Why are we scared of spiders?

Originally posted by WonderfulWorld
Nonsense. To kill a spider is self-defense.

With that line of thinking, you'd better kill every dog you see as well. They kill around 300 people a year, mostly under the age of 14. Personally i like spiders and had many pet tarantulas as a kid. None have ever bitten me, they let you know though when they don't want to be picked up, lol. Out of all the spiders that exist, only a few are even remotely dangerous, and only one is truly deadly-the sydney funnel web spider. The male funnel webs spiders are bastards, and i'm sure people in that area of Oz can attest to that. Here in AZ we have black widows and brown recluses, i do kill widows that are in or around the house, only because i have children and they can make kids very sick (but not kill them, that's extremely rare). I've never found an actual brown recluse, although alot of spiders look like them in this area, but are not (no fiddle on the back). Guess they really are reclusive. All other spiders are welcome guests, since they eat bugs that are pests, like roaches and such.



[edit on 23-8-2009 by 27jd]

Insects of all types can be dangerous if you are bitten by them. Good way to catch staff infection.

The day I started being afraid of spiders is when they started appearing in my room. In the basement, fine, but spiders crawling my bed? No thanks. Whenever I see one I definitely try to put it outside first, but if it's some big bugger than it gets the shoe.

reply to post by 27jd


You know I lived in AZ for several years and never saw a tarantula? And it is not like I didn't have opportunity, we were always in the desert. From what I undestand, they are more scarce there in other areas. Never got to see a gila monster either. I miss the desert.

[edit on 23-8-2009 by nixie_nox]

reply to post by 27jd

Here in AZ we have black widows and brown recluses, i do kill widows that are in or around the house, only because i have children and they can make kids very sick (but not kill them, that's extremely rare).

Once we found a widow at work and put it in a jar.
When my boss saw it he flipped out. Apparently his son had been bitten by one and it nearly killed him.
Spent like a month in the hospital and suffered from total body convulsions.

Very dangerous spiders.

reply to post by Astrithr

Originally posted by Astrithr
... Did you really have to embed that picture? I would've preferred a link with a disclaimer...

It was meant as a warning. Spider bites can be very dangerous. There are still people who know little/nothing about this spider.

www.breakthechain.org...

spiderbitephotos.com...

www.shagbarkridge.com...

urbanlegends.about.com...


[edit on 23-8-2009 by WonderfulWorld]

reply to post by nixie_nox


Yeah, I know what the brown recluse looks like.

They CAN be difficult to treat if you wait too long to treat them. If you catch the bite just shortly after being bitten, it is a simple procedure to fix. They'll just core the bite out and viola!

However, if you wait for days before going to the doc you can lose a lot of tissue.
I know of someone who had his little toe amputated because of one.

I'm just glad that we don't have THESE guys here in Arkansas. In Hawaii you find them all over the place.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1556e8e5a95d.jpg[/atsimg]

And as far as spiders go, this guy actually does make me nervous when I encounter them. Although they are harmless, as are most spiders.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cf757cc9a45f.jpg[/atsimg]
It is a cane spider. Found in Hawaii. They can be as big as your palm. Easily. And they can jump like 4ft in the air.

[edit on 23-8-2009 by JayinAR]

reply to post by nixie_nox


Hmmm, i've found several in the desert. They're called 'desert hairy tarantulas'. I had a couple that i kept for a bit and then released back, wild tarantulas are usually a bit more skittish than captive bred ones, and wanted to run away when you tried to hold them, though they do calm down. It's wierd that something so alienlike as huge spiders can be almost domesticated, and not take it as a threat when you pick them up. It kinda hints that they aren't mindless biting machines.

The area I live in is invaded by spiders every summer. My car is constantly covered in spider webs with spiders that ride along everywhere I go. I can kill them all, more will be back the next day.

A couple times I've gotten up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and walked right in to spider webs (and spiders) that have built webs across my door. I'm constantly finding bite marks on my legs in the mornings and every so often a big one will go scurry across my bed room floor.

Like a few others here, I kill them on site. Just imagine if they were the size of dogs and cats, or Volkswagen bugs? We would definitely be on the menu. So I live by the motto, the only good bug is a dead bug. Thats why I like Hudson. He kills bugs good.

Also, like someone else said. They watch you. When they run across my floor, I'll see them in my peripheral vision. The second I turn to look at them, they stop. As if they were watching the whole time to make sure I didn't see them.

[edit on 23-8-2009 by Wimbly]

reply to post by Wimbly


None of those spiders that hang webs like that are dangerous.
Not a single one.
That being said, it sure sounds like your house is infested.
Maybe you should call the porkin' man.

[edit on 23-8-2009 by JayinAR]

reply to post by JayinAR


You guys don't have centipedes in arkansas? We have several species here in AZ, including a very large species that is red black and yellow like the one in your pic.

animal-world.com...

I tried my hardest to find one as a kid, but never did, only found tons of the smaller blue-ish ones. I think the giants are more south, near Tucson. I'm surprised though that there aren't any in in arkansas...maybe i'll have to find a mating pair and take a road trip, everybody should have the opportunity to enjoy centipedes, lol. Just kidding.

reply to post by 27jd


No, we have centipedes. But not the big guys like in that picture.

I once fell asleep on my couch and one woke me up as it was crawling on my arm. It was literally as big as my arm from elbow to wrist.

And the centipedes here are very hard to find. In Hawaii they roam around hunting. You see them everywhere.

reply to post by JayinAR


Ah, i see. I've had them on me too, if they're just walking over you they're alright, but if you're trying to capture them they are all kinds of aggressive, and try their hardest to bite. Still wish i had found a giant though.

Oh, and to nixie nox, i've never run across a gila monster either. They are pretty shy and it's rare to see them.

Greetings Everyone ... just registered with ATS although I have lurked for a long time, and the "Fear of Spiders" thread is what got me to register, lol

I have a wariness of spiders but when confronted, I go into 'kill or be killed' mode and I smash the life out of them. Part of that may be due to an experience in my childhood when my Dad built a garden on some terraces in our back yard using cinder blocks to retain the earth, and my Mother noticed one day a spider scurrying into one of the cinder blocks. She got a flashlight and discovered that ALL of those blocks were *filled* with spiders! So, being the fearless sort of Southern Mom that she is, she got a long stick and a big (real big) glass container (prob about a 1 gallon size) and proceeded to poke the stick into the blocks, the spiders would crawl up the stick, she would put the stick inside the glass container and shake the spider off, put the lid on the container, then on to the next cinder block.

In about a half hour or so, she had that glass container half filled with these spiders, she put it out of my reach (of course) and when my Dad got home from work, told him about the 'strange little black spiders' she had captured, 37 of them as a matter of fact: yep, you guessed - they were all Black Widows, in a big snarling swirling mass inside that big glass container and I thought my Dad might pass out from the shock. He proceeded to fill the container with kerosene to kill them, and that was the end of the spiders.

Years later, I found myself living in Florida and one morning deciding that a bowl of chili would make a pretty good breakfast. So while the chili was heating up, I decided to kill the time cleaning the windows in my apartment, bottle of Windex in hand and a roll of paper towels, not knowing that a huge wolf spider was sitting in the dining room light fixture minding it's own business.

Enter the hot chili in a nice big bowl, I sit down in the dining area, and just as I was about to dig in, the spider decides he's going to join me for breakfast (or maybe have ME for breakfast!) and falls INTO the chili to my shock and horror, and between being p*ssed off at a perfectly good bowl of chili being wasted and scared out of my mind at the sudden appearance of my unfriendly neighborhood arachnid, I grabbed the bottle of Windex and just started pumping it into the chili, I figured if the chili didn't kill the SOB, the Windex would.

That was about the time my girlfriend came out of the bedroom to witness the apocalyptic scene and said "ooookay, I'm going back to bed, see you a little later!"

As a closing comment, I remember reading in some book on psychological disorders that a severe fear of spiders suggests a fear of (*gasp*) INCEST so all you folks need to get over those fears and start stompin' spiders! LOL

Nice to be here on ATS ... thanks for having me!

M5Nomad = What happened when the M5 Multitronic Computer messed around with the Nomad space probe.

reply to post by 27jd


Yeah, they can be very mean.
Like some spiders, they will try to snuggle with you at night, to share your body heat. If you roll on them, you WILL be bitten and let me tell ya', those big guys can pack a wallop of a bite.

reply to post by m5nomad


Welcome to ATS.
You write well. You should do well.

Yeah, that story about the widow spiders sounds about right. I have never seen a widow inside a house, but you can find them outside of EVERY house in their habitation range.
Bricks, wooden privacy fences, under watermeter lids... I'd wager I could walk outside and find one right now. Problem is, I don't have the desire to.

Originally posted by WonderfulWorld
It was meant as a warning. Spider bites can be very dangerous. There are still people who know little/nothing about this spider.

You should say "brown recluse bites can be very dangerous". And they can, however as their name suggests, they are reclusive. You're right though that there are many people who know nothing about it. Here's an interesting tidbit i'll share with you arachnophobes out there, you may think that having an exterminator come will take care of the problem, but in fact can make it worse. Brown recluses are not affected by the same pesticides most bugs are, and they actually seem to prefer dead bugs over live ones. So, a visit from the exterminator may actually ring the dinner bell if there are any in your neck of the woods.

I had a wolf spider doing laps in the kitchen recently- I went and got a glass, and put his happy butt out. He was kinda HUGE. He was strolling around like he owned the place. He should be lucky *I* found him- he could have been a cat toy!

I think I know some of the reasons- I read somewhere that spiders actually crawl in your mouth while you sleep. Since the place I live in was uninhabited for a couple years (the owner ended up moving to la for medical reasons), I had to evict the critters that had barged in- they still try to invade- I had yet another wolf spider go for a stroll up my arm while sleeping. The sensation was... unnerving. It also ended badly for the spider... he got flattened as a matter of pure reaction. I think the other reason is the fact it has fangs. Spiders also seem to be a tad 'sneaky' in their actions. Add in the fact they are the one, if not one of the very few who make something sticky and stringy (web). I walked square into one a lot more than once- not to mention a memorable time I caught one right in the mouth! (nothing tasted right for hours).

I think it's the overall package a spider presents- along with a lifetime's worth of sensations, or being bit- which also happened to me- OH CRAP it was bad. I initially thought I had fractured my elbow! I was in a situation where getting to the doctor wasn't exactly an option... not for about a week- Worst part, this happened in a HOTEL ROOM. Never trust a hotel that has a green pool, k? It was either pull over for the night, or doze off on the side of the road... Anyways...

I am convinced it's a few of the reasons I mentioned- but that's just my take.

reply to post by m5nomad


Welcome to ATS. Although I don't doubt your story, i doubt they were widows. Widows, when they are babies are harmless since they cant bite through our skin, and are white and yellow, they don't start to darken up until almost fully grown. Males stay white and yellow. They also don't live in that close of proximity to each other, they can be fairly close, but not in swirling masses, they're pretty solitary and they stay on their webs which are VERY distinctive, and it's 1 spider for 1 web. They wouldn't 'fill" a cinder block. Their webs are very strong and sticky, they make a crackling sound if you touch them with a stick. Also, they dont run up the stick towards you, they run away. Black widows are NOT aggressive in the slightest, you have to pin them or step on them to get them to bite. When i was young i would capture them by putting a jar under them, and knocking them off the web with my fingers. They really are cowardly spiders and just want to get away.

[edit on 23-8-2009 by 27jd]