Spiders Scream??

The post about arachnophobia, hilarious. Crawdaddies are just nasty. So huge, and flighty, all over the place. I'd kill them. I've 'disposed' of hornets/bees in the house previosly. Spiders are just dumb coming around, but what's more annoying than when you're ever no innocently (or not so much) sitting an watching a movie, and right by your leg... crawls... faaster than a locomotive! a super gynormic centipede with a hideous head that looks like it's behind! crawling! Which way will it go! How will you know! it's like a worm! a hideous snakie-leggie worm that crawls right up to you in the darkness and goes "hey how about it? Can i crawl up your sleeve?" I fail to see how killing them is cruel. I don't care if they do scream! It's my house!

I was sitting in my basement once, and there was a spider about as big as two water bottle caps crawling down the side of the wall. Of course I'm not afraid of spiders so I care nothing about it and leave it to crawl around.
As it was climbing on the plastic ( I have an unfinished basement ) I heard this screaming. It was the worst thing I've ever heard. I look around trying to see if it was my computer but the noise was coming from the spider itself. I had no idea what to do, it just kept wailing along. So I picked it up in a jar, seeing as I was unsure if it was dangerous or not. And Through the whole time it was in the jar it was still screaming. :| I really didn't get it at all! Then I tossed out in the rain where I heard it scream until I just closed the door. So I'm still confused, can a spider scream?

As bizarre as this sounds. I have rather large nasty looking arachnid fellow on the lock of my garage a few summers ago. I was attempting to have him find more suitable lodgings 'with a stick'. I audibly heard him buzz most frustrated. It was no scream though. I know they can make 'some' noise though.

Ok so people have called me nuts, but I've told several folks about encountering a screaming spider; only to have them come back and apologize because they also recently experienced the screaming spider. I am not an insect expert by any means, but I know screaming when I hear it. I lived in Florida at the time and was home with my 3 year old and 3 dogs. Everyone was asleep except me and the spider. I was in the bedroom and the spider was in the tub in the hallway bathroom. I quickly ran down the hall to see where the scream came from, and found the spider in the tub. It screamed again while I was standing there watching. I wasn't burning or trying to crush the life out of it, but considering it was three rooms away and I heard it scream; I don't care what anyone else says, spiders SCREAM. I just wouldn't shut up so I then killed it. I usually tell the spiders they can stay and eat flys as long as I don't them, but when they invade my space they are dead.

reply to post by ShadowXIX


It is the air escaping the lobsters shell that makes a screaming sound. Like spiders, they do not have a nervous system and cannot feel pain.

Oh my god, I thought I was going mad last night. A great big massive hairy spider ran accross my carpet (scared me half to death). I ran and got a spray from the cupboard finding only a wasp nest destroyer, sprayed the damn thing with foam, when it started running around covered in foam squealing. Found it later curled up and DEAD! I can confirm that yes they do squeal.

oohh probably a figment of your imagination... Or perhaps you saw that movie "The Last Mimzy". As I recall, in that movie the spiders made a screaming noise.

[edit on 16-8-2008 by mapsurfer_]

Once upon a time when I was little, about 8 or 9, my grandpa and I were going through a pile of wood debris and litter on our slab out back to make a fire. As I was picking up stuff to throw into into the fire, I opened up an old chicken fried rice box and noticed that a green spider made it into its home. Obviously being so little and deathly afraid of spiders, I threw the box into the fire feeling fascinated and began to imagine the spider trying to escape and hoping it would burn.

Looking back now, I can't help but feel deep regret and remorse for the little fella. Yes, I still look back on it. Why? I don't know, but it's one of the most vivid things I still remember about my child hood. I guess it's because it reminds me on how careless and ignorant I was with nature and life in general, and how fast and easy it is to be snuffed out without someone batting an eyelash.

I don't know if this was relevant to the topic but I felt like I had to get that off my chest. The tc's story made me think back on it again.

No, the spider didn't scream.....

Wow, that was deep, but thanks ATS community for listening.

I current;y have a giant hole in my leg from a spider bite 2 weeks ago... not sure if it was a Recluse or a Widow that got me because it got me in my sleep...

But my leg is gross and it's gonna leave a scar and I lost alot of work time.

I hope they do scream because it is at least a bit of satisfaction when I get my revenge...

3rd damn time I have had a hole put in me by one of the lil suckers...

everything is poisonous here in AZ... sorry nature lovers but i stoped asking species types in this state a long time ago... if its alive and lives here it almost certainly bites.

And on a more serious note...

you know... OP? How can you be sure it was a spider... not some Person some nasty Witch turned into a spider?

Screaming like that and all...

Maybe there was voddo or black magic involved and it was just... some ladys cheating Husband? or someone else that got the hex thrown at them?

Originally posted by LadyV
I don't know why people have to kill things because they scared of them..
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, I have pet tarantulas, I have never heard them scream, but it doesn't mean some types don't....if it was harmless why did you guys kill it?

I agree. My x has a nine year old daughter. We were outside playing one day and she saw a spider and stepped on it. After she did i asked her why she did it and her answer was "it was just a spider". Even our children are being taught not to value life these days.

reply to post by s13guy

There are various species of spider that do "scream." I know this because, I was friends wth a spider dealer, who sold, kept and traded thousands and thousands of spiders, from all over the world in his apartment, mainly tarantulas. I bought up to a hundred different species from him and other dealers, as I was a collector of tarantulas and some very nasty, poisonous spiders and arachnids.
In 1992, I once had an evil looking, Australian "funnel web spider," that got out of it's cage and crawled into my boot. I slipped it on and unwittingly smashed my "baby," killing him. I still miss him. I had a deadly "wandering" spider from Brazil, that was aggressive, and huge with a red haired mouth and vicious fangs. It would flash it's fangs at me, advising me to "back off!" I also had a crab spider from south america that had three types of toxin in it's venom, which attacked your nervous system, poisoned your blood, and ate your skin. I had a dozen black widows, and half a dozen brown recluses, and a whole plethora of arachnids... I never got bit.
It is so easy to kill those things we fear, and do not understand, and that, I feel is what makes killing spiders, wrong. Spiders are fascinating and wonderful allies in controlling the bugs that are, our enemies. They kill diease causing flies, mosquitos, ticks, roaches, fire ants, farm pests such as locusts, bol wevils, tree killing mothes, and so on... We really need to quit killing them so readily and learn about them and from them, so we can progress as a society. Their silk, ounce for ounce, is thousands of times stronger then steel, their venom has medicinal properties, that holds promise for relieving arthritis, cancer and other illnesses.
The spiders that "scream," usually do so, because they feel threatened. The bigger the spider, the more easily you can hear them. Go to a pet shop, or zoo and ask if you can listen to an African king baboon spider (Citharischius crawshayi), actually any baboon spider sp., or a South American Goliath spider (Theraphosa blondi)"scream." What you'll see, is the spiders getting up on their rear four legs, and protrude their fangs at you, and you'll hear what many people consider to be a "scream," but in actuality, is a hiss. The hiss can sometimes sound like "scream." In Australia, there are "whistling" spiders, (Selenocosmia sp?) that supposedly can take down a chicken, and "whistle," while eating it. I'm skeptical, but, some spiders can eat birds, so who knows...
I never got bit, and was never afraid, because I had learned and knew their behavior. I was more of a threat to them, then they were to me. I never bothered them, and they never bothered me. The fat piggies were well fed, so they never complained. Of course, the more dangerous the spider, the more careful I was. My Sicarius henaii, the three venom spider was very stable and hid itself rather then try and run out. I still was very careful. It preferred to be active only when it pounced on it's food. My highly venemous, Phoneutria fera, was very active, especially at night, so I had it in a special cage. I never opened it and it had a one way entrance. My Atrax robusta unfortunately got out and I already explained what happened to him.
Please do not collect spiders without learning a lot about them. Find out their behaviors, feeding patterns, temperments, environmental needs as these factors are very important to their survival, and to your safety. Some spiders are very expensive, $100 to $1000+, depending on rarity and demand, others are cheap or free, from your backyard. There are spider societies (clubs), forums and dealers specific to the spider trade. Also only purchase captive bred species, so you don't help cause species extinction. Ciao.

Reading some earlier replies I am now convinced spiders can't scream but I'm sure they would prefer to live for what it is worth.
That said, I live in Australia and we have some nasty spiders here that make co existence difficult as I found out the hard way when I was 13. I was bitten and my whole right leg became infected. Not pleasant.
I try to relocate the non poisonous ones, but the old red back spider meets its maker every time. I don't enjoy it, but its a top of the food chain thing at the end of the day.

Australia eh?

Originally posted by DarkSide
you guys are sick!

Agreed

and on a more topic related post, I have never encountered a screaming spider. Makes me want to not-kill them even more seeing as they're more concious than we thought

I was in my younger teen years, and I remember we were helping my Uncle which something on his outdoor pool. It was in the midwest in the summer months. There was a large on the underside of the deck that had fallen when we were working. I remember he lit it on fire with his lighter, (he was a smoker), and I remember it started to "shriek" while it was burning. Thought it was really weird.

I have never heard a spider scream when it was scared, but the weirdest thing I ever did see involving a spider, was when I lived in Oswego NY, they had these little black hairy spiders, some had red on their backs some had blue, one day sitting outside having a cig, I flicked the ash onto the steps, and one of these spiders dived on the ash and wrestled it.

Every time I saw one I tried it and they all did exactly the same thing, some jumped straight off again because of the heat I assume, but it was really funny to see, I stopped doing it when I realised I was hurting them, but those are the only ones I have ever seen do it.

Spiders wrestling cigarette ash, spidy Olympics coming up.