If it's poisonous, killing is considerably easier.

Venomous. Poisonous is when you die from eating it (like a pufferfish). Sorry if I come off as pedantic, I just see this very often and think it’s a pretty basic distinction.

But is the venom also poisonous?

Most venom isn’t poisonous, as your gastric juices denature the proteins and enzymes which make them dangerous. Big HOWEVER though, is that if you have a cut or any route to your bloodstream in your mouth or throat... then you can be envenomated that way. In addition some animals are both venemous and poisonous, such as tarantulas with urticating hairs.

My wife refuses to kill southern house spiders (harmless). She names them, usually some variant of “Charlotte.” Talks to them and drops off dead bugs for them to eat.

As a bonus, we don’t need to decorate for Halloween.

I like the spiders. They eat the flys and other bugs. Of course they do so in a method that would be outlawed in Switzerland.

You're making an assumption that it is indeed the right thing to do.

I catch all spiders at home with a wine glass and piece of paper and throw them out. I do the same with all the flies. No need to kill. Also, I am grossed out to see people smashing insects at home.

Do people not have Black Widows where they live? 90% of the spiders that I encounter in and around my home (mostly in my garage and my garden) are Black Widows and I thoughtlessly and indiscriminately kill them on sight. When I didn't kill them, they seemed to try to take ownership of different areas of the garden or garage. This happened where I lived in LA, in Goleta, CA, in north Santa Barbara county, and in Orange County. The only place I didn't experience this issue was when I spent a brief period in Riverside County. No spiders in that place, I always assumed it was because it was summer and > 100F highs every day. As if spiders give a shit about a heat wave, but it seemed to have some truth to it.

My thinking is: I don't want to risk my own or my wife or a guests personal health, and so I "deal" with them. Am I wrong?

Guess I'm lucky then... I've lived in LA for about 28 years and I don't think I've ever seen a black widow. Actually I remember when I was ~3, I was sitting (legs crossed) on the patio, my neighbor came over and smashed a scorpion near me with a hammer. Remember it vividly, mostly because I didn't understand why he killed it (at the time). As an adult, I don't recall seeing scorpions, brown recluses, or black widows..

I used to live in Michigan, and much of my extended family still lives there. We're used to black widows, and don't kill them (even though one of my cousins got bitten by a brown recluse and came out pretty badly, you're really in no danger so long as you exercise a few ounces of prudence).

> Do people not have Black Widows where they live?

Nope. I think the most dangerous animal you'd encounter around here is the tick, which is related to the Lyme disease it might carry.

If it's the right thing, then should it be a law?