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Respected Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-14-2010

Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?


@Desertdi wrote:

@ID2 wrote:

Have you encountered a wolf spider? Now that's one HUGE ugly spider!!


@ID2     YES!!!  Kitty and I had a two-day battle with one.   Finally got it while it was sitting in the middle of my dining room table...taunting me with those two rows of eyes.   

 

Whacked it with a broom (and put a huge dent in the hardwood table, too).

 

Ugh...hope I NEVER see another one...

 

Wolf spider with 3-inch spread

 

 


How does something that big get in the house?

I'd just have to burn the house down to get rid of it.

I was talking to my hairdresser just yesterday and he was telling me about Huntsman spiders that are in Australia which is where he is from. 

 

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Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?


@Scooby Doo wrote:

@Desertdi wrote:

@ID2 wrote:

Have you encountered a wolf spider? Now that's one HUGE ugly spider!!


@ID2     YES!!!  Kitty and I had a two-day battle with one.   Finally got it while it was sitting in the middle of my dining room table...taunting me with those two rows of eyes.   

 

Whacked it with a broom (and put a huge dent in the hardwood table, too).

 

Ugh...hope I NEVER see another one...

 

Wolf spider with 3-inch spread

 

 


How does something that big get in the house?

I'd just have to burn the house down to get rid of it.

I was talking to my hairdresser just yesterday and he was telling me about Huntsman spiders that are in Australia which is where he is from. 

 


@Scooby Doo    They are not  "house dwellers"...but they do come in from outside when the weather gets cold!   (We can get down into the 20's and low 30's in winter in PHX.)

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Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?

Oh that pic is freaking me out !!!!  i am just paralyzed by fear when i see them. i use hairspray and then smoosh them!  i'll have to look into that bug zaapper

 

This time of year is spider prime time.  we no longer use AC window units and i think this may be keeping them from coming inside.  we put some home defense around the foundation .

 

from what i read, spiders need to drink water. so they lurk by my kitchen sink and bathroom and the utility sink downstairs.

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Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?

Spiders dont bother me, rodents bother me !!!

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Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?

Not afraid of spiders but don't want 'em in the house.  We had to vacuum a fairly small one off the ceiling with the stick vac a couple days ago.  But we seldom see one.

 

When I was growing up tarantulas lived by the gravel driveway and it was common to see one walking up the ditch at the side.  We didn't bother them, they didn't bother us.  

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Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?

Spiders don't really bother me.  I don't like them but I don't freak out if I see one inside.  I normally suck them up with my vacuum.

 

I am deathly afraid of snakes, however.

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
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Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?

I catch and release most bugs that I can identify as being non-threatening to me. But, I've seen so many victims of bad spider bites, that I'm always leery without close inspection. 

 

A friend was with my brother camping out and managed to get a Brown Recluse spider in his sleeping bag. Maybe more than one. Who knows.

 

Before he could wake and get out of that bag, it had bitten him several times. My brother rushed him to the hospital, but it wasn't close. He feared he would die, before they got there. These spiders are bad news. He had mental confusion, fever, and more. It left abscesses everywhere it pierced the skin. His reaction was bad.

 

Another friend was visiting a country setting with an outhouse. While taking care of business, he was bitten by a Black Widow spider. He said the symptoms really scared him, but they weren't long lingering.

 

So, yeah, it makes sense to be scared of spiders, until we can carefully rule out the bad players.  

 

That said, I had one of the black fuzzy spiders that took up residence in my kitchen window. He made a little web in the corner and was great at catching gnats and occasional flies that would intrude into my kitchen.

 

I kept him and he was somewhat of a pet. He'd come out on the window ledge to watch me. One day, I saw he had drowned in a pan I had soaking in the sink. It's crazy, but I was very sad. I would have resuscitated him, if it was possible.

 

 

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Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?

[ Edited ]

I hate all creepy crawly things and the ones that fly as well. 

 

On a business trip back in the mid '90's to a development my husband was developing in Central Texas I was sitting by the pool with my young son and other children.  The development at Lake Whitney was basically still wild with rattlesnakes ect... were common.  Sitting in my chair I noticed movement and it was a tarantula making a beeline toward the pool and the children.  I jumped up from my chair and took my paperback book I was reading and wolllaped the heck out of that thing and knocked back through the wrought iron fence. 

Now the rattlesnake I saw later that summer sunning itself next to our pool at the home we were staying in I let it go on its on way in its own time.  

Texas brown tarantula - AZ Animals

"Live frugally, but love extravagantly."
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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?

I’ve never been afraid of bugs, snakes, wizards, mice, etc. I used to play with a friend’s pet tarantula and I once had a pet gecko.
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Re: Am I the only 'scaredy cat' with spiders?

[ Edited ]

@amyb 

 

 

Sure! I live on an island off the coast of Savannah, GA.

 

I don't bother spiders outside with a web, but if it's in my house, it's gonna be dead!

 

Same with any creepin' crawlie that gets in my house.....my castle, my rules!

 

I lived in CT for a few years, the West Hartford area. Loved the snow in the winter, 'cause we never get it down here!

 

Well, I remember twice actually, but that's in 70 years!