I sleep is greatly increased. Of course, our bedroom is probably a bazillion "spidey-miles" away from the doorway but "better safe than sorry" I always say.

So, I killed a spider this morning and I'm feeling guilty about it i guess. I feel guilty because spiders are supposed to be really good in the world - they kill all the other gross insects that get caught in their net. And, as long as you don't walk through their web, their pretty crafty and remarkable little devils.

Hopefully I didn't totally destroy the fragile ecosystem of our backyard. Don't tell the ecosystem - but I sleep easier at night knowing there are less large spiders in the world.