'Vermin' in the house - killing vs. relocation

[Owledge]

Recently a thought came to my mind. Of course it's a nice thing to put small, uninvited creatures outside rather than killing them, but this could also be seen in a practical way. I already put many woodlice and spiders outside and noticed the following difference:

 

When you kill a woodlouse in the house, you act according to the principle of natural selection. But this is a passive mechanism: Creatures that tend to enter houses are sorted out, but there's no way a creature could come to a clear conclusion that it is unwise to do so.

Now, when you put a woodlouse outside, this will become part of its experiences for the rest of its life (although I don't know about their capacity to remember things, but I mean generally here). Probably this information is spread to offspring and/or other woodlice. It really doesn't matter how much this happens in details, because in a more or less subtle way, probably also in ways unknown to us, this experience will affect the group intelligence or social environment. So - in the longer term - maybe a good way to lastingly get rid of woodlice in the house is to move them outside. Just a theory, put probably if this is practiced widely, some day it will be said that woodlice naturally avoid heated human living space and nobody really knows or cares why.

 

As a sidenote, woodlice are relatively easy to convice 'taking a ride' on a piece of paper and sometimes even seem mildly curious. Some patience is all that's needed.

[Martial Development]

It is ethically permissible to kill rats in your house, so long as you eat them afterwards.

[Aetherous]

In my opinion, it's delusional thinking to believe woodlice will change their ways of coming into your house out of courtesy for your kind gesture of placing them outside. But I guess you never know what's truly possible.

 

Anyway, I agree that it's nice to not kill things when you don't have to. How would I like it if some big swatter came down from the sky and squished me? It'd be kind of annoying...so thanks to the big guys in the clouds that continue to not smoosh me. I view it as the same way for little creatures...I will be nice to them, just because of the golden rule.