Spiders - do they creep you out? (2 Viewers)

[Robert_Gaither]

I remember a news article that ran about two years ago in my area that stated this particular spider kills more people than any other. Their bite is supposedly painful but the main problem is if you're allergic to them they become quite lethal. What made the article most memorable was that the victim in the article went from being healthy to having to become a quadruple amputee within a 48 hr time span (due to some sort of infectious swelling) which really was ingrained to me.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

I knew a guy that got bit on the chest by a brown recluse. I don't think he realized what had bitten him. He started a new job I guess about the day after he got bit, and when he got there he was obviously sick. Several people asked him if he was alright and if he wanted to go see a doctor but he insisted he was fine. At some point in the afternoon they realized he was missing. They called his wife and she didn't know where he was either. It turns out that he finally got to feeling so bad he drove himself to the hospital, but he never even thought of telling anybody what he was doing. I guess he was kind of delirious at that point.

One thing I've heard about brown recluse bites is that aside from the wound itself, the other symptoms are like the flu. And lots of people don't connect the two so they go on for longer than they should without getting proper treatment.

 

[Scott Strang]

How about a giant Centipede. I saw one of these at the Dallas /Ft Worth zoo. Seriouly creeped me out.

And some have them as pets.

 

[Scott Strang]

Pissed off and ready to bite.

 

[DaveGTP]

You guys have got to stop posting all these scary pictures. Good god, that Iraq spider picture. *ugh*

I hate and fear spiders. Some sort of childhood phobia ingrained into me, I guess. (Along with hornets).

We've had a lot of these frickin' white spiders in the house lately. My can of Spider Killer is almost empty. Ran out at 3am to get some Perimeter defense to spray around the house on the windows, basement windows, doors, etc. But I know they're coming from the basement. I need to bug-bomb the basement again like I did last year. I feel very uncomfortable walking down into the basement.

I had to have someone help me run speaker wire in the basement up through the floor because I was afraid to reach up into the darkness and webs in the ceiling. My next rental/purchase will be a house with a FINISHED basement.


I like it up here in the north. Too cold for most of the really scary spiders. I will NEVER move very far south. I hear stories from the ex-Texans and an ex-Californian here at work. Nooooo thanks. Too many phobias here.


You guys saw the thing about the Brood X Cicadas this year, right? Not spiders, but a LOT of bugs. USA today had a good story summarizing it...

 

[bolo bison]

That's one way around it.

 

[Erik.Ha]

I havent heard about it... Do they eat spiders (or mosquitos?)

 

[Scott McGillivray]

Threads and pictures like this make me very glad for our cold-ass winters that make huge bugs living up here impossible. Worst thing we have is grasshoppers!

"Maybe we demoralized them!" - Hudson

(Keep up the "Aliens" references!)

 

[DaveGTP]

Here's the cicada story @ USAtoday:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/2004-04-11-cicadas_x.htm


Basically, these defenseless big 'ol 1.5 inch bugs (not like the Iraq spider though) sit underground for 17 years and then emerge, mating in such large numbers that dogs have been seen getting sick from eating them. Reportedly they taste like cold Asparagus. They can't see so they whack into people, cars, etc.

They are vegetarian bugs, but since they are in such mass numbers (up to 1.5 million an acre), and up to 90 decibels in volume, I figured they would similiarly gross people out. Good FYI if you live in the middle of the midwest (Southern MI, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, some areas of Pennsylvania, etc. See map "cicadas emerge" on the USAtoday story. If you haven't caught the story you should be forworned.

 

[Erik.Ha]

We dont get those here... but we are travelling to Indianna this summer...

Are these the same bugs that "buzzzzzzz" in the trees?