The Arachnophobics Thread (1 Viewer)

[Julie K]

I like to have a moderate population of spiders in my house as they do a good job of keeping the insect population in check. Of course, occasionally I must act in order to keep that population in moderation and so we cyclical occurrences of the Time of The Great Squishings.

I do get numerous black widows outside and those I'm much less tolerant of. Those get squished upon sight (which is unfortunate as they are a rather pretty spider.)

I should probably mention that I think I grossed Paul out over on the Dream Thread when I mentioned a certain spider dream I had...

Brown recluse bites can occasionally be fatal. They can also induce strange neurological and other physiological problems that are not well understood at the moment.

For all the spider lovers and spider haters, you must, simply must, read the book "The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators" by Gordon Grice. The book covers the black widow, the tarantula, the brown recluse and the non-spiderish mantid, rattlesnake, pig, and canid. It's a very well written and utterly engrossing book. Even if you hate spiders I don't think you can resist the love that Grice obviously has for them.

 

[Steve Christou]

Last week on the telly there was some French guy who started talking about insects being tasty and full of protein [yeuchh!], anyway I was fascinated and carried on watching blissfully unaware of what was about to happen, well he picked up this big chunky grasshopper, about 4 inches in length, it was wriggling about between his fingers, by now I was watching with a sense of foreboding, I noticed my hand was already slowly moving towards the remote, well this guy still holding the struggling grasshopper between his fingers plops it into his mouth... as soon as I heard the first crunching noise I quickly turned over to any other channel, eeeeek, can just imagine this person carrying on with the interview with green goo dribbling down his chin, bits of grasshopper between his teeth [yeeurch!vomits over cat].
Wheres that wretched retching smiley when you need it...

 

[Timon Russo]

Malcolm - I used to keep the Raid handy. Now I actually keep a vacuum cleaner on every level of the house, ready to suck up spiders of any size on wall, floor or ceiling from a "safe" distance of 5 or so feet. Plugged and ready to go all the time. I use it about every other day. Its a good clean way to go. But now the nightmares I have are about the half-dead spiders all crawling back out of the vacuum bag at the same time. Can't win.

 

[Joseph Young]

I like the spiders with cute faces that smile up at you, as if to say, "Hi ______! Heee-lo!" in a cute high pitched squeaky voice.
*image doesn't link* argh
I also like the big tarantulas, holding domain like proud gorillas.
*image doesn't link* argh
And then of course, the spiders that are [rant]as big as a dinner plate!![/rant]

But the goliath bird-eating spider is pretty harmless to humans, as are most species of tarantulas. They do carry venom in their fangs and have been known to bite humans when threatened, but the venom just causes swelling and mild pain for a few hours (like a wasp sting). Tarantula bites to humans are usually in self-defense and don't always contain spider venom - what is known as a "dry bite". The most "dangerous" thing about the goliath bird-eater is its ability to flick urticating hairs from its body at any creature it perceives as a threat, including humans. This is not a species of tarantula you'd keep as a pet. The tiny, almost invisible hairs that it voluntarily sends floating through the air are extremely irritating to our skin, and can cause real problems if they got into delicate mucous membranes around eyes and mouth.

Yum...
-J

 

[Jay H]

Almost all new world tarantulas have urticating hairs, but not everybody is as sensitive to them as others. I mean all of my Ts have 'em and they do sometimes flick 'em around when I'm messing with their home, but it hasn't ever bothered me. I mean, you wash your hands good after handling them and their home, but it's not like I run as fast as I can when they are aggitated.

Tarantulas only really bite as a last resort because if they do actually inject venom into the prey, they can't make more until a short while at which point they are practically defenseless, so they will certainly try to run and posture before resorting to biting.

Jay

 

[ChrisMatson]

This business about Daddy Longlegs being poisonous is another myth.
Here are a few links:
Snopes

 

[Dennis Reno]

 

[RobertR]

man they are viscous

All spiders are viscous after being squashed...

 

[Jeff Pryor]

If I see a spider, it's life is almost over.

 

[Paul_D]

If I see a spider, it's life is almost over.

Tough but fair!

 

[Ron-P]

I bust out my Winchester 20 gage hose, attach the hose-end spray silencer, load it with a round of malathion and shoot up the yards about once every 3 months. Kills all bugs..dead.
Peace Out~

 

[Julie K]

I don't know Ron. Some of those big, heavily armoured bugs are not so easily deterred. You need a large caliber loaded with solids for real stopping power.

 

[Bill Cowmeadow]

Not exactly an urban myth.
More info than you will ever want on the "Daddy Longlegs"
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spider.../Pholcidae.htm
Cool pictures too.

 

[Paul_D]

I bust out my Winchester 20 gage hose, attach the hose-end spray silencer, load it with a round of malathion and shoot up the yards about once every 3 months. Kills all bugs..dead.

That's the spirit Ron. Kick some ass! Don't take prisoners.

 

[Ryan Wright]

If i saw a Black widow, id be running away screaming like a little girl

We have Black Widows all over here. Seeing and dealing with them for the last 20 some odd years of my life, I'm used to them.

However, that doesn't mean I like them. I hate spiders. All spiders. When I see one indoors, I kill it fast. Outdoors, I let them go, except for the Widows - they are killed. And yes, I'm squirming around here in my seat reading this, looking at my feet to make sure there aren't any spiders on me, etc.

At the same time, though, spiders intrigue me. I like to watch them from a safe distance, preferably behind glass. When they build a big beautiful nest outside one of my windows, I'll watch them for hours.

 

[Paul_D]

 

[Nathan_R]

Paul,
Thank you for the sweet photo before bedtime.
Those blasted things come in all kinds of colors. Over the years, I've seen fiddlers from translucent in color to almost pitch black. Not cool.
Best regards,
~~Nathan

 

[ChrisMatson]

Here's a great site that explains the Daddy-longlegs myth:
http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html
-Chris