A Bath Towel for Spiders

I used to live with the philosophy, when it came to spiders - and all the other small, crawling creatures of the biosphere - that I would give them free rein of the outdoors with no pesticides, no snail-pellets, and no intentional harm. The inside of the house, though, was my domain and if a spider or millipede, centipede, earwig, or whatever all the little thingys are called, were to invade my space, well hello paper-towel, or the death-spiral of the toilet or sink drain; buh-bye.

Often, these creatures - mostly spiders - would be found in the bathtub endlessly trying to find a way out. They got in there, fell obviously, but couldn't get a grip of the smooth porcelain walls to escape and return to the nooks and hidey-holes throughout the house. It does make one wonder how many places - and how many creatures! - already live in the house with me. But the Sisyphean spiders were vividly present against the white tub and required attention, sooner or later if I were to bathe.

In the past, I would get a Kleenex or a piece of toilet paper, crush the insect and get rid of it without any real thought except for the momentary inconvenience the creature caused. However, as I began to look at nature with a 'close observation' and with the realization that the spiders ate the flies, and the other bugs did their thing for the biosphere, my cavalier killing was really rooted in convenience and arrogance rather than a true part-of-nature reality.

So, I began capturing the wayward inspect in a container and hurrying it to the back-slider of the house and placing it outside. I figured it could find its way back in or contribute the the give and take of the natural world outside. It probably painted an interesting picture - if anyone were watching - because I often yelped in surprise if the spider would climb toward the top of the container and I needed to shake it down, or if the bath towel I had wrapped around my waist began to slip. In either case, my reaction was probably quite humorous. But, the end result was the insect was out of the tub and still alive to carry on its mission of life.


Not too long ago, while reading Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, she expressed a similar experience (no mention of yelping or modestly placed bath towels) but she wrote of placing a bath towel draped over the rim of the tub itself, when not in use, and reaching to the bottom of the tub to allow a fallen spider a tractioned way of climbing out on its own. An elegant solution! So now, I will be doing the same.

It feels right to do this and I am satisfied with the method....but now convincing my wife of the sanity of my new save-the-spider lifestyle will require a unique explanation that I don't have as yet. But, one thing at a time.