Spiders

[Wayland]

I have a similar problem with wasps and bees to a lesser degree.

If I can see them and keep track of them I'm not too bad but if I lose sight of one in a room I have to find the darned thing or I get very nervous.

When I was younger a wasp could put me into such a panic I would freeze up completely.

I eventually discovered that I was stung by one whilst only a few days old in my cot. I was very seriously ill and unconscious for nearly 24 hours.

I had no conscious memory of this event and it was told to me long after my phobia developed but I presume some basic memory of the event remains from that time.

It was only after being stung in the dark by a wasp I did not know was sharing a tent with me that I learned to deal with it. I had avoided getting stung for 23 years and then discovered it was no big deal after all.

 

[Paganwolf]

Lurch-It sounds like there are people here that know a lot more about this than I do but I think that the tarantula migration incident was fairly rare. I only saw it once in the 20 or so years I lived in Western Texas. It was, however, truely amazing!
Steve

What you may have seen was male spiders searching for females, the time you saw them may have been a good year for sexually mature males, male spiders moult into sexual maturity and only then do they have the equipment needed to mate, they then leave the safety of their burrows and wander looking for sexually mature females its a rough old deal being a male T as some find females mate and get eaten, which is good for the female as insures a good egg sac or they wander around and mate and escape only to die anyway as once sexually mature they have a limited life span.
Female B smithi or Red knee's can live upto 30 years!

 

[bombadil]

Felt compelled to reply to this thread. I was scared witless by spiders for most of my life, probably an irrational fear started by my mother.
One night in a pub my freind and I were getting up to leave, and as he put on his coat there was an enormous (for England) spider sitting on the shoulder. After he had leapt up in fright and it had fell to the ground, the entire pub full of burly builder types let out a mutual scream. I couldn't see the poor critter die just because everyone was ridden with a silly fear of creepy-crawlies, and as I was fortified by the pint or two of dutch courage I'd had, I resolved to picking it up in my hands and delivered it to liberty outside. On my return I was greeted (sweating and trembling!) by a free pint and "Nice one, mate, balls of steel". Since that day I have gradually exposed myself to spiders more and more, and now I am more or less completely comfortable with them. This has been done through studying them, thier behaviour and habits etc, and just trying to understand the world according to our Arachnid buddies. I would reccomend this to everyone, and although, of course, many spiders in the world can do you a real nasty, with a little understanding there is no reason why trips to the bush should be spoilt by our irrational phobias.

 

[JakeR]

Nice! Im glad you have overcome it. I know that in the end i'll have to as South African spiders would induce a heart attack in me the things are so frightening. And i know rationally that they are harmless (or at least i am more harmful to them) but its going to be a matter of time. I trapped the spider i had in my room in a jar. And i held it quite comfortably. I would put it by the computer as i typed but as soon as i moved i would jump out of my skin!!
I think exposure is good, but i am certainly going to give hypnotherapy a go...

Thanks guys...

 

[stotRE]

Has anyone else expereinced a freak-out over something like this? Or is it just me? I know arachnaphobia is common, but borderline panic-attack? i couldn't move for about 30 mins!

It also has implications with bushcrafting, as spiders aren't rare. Which is my biggest concern; paranoid bushcrafting!

Oh well, just thought i'd share it with you...

I was once bitten by a Scorpion whilst working in the desert and i still wake now and then in a cold sweat thinking that i'm covered in them.

 

[match]

Nice! Im glad you have overcome it. I know that in the end i'll have to as South African spiders would induce a heart attack in me the things are so frightening.

Funny how different people react differently - as I said before, I'm not a huge fan of spiders, but I grew up in Cape Town, where it was quite common on hot days to find baboon spiders on the walls in the cooler parts of the house, having a wee nap - even now I'm much more jumpy around little fast moving spiders (and long-legged ones especially, even daddy-long-legs sometimes!) than big hairy ones, because they're what I'm used to Now jumping spiders in South Africa - you have every right to be afraid of these - they bite like wasp stings, and will deliberately come at you and bite you if you disturb them - even though they're smaller than 5p pieces!

Oh, and staying off-topic, when you've made your sloe gin, pulp all the remaining sloes, strain them to get the seeds out, and use the fruit pulp as an alcoholic ice-cream sauce! And Toddy, if your tooth is still hurting, then heating about 10 cloves in a few tbsps of oil for about 15-20 minutes, then applying the oil to the sore parts will anaesthetise the pain...

 

[ssj]

I don't know where this came from but I'm sure you've all heard this-"You are never more than three feet away from a spider.."
Steve

 

[tomtom]

what about the fact 'you eat on avarage 7 spiders a year with out knowing abou it'

 

[JakeR]

Thanks tom and steve...you've both made me feel great!!

Match, which part of Cape Town did you grow up in? My father grew up in Newlands above the cricket ground! But when we go we stay on main road in St James. That where my grandfather lives.

I've never seen any baboon spiders in cape town. But lots of snakes and other creepies.

Its funny, i thought snake and spider phobia's went together...And i spoke to my sister yesterday and she told me why i have the phobia. When i was about 3 i was happily playing with an enormous house spider and my sister came in (aged 11) and screamed never liked spiders ever since!

Cheers...

 

[george]

I must admit I'm not too fond of spiders either - I can handle them if I need to especially if I'm with the kids and don't want them to be nervous. I have held a tarantulas which didn't feel like holding a spider at all more like a multi legged mouse. However I did get a very nasty shock once when I was walking at dusk through a forest trail in the tropics and walked smack into an orb web spider web spun across the track. The spider was right in the middle of it at face height and I'll swear it's legs were about 6 feet across - at least thats what it felt like as I tried to untangle myself from the web and get the bl88dy spider off my face!!!! I admit it - I screamed!

George

 

[Lurch]

Tom, Steve - you bad!

 

[ssj]

Bad? Us? Never!