Just curious.
Established Member
Just curious.
Established Member
I voted no, in that I'm not particularly bothered by your average, run-of-the-mill spider, but if they're gargantuan, it's a different story. And if they're potentially poisonous,.
Fortunately, we don't tend to have either huge spiders or poisonous ones around here.
Established Member
i love spiders. living in the tropics, my faithful house spiders and wolf spiders keep my place free from cockroaches and other bugs.
although they do tend to grow to a fairly repectable size and their bite can be quite painful, i have no problem with them running around. i tend to remove those that get anywhare close to palm sized as they would feed on my house lizards as well...
Established Member
While gardening as a kid (about 9-10), I had a large Funnel-Web spider crawl onto and stop on the back of my hand.
http://www.staabstudios.com/st_spider_lg.jpg
http://www.avru.unimelb.edu.au/avruweb/Fws.htm
Been fascinated by spiders ever since.
Worst spider experience I ever had though - I was trying to catch a Huntsman that was on the ceiling of my apartment, to put him out into the garden.
http://patrick.wattle.id.au/cameron/..._huntsman.jpeg
As I reached up to put a container over him, he dropped down onto my face. You know how when you freak out, everything seems to occur in slow motion........???
Established Member
ugh... having seen huntsmen up close and personal in the bush, i know what you mean. i found a great way to find them at night by the way: when you're out camping, late at night, hold a flashlight next to your eyes, as huntsmen and wolfspiders hunt by sight they have eyes with the same reflective capabilities as cats. by keeping the flash next to your eyes you can see the reflections like little twinkles. it's just amazing the number of big spiders you'll see running around your campsite (not in the last place cos they're attracted by your fire)
never managed to find a Funnelweb, but congratulations on a very lucky escape there...
[edited twice for typo #-o ]
Established Member
8) How cool! I'm taking the kids camping this weekend - I'll give it a try. Thanks for the tip!Originally Posted by Morrolan
Banned
I don't like spiders and snakes. And that ain't what it takes to...
Established Member
maybe you can answer this question (it's also a description of my worst spider experience):
while collecting firewood one night on a photo trip in the WA desert, i picked up a piece of wood (yes, i moved it with my boot first) and the tips of my fingers felt something wooly and soft wriggling. of course, i let go immediately and on turning it over i found a spider had made a 'chamber' of silk in a hollow in the wood. spider was dark grey, around 8 cms long with it's legs tucked in beside it and about 3.5-4 cms wide (with the legs added to the width). it was quite placid, but i think that was because this trip was in July, hence it may have been having its winter rest.
[edited for typo]
i've never been able to identify the spider. any idea what it may have been?
Banned
CANDY JUST PASSED OUT!
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Not off the top of my head, but I'll have a look for you when I get home from work. Sounds like a good sized spider, though!
Whereabouts in WA were you?
Established Member
I'm not afraid of spiders at all. I am, however, incredibly creeped out when I see a big, furry, eight-legged, creepy monstrosity crawling on the wall above my pillow.
Established Member
this was around 300 klicks east of Carnarvon. i totaly forget the name, but there's a spectacular arrangement of cliffs which basically divides the area in a high and a low plateau. normally during a good winter there are some fantastic rivers and waterfalls there as the water flows down, but 2001 was a very dry winter there...
i found our little hairy friend on the way back to the coast as we were stopping for the night.
[edited for yet another typo]
Banned
Thank you. I thought I was being ignored. My sanity has now returned. I guess the poll should read differently.
ARE YOU AFRAID OF BIG, FURRY, EIGHT-LEGGED, CREEPY MONSTROSITY CRAWLING ON THE WALL ABOVE MY PILLOW?
Or are you afraid of household spiders?
BIG FREAKING DIFFERENCE!
Established Member
Not bothered by spiders at all. I prefer them to flies, mosquitoes, black flies, and all manner of annoying insects, which I count on them to help control. I leave them alone in my house and outside.
Established Member
How about earwigs? Now THOSE give me the willies!
Established Member
Oh yeah. Hate 'em. Nasty crawly too-many-jointed things. Give me the spiders.How about earwigs? Now THOSE give me the willies!
Established Member
I had a really creepy experience with earwigs once. This was very shortly after they first arrived on the scene (we never had them around here when I was a little kid), and they used to come in the house all the time. I was putting on my running shoes to go out; I put on one shoe, and as I was putting the other shoe on, an earwig came out of it. I banged the shoe, and several more came out. So I took the shoe I'd been wearing off and banged it as well, and I swear, about 15 earwigs came out of that shoe! And I had been wearing it with all those bugs in there!!
Spiders are nothing to me, but I have no tolerance for earwigs, after that experience.
Established Member
A friend of mine had a similar experience. He'd left his biking jersey on a bench outside the cabin we were staying in to dry out. Before the next morning's ride he picked it up, put it on, and got the weirdest look on his face you can imagine. He immediately ripped if off and shook about 20 earwigs out of it. For the rest of the trip everyone was shaking their clothes vigorously before putting them on, turning socks inside out, and banging shoes on walls and furniture. Ugh!
Established Member
I'm not afraid of them but I won't kill them or touch them if I have to (I am not above picking one up by the leg and throwing it away when needed though). This quirk isn't only for spiders though, it applies to all insects and arachnids.
Vulcan Administrator
I know otherwise rational people who will totally freak if they see a spider of whatever size. I can't say I'm fond of them, but I can tolerate the smaller ones and will gently put them out of the house if I find one inside (where they're not likely to find many bugs). I must confess that I tend to stay clear of ones like this, that our Costa Rican tour group encountered.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Established Member
Ugh is right! I can imagine your friend's horror when he put on that shirt and felt -- something. Incidentally, even though my shoe incident happened many years ago now, I still find myself banging my shoes before putting them on during earwig season.... I just couldn't stand to have that happen again. [-(
Established Member
If I see a spider, I don't "run away", or "freak out". I can even approach and observe up close. If my wife sees a spider (or most other bugs) in the house, she yells at me, "kill it!". I oblige without any problems -- sometimes I will take a good look at it before smashing it.
BUT... if I am in my back yard without wearing gloves, pick up a piece of wood on the ground, turn it over, and a Black Widow is within inches (centimeters) of my hand, then yes, I react in a frightened way. This, BTW is a common occurance. I am learning to always wear leather gloves when I work in the yard.
I have also handled Tarantulas in the past with no problems.
Honored Member
I suspect that one reason spiders are a problem with many people is that they are just about impossible to anthropomorphize. I wonder if it is becasue they are such a primitive lineage that they almost qualify as aliens. I'm not afraid of spiders but I prefer not to pick them up; some can bite. But I feel the same way about a yellowjacket, so I don't think it is particular to spiders. Don't handle small machines that can inject venom in you, my motto.
Snakes, on the other hand. Gad, I admire snakes. Beautiful, cool... elegant design. We have quite a few out in the country (garters, rubber boas, and a big guy I'm not sure of, except it's not a ratlesnake) and it makes my day in a small way to see one sliding along. I will never harm a snake, and have stopped others from doing so.
Established Member
Where I lived in North Carolina, yellow and black garden spiders were quite common. Many made there webs near our place and often encountered them while fishing. Beatiful animals. I really liked 'em.
I also have vivid childhood memories of being fascinated by the wriggling masses of daddy long legs that congregated in the crawl space of my grandmother's house in Mississipppi. Technically, they aren't spiders but they are arachnids.
Nowadays, the spiders I see are small and non-descript.
Edited to add: I agree with Mike about snakes. I caught many, many snakes as a kid, especially when living in Louisiana...the place is snake heaven. Garters, grass, tree, mudsnakes, watersnakes, hognose, kingsnakes...even water mocassins and copperheads when I was a bit older. I even managed to secretly keep a Speckled King Snake as a pet for a few days before the parents found out.
Established Member
Speaking of yellowjackets, I've had a few bad run-ins with a quite a few of them.
The first time I got stung by anything, it was a yellowjacket. I believe I was about 7~8 and I was messing around on the grass field at the school next to our house. I wasn't expecting a yellowjacket to come up from a kneeling position with my knee. I was more scared than anything else.
The second times was some time last year when I stepped in a yellowjacet nest that was in the ground. I think I was more angry at them than they were at me. I don't know why, but I started screaming at them while I ran to the house.
The third and final time was when I was working out in the yard and I stepped in yet another nest. It's not fun having an angry yellowjacket stuck in your pants. This last time I got stung about 8 times. Terrible.
Established Member
This all just confirms my suspicion that everything in Australia can kill you.
Oh and I am nigh on being truly arachnophobic. I mean right down to sweating and shortness of breath when I even see a spider. I've been working on it the last few years and have actually been doing better about it.
Interestingly enough, I find spiders utterly fascinating and always check out the spider exhibit at the zoo and will watch about anything on PBS, Discovery, or Animal Planet about them. It's a crazy world.
Administrator
I'm not afraid but my wife is very afraid of them. Its good to know your purpose in life, mine is to kill spiders.
One spider story, my wife came running upstairs from the laundry in the basement to get me to kill the "big" spider. I'm thinking 5, 10, 15 mm. I go downstairs and there is this spider that's a good 75 mm in diameter, leg to leg. Nothing by tropical standards, but big for Ohio. I didn't have the heart (or the stomach) to squash it, so I got it into a bucket and tossed it in the woods. I had to admitt that is was a "big" spider.
Established Member
Not afraid of spiders.
'Matter of fact, I think they're pretty interesting critters.
Established Member
I'm usually scared to death of them, ask Andromeda. If i see a spider sitting on my wall or something, i'll watch it for a bit, just becuase, as petrified i am of them, i have to admit they're pretty interesting. But the moment that sucker moves toward me its dead. If i can see it and its not going to be going anywhere where i can't see it and its not coming at me, i'm usually ok unless its poisonous (lots of brown recluses around here...and i now know why God invented dads and brothers) then i won't get close enough to kill it.
THis one time i went in the bathroom to take a shower and i noticed something a little bigger than a quarter crawling next to the bathtub. I got a little closer and saw the "fiddle" on its back and ran screaming for my brother to go kill it for me. God i'm pathetic. but yea, generally speaking if it has more than 4 legs i don't like it, if it's got more than 6, i'm scared of it. i think centipedes are worse than spiders though. It's sad that i'm so scared of them, most of the ones here are tiny anyway, i find centipedes in my room all the time, they're about as long as a Bic pen cap, i know they can't hurt me but something about them is absolutly terrifying.
Now you all know my worst-kept-secret...fell special...everyone else i know knows it too ;-)
Established Member
I don't mind spiders too much but I still do my best to avoid them. I'm esspecially cautious around wood piles and junk, and I always wear gloves when working in the shed. Fortunately where I live there are only two species that you have to be careful of; the Brown Recluse and Black Widow. Of the two the Brown Recluse is the most dangerous. The Black Widow is very easy to spot and to avoid. But those darn Recluse are easily mistaken for harmless Wolf spiders. Though I always get a profound sense of guilt when I squash a bug I don't hesitate with those Recluse. :P
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