Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: SquarishTriangle on 11/05/2008 06:47:06
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To any of you out there with a fear of spiders, I was wondering:
What specifically about spiders give you the creeps, and to what extent? (I'm not having a dig at you...just curious!)
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I've heard it's their hairyness and the unexpected turn of speed that is alarming.
I don't fear spiders but treat them warily as I've been bitten twice by species in the UK.
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Too many legs. Twice as many as any self-respecting creature should have.
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When I was a girl it was to many eyes and legs..LOL and my brother tortured them it was awful.. I like them just fine now...Tarantulas bother me some but are great to look at ...when there not hiding!
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I think it is because the spiders creep up the walls out of
no where. It happened to me just the other night, I turned my
head to see it crawling up the wall to the side of my PC eekk
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Actually two reasons.
One - probably because a very few are venomous to humans, perhaps at most one in 100,000. Secondly - ignorance of the role of spiders in the ecosystem. Spiders are actually quite effective at controlling pest insects. I will move into a new place and collect a bunch of wolf spiders to keep the cockroaches down. They work quite well. I have tried to get some green lizards into the inside but they all leave as they seem to need more insects than can be found in an apartment or house.
They look something like this species: http://www.greglasley.net/boldjumpingspider.html (There are over 5000 species of jumping spiders.) I love them. Cockroaches are a huge problem in most places but with a colony of these little critters - 1/4 inch long at most - you don't need to worry. And they are very common in the oaks in this area of Texas.
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I luff spiders.
They are your friendly fly eating thing.
Of course, if whilst driving in Australia one of them Huntsmen decided to jump on my knee I would not be a happy sheep !....They do this !!!..they hide beneath the wheel and jump on ya !!
They also friggin sit on your bog roll and I would not like to wipe my arse with it because they are not as absorbent !
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...apart from that.....spiders are great !!
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I don't think I have ever heard of a huntsman spider is that the one in your picture? .. Yeah I am plenty leery of poison spiders.. if I have a notion that I have never seen one I avoid them but love to watch them anyways and do not mind holding them as long as they don't jump to much...
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Having a huntsman spider run across the dashboard of your car is a bit unsettling
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They just look threatening, its probably a human instinct thing, either run or kill it kind of thing
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oh sad.....Are they very poison? Do they have a painful bite?
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oh sad.....Are they very poison? Do they have a painful bite?
They are a breed not just that spider in Neil's picture and
there are some Nice pics of 8 spiders. Eeekkk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman_spider
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Nice Rosalind. At least they are pretty harmless and for the the most part only aggressive if provoked or the female is defending young or eggs.
Says they are actually beneficial and generally can be just released in your garden.. Many types and related to the tarantula.. very interesting!
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They are not very painful. Most species of this spider will not normally bite a human at all but will if provoked.
I live with species of this spider daily. They are found from northern sub-tropical locations all the way south to the tips of South America, Africa and Australia.
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yeah thats what I just read from the link also.. seem pretty harmless! with rare exceptions!
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Nice Rosalind. At least they are pretty harmless and for the the most part only aggressive if provoked or the female is defending young or eggs.
Says they are actually beneficial and generally can be just released in your garden.. Many types and related to the tarantula.. very interesting!
yes Karen that is just what I do unless they've crawled out of an air vent or a window where they might have entered my home.
Put them outside on my balcony so that they can trap the bugs etc.
But I do know some spiders are dangerous for their own reasons
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Yep many are!
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Spiders don't bother me at all. I get really big ones in my bathroom. When I was working full time I had a cleaner and she resigned because she couldn't cope with them jumping out of towels and shouting BOO! I think being a cleaner and hating spiders is like being a teacher and hating kids. I personally don't like the crane fly or Daddy long-legs. It is the way they fly at your face waving their spindly little legs at you. Now if spiders could fly then I would be running shout aaaaaaaargh!
My son doesn't like butterflys or moths and neither does my husband. My husband did not want to pass on the fear to his son so never showed his fear in front of him and yet me son has the fear. How did this happen? Talk about hard wiring.
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I am the same with a daddy long legs.. long story.. but I agree. Moths and butterflies are great.. but I don't like a moth fluttering in my face as they almost always hit you in the mouth when you are talking... its nasty trying to spit one out! Tears them all up and sticks to your tongue! you end up going spupupu..............yuck
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It's probably an instinct thing about spiders as some of them can do you a lot of damage.
John Lydon, of all people, has a program running on the Discovery Channel about creepy things. One episode is all about spiders.
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnlydon.com%2Fimages%2Fmegadvd18.jpg&hash=a9c8f55748f294ca3a2d35151a65f36a)
I wouldn't want to live in america, that is for sure.
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F9%2F99%2FBrown_recluse_spider%252C_Loxosceles_reclusa.jpg%2F250px-Brown_recluse_spider%252C_Loxosceles_reclusa.jpg&hash=582f1d48144c95da72593df9fd2119a8)
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Do you guys not have brown recluse there?
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My old school mate got bit on her lower shin by a recluse and it got really nasty over a few days and even under treatment killed the flesh clear from her foot all the way up halfway to her thigh before treatment started working,,, we are talking open hole oozing nastiness turned real red and hard then it turned black and was gross!,,, yuck gag me with a spoon.... it was horrid! I felt terrible for her... We have had them here at the house they tend to like dark dusty places... so you really need to be careful in old sheds etc...
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This thread is giving me the creeps. I'm off!
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fscared%2F2.gif&hash=ade8ed4312cf9e6a1927631b2f712331)
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Do you guys not have brown recluse there?
No, they are just in the states...and you can keep them. The program talked about the skin coming off, it seemed really horible.
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Yeah they cause some severe mutilatin and you can get staff in it real bad!
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Yeah they cause some severe mutilatin and you can get staff in it real bad!
Why would you need servants in a spider bite.
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I wouldn't want to live in america, that is for sure.
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F9%2F99%2FBrown_recluse_spider%252C_Loxosceles_reclusa.jpg%2F250px-Brown_recluse_spider%252C_Loxosceles_reclusa.jpg&hash=582f1d48144c95da72593df9fd2119a8)
I just killed one of those in my bathroom and we have lots of them in our garage along with black widows! I was bitten last year 3 times by black widows! It's now time to clean out the garage again and I'm a little scared about it! Think I'll make Nic do it all! [:)]