Extreme Arachnophobia

[snappyllama]

I actually like most bugs, but spiders give them all a bad name...

 

[lenarenee]

Consuela, I'm with you. I lived in NC for 7 years and one morning I found a black widow spider living in my gardening shed- BIG spider. We had a chat and I told it as long as it stayed outside, I would leave it be. About 6 weeks later it came in the house..... and got eaten by the vacuum cleaner.

There's tons of black and brown widows in southern California. I go out at night with a flashlight every couple weeks and hunt them down.....get a half dozen or so every time.

We had a pet green lynx spider for a couple months. Our little girl found it living in a large potted flower on the patio - named it, visited it, sang to it. Never left the flower, made an egg sack and would guard it ferociously! It would dash right over to you and face off! (Just one of the reasons for the "lynx" part of its name. Can also leap 2 feet and take out wasps for dinner!) Dd waited and waited for the babies but one night the wind blew the patio umbrella over and shattered the pot. We searched and searched but never found the egg sack, the mother survived though.

Dd cried and cried. Two weeks later, playing outside, she started screaming, grabbed me and pulled me outside because she couldn't talk. She found teeny tiny baby green lynx spiders on the bush. This time she cried with joy.

Ahem. Yeah but, any other bug she thinks could invade her space is cause for screeching,
"kill it, kill it!", at the top of her lungs. Except ladybugs and flutterbies of course.

 

[hmlove1218]

After flipping through a few Wikipedia pages, I just discovered that there is an herbivorous spider in South America that was named after Bagheera in the Jungle Book. Who knew you could learn about spiders from a soapmaking forum :what:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagheera_kiplingi

 

[lenarenee]

I'm not particularly scared of them unless they are poisonous and they cross the line, come into the house that is. But we have a catch and release policy, at least I do. Husband and kids are scary cats, they leave them to me to deal with. Few years ago we had giant huntsman stuck in the bathroom. They are really big and fast but I managed to catch im in the bucket and release in the backyard. They look scary but they are necessary to ecosystem. They eat roaches and other nasties so I don't mind hanging them around. Our backyard is scattered with red backs, but unless you put your hand were it's not supposed to be they just go about their business.

My friend lived in Australia for a while and spoke about huge spiders on the wall - huge as in bigger than her 6'5" husband's hand. Are those huntsman spiders?

 

[Seawolfe]

For some reason that Goliath spider doesn't bug me, maybe because its so tarantula like, so not very fast, fairly calm - I swear if I had a Goliath spider as a pet I would dress it up!

But if I saw one of those giant huntsman's in the bathroom my proverbial taffeta dress would be up over my head as I ran away screaming.

 

[fuzz-juzz]

My friend lived in Australia for a while and spoke about huge spiders on the wall - huge as in bigger than her 6'5" husband's hand. Are those huntsman spiders?

Yes, those are huntsman spiders. One I was chasing was bigger than my hand, and really fast. They are actually not poisonous, I'm not sure if they bite, but if they do, their bite will do nothing.
I you remember that there are so many other animals to die from in Australia, spiders don't look that scary at all anymore.

 

[Hazel]

I you remember that there are so many other animals to die from in Australia, spiders don't look that scary at all anymore.

Thanks fuzz-juzz! That's the perfect line to re-post a link to a video Relle shared awhile back. I hope everyone enjoys it!


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E66fySBa0hU[/ame]

 

[fuzz-juzz]

Hahaha! Thanks for the laugh!
I love how they included Vegemite.
All the animals shown in the video are probably not even a third of our deadly fauna hehe.

 

[CaraBou]

The world would be a horrible place without spiders -- just think of all the bugs we'd have!

In honor of Halloween and spiders everywhere, here's a pic of me with a tarantula that was residing among the Mayan ruins at Tikal, Guatemala.

 

[Jstar]

*likes the post, then runs away*

 

[fuzz-juzz]

I got bitten by a red back yesterday, on the shoulder. My garden shed is full of them and one probably fell on me or something. I was looking for my soaping stuff which is stored in there. I remembered this thread today while browsing SMF so I thought I'd report I still like them and I'm not gonna nuke my shed with a bug spray.
I didn't realised I was bitten until 1h later when I got blurred vision, agitation and started vomiting. I feel a bit better today, apart from my arm being sore and swollen I'm almost OK. I didn't go to local hospital as I probably wouldn't be a candidate for anti venom.

 

[Obsidian]

I like spiders but if any that could make me that sick lived where I have to go often, I would be bombing them.

 

[Hazel]

I'm so sorry to hear you got sick from being bitten. I have to admit if I lived in an area with poisonous spiders, I'd be nuking them. But I'm a bad person.

 

[JustBeachy]

In no way do I advocate the wanton killing of most living creatures. However, spiders, ants and mosquito's don't make it onto that list. They don't scare me, I just hate them with a passion.

Get well soon, and I recommend one pest control bomb for every 10 square feet. Anything worth doing is worth overkill.

 

[cmzaha]

I have absolutely no problems squashing a spider. Hate them with a huge passion

 

[fuzz-juzz]

Thanks guys, I hope I will. So many years in Oz and is my first encounter with something painful. I think I'm lucky it wasn't the worst one, in comparison to some species this one is not so bad.
I actually did go to supermarket today and walked pest control section, but couldn't bring myself to do it. My chemical free veggie patch is only meters away, so that's another thing against it.

 

[Saponista]

I don't know how people live in countries with highly venomous spiders waiting to attack in your home, I'd panic every time I had to go into the garden shed. As our spiders are harmless I catch and put outside again, but I would kill them if they could cause me that much pain and misery!