• Obinice@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Do butterflies infest homes and destroy property?

    I feel like it’s less what they look like, and more how they impact us. It’s still very human-centric, but ya know, not so much a beauty thing as one might think at first.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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      16 hours ago

      nope, its all moths, clothes moths, pantry moths are very hard to eradicate. notable mentions are drain moths, and pantry beetles. butterflies are specializes to mostly flowers, or sometimes carrion, since they are recently evolved from moths, moths are very ancient insects.

    • crapwittyname@feddit.uk
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      1 day ago

      Yep. Spiders are top 10 ugliest creatures in history, but I would never kill one unless it was a lethally toxic variety. Because they keep the population of disease-carrying, filthy-egg-laying proboscidean-vomiting flying vermin down. Spiders are bros.

      • socsa@piefed.social
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        8 hours ago

        Spiders and centipedes won’t actually meaningfully decrease the population of other insects in your house. Both populations will simply grow together if the conditions are correct.

        • crapwittyname@feddit.uk
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          7 hours ago

          If I removed all of the spiders from my house, the fly population wouldn’t increase? I don’t remember my high school biology too clearly, but I seem to remember a definite link between predator and prey which would suggest rampant increase in an environment where predators are sparse.

          • socsa@piefed.social
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            6 hours ago

            Predators and prey will always maintain some equilibrium, yes. But you can simply look outside and see that equilibrium typically includes a shit ton of other bugs (or birds, or mice, etc). You can also look at homes with serious infestations to see that this organic control alone doesn’t typically keep pest populations in check. Nobody has ever gotten rid of roaches by introducing spiders. Sometimes you do get infestations of spiders though, in which case the spiders are usually eating each other.

            Generally, inside your home there are other factors keeping pest populations in control. With a few very notable exceptions, most insects do not actively breed indoors because the climate conditions are not correct, or there is not access to food, or they don’t like the vibrations and noise. Most of what spiders in your home catch are bugs which get in by accident and would simply die in one way or another.

        • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          yeah and they try to pretend they are your eyelashes, lull you into a sense of security and then bam they’re drinking your eye juice

          • bampop@lemmy.world
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            13 hours ago

            Imagine looking in the mirror in the morning thinking why are my eyelashes so tickly, and suddenly they start running around all over your face. This is why you should always keep a flamethrower in the bathroom

            • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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              13 hours ago

              you know funny you should mention that. one of the burners on our stove doesn’t light well so we had a good excuse to buy that novelty lightsaber blowtorch

      • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        really? Because the Prince of Proboscis was talking smack about you, and he has a schnoz like a bent candy cane. i know you two used to mash face puckers. And then there’s billy buzzbutt? the homeless blood addict who invented molotov cocktails? that motherfucker gave you leprosy. And menopause. and i don’t even know how that is supposed to be contagious. He was ugly as sin. Then there was Virginialetta. I should call her.