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Arachnophobia

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Argentwing, Dec 26, 2013.

  1. Argentwing

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    Sorry for the decidedly non-light conversation topic, but I saw a video (this one in particular) that got me thinking. Normally I don't worry too much about spiders. Yeah they're skeevy and I don't like them at all, but I'm not preoccupied with being afraid of them and have no problem handling it if I do see one.

    Unfortunately though, sometimes I'll have dreams where spiders are everywhere. Maybe not quite in swarms like in the video above, but I mean I can't turn around without running into a big inhabited web. I'll be somewhere totally normal, but moving around/over and ducking below webs like its a terrible infestation. There are only a few places I've been while awake that are that densely packed with spiders (and I managed to keep a little distance) but that sliver of arachnophobia has made its way into my nightmares. *shudder*

    Anybody else's thoughts/experiences with spider woes?
     
  2. alex3191

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    I used to be terrified of spiders I wouldn't go into a room if there was one in there no matter how small it was, what I did to get over my fear was I read a quote somewhere that said you only fear what you don't understand so I thought I'd see if this was true and learned everything I could about spiders and actually became interested in them so I got my little brother to put a small one in a jar and put in on the bookcase in my room so I had to walk by and see it every day so after I got used to the small one I got my brother to replace it with a bigger one, I did this for a few weeks until they just didn't bother me anymore then a couple months ago we were in town and went into a pet shop for a look and I asked the guy if I could hold one of the tarantulas and I did I was holding it thinking what was I even scared of, so yea that's my story it definitely works to just face up to your fears, good luck
     
  3. Argentwing

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    ^^Great story, thanks for sharing. :grin: And while I get the logic behind "you only fear what you don't understand", I don't think it works for me in this instance XD. I do know some things about spiders, and it only made them grosser in my mind. Not to mention the cutaway diagrams of spider anatomy in my biology textbook didn't help much.

    I think it's because I'm not "afraid" of them in the traditional sense, just repulsed. They're free to do their spider stuff as long as it's far away from me. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
  4. lukeluvznicki13

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    I guess I have arachnophobia xD
    If a spider is near me, crawling by or invading my home like it pays rent then yes I can go all shaky and I get goosebumps and wow...just nerves. I'm scared to death of spiders and scorpions I'm not big buds with either. Ever since I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets I have been freaked out by spiders, they're just creepy things. The bigger the are, the more nerve wracking it is for me to deal with them...even if I look at a spider I feel sick. Bleh x.x

    Fear is a terrible thing.
     
  5. Hexagon

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    I don't mind spiders much. I'm not fond of insects, but spiders are fine. If I encounter one in an unfortunate location, I just catch it and throw it out.
     
  6. I would run out of my room and get my mom to kill a spider if I ever saw one.
     
  7. AKTodd

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    Spiders don't bother me much at all really. If I find a larger one in the house I just gently remove it to the outdoors. The smaller ones just get left alone since I figure they are either eating something else I don't want living in the house or will leave/die on their own if there's no food. Besides, I might hurt them while trying to remove them and I'd feel bad about that.

    We have some big (about the size of a quarter to half dollar size) wolf spiders around here that build these huge webs outside at night (sometimes the main web is 3ft/1m across and the support lines can extend for 15 ft/3.5m or more). They're really cool to see around:slight_smile:

    Todd
     
  8. AwesomGaytheist

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    My mom is absolutely terrified of spiders. Me, I can kill the little ones, but anything big, I have a real problem with. I was once working out in my bedroom and I happened to look up and saw this huge spider on the ceiling and panicked. I swatted it to the floor with a piece of paper and crushed it with a 25-pound dumbbell.
     
  9. resu

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    I am sometimes a little scarred if I find a spider by surprise, but from a young age, I was always one of those junior naturalists checking out bugs in the backyard or the creek that went through my neighborhood.

    I like to be logical/rational, so I've deliberately taught myself to not fear spiders. So, I try to catch and release ones I find indoors. I also leave the ones making small webs, as long as they aren't black widows (that was a little freaky to find one crawling on my sofa :icon_eek: ). My favorite spiders are jumping spiders. Their big eyes are kind of adorable, and you can tell they're very aware of you.
     
  10. Argentwing

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    Lol overkill much? At least I'm confident in spider-battling because they don't take a lot of pressure to squish.
     
  11. kem

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    small ones are cute, but I almost fainted when I watched a gif of a tarantula shedding.
     
  12. Aquilo

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    I don't mind spiders. If I see one inside, I catch them and place them outside. I hate most insects though. But spider webs can be bloody annoying if they make one on a path you have to walk through.
     
  13. RanDoublev

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    I can't say that I don't have arachnophobia cause there have been several instances where I totally fled the room on a broomstick.
    And then there were times where I had no choice but to kill it myself mercilessly (still gives me chills whenever I think about it)
     
  14. AlamoCity

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    I don't suffer from arachnophobia, per se. I will kill a spider if I see one regardless of its size. That said, I have suffered from cyclical (every couple of months) nightmares of spiders and snakes because those are two things I really don't like. These are kind of like night terrors because I will wake up and think of the entire room is filled with spiders and snakes and will jump out of bed and scrambled on the lights stepping only where I think the room will be snake and/or insect free.

    Maybe it's karma for all of the spiders I've killed with a stick lighter or by crushing them.
     
  15. greatwhale

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    In the video, those were actually "daddy-long-legs" which aren't spiders!

    They Look alike though, so I understand how you feel. I've killed spiders, the fast ones creep me out but I usually catch them. Killed a scorpion inside the house (in Mexico) once: *bug-squish* everywhere...

    They're probably much more terrified of me (justifiably) than I am of them...
     
  16. Aussie792

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    Those were just daddy long-legs. They're not that bad at all.

    I'm terrified of spiders, which makes it rather unfortunate to live in Australia. Canberra's very good in terms of spiders (by Australian standards). Here, the big ones are sometimes able to survive being hit with books, and are sometimes larger than lunchboxes needed to take them out when glasses are too small.

    One of the scariest moments of my life was moving into a new house a few years ago and finding a colony of huntsmen in my curtains. As in several dozen. That was the only time I was forced to kill spiders. I hate killing them; they should always be put outside.

    [​IMG]

    That's a relatively small huntsman. They're generally found in the country, but sometimes (such as after bushfires) they're all over the cities. Canberra is like a large natural garden with a city wedged in it, so spiders are abundant a lot of the time. Huntsman spiders are not dangerous, but they're terrifying, and going to a rural public toilet will generally result in a scream and running out; there'll be one on the toilet roll, five on the ceiling, and probably one on the inside door-handle.
     
  17. Browncoat

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  18. Nikky DoUrden

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    I hate all kind of insects .. the bigger the more scarrier, expecially if they can fly so its harder to .. eh ... 'dodge' them lol
    Seriously, im terrified .. :lol:
     
  19. gravechild

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    I think they're fascinating, personally, and would much rather have a pet tarantula over a cat or dog. To answer your question, though, yes: one dream earlier this year involved being trapped in a giant, red room surrounded by "floating" spiders of what seemed like 1,000 different types. I couldn't move anywhere without bumping into one, so I literally stood there, frozen. There was a similar dream almost a decade earlier, except it involved being surrounded by jellyfish outdoors.

    Anyway, killing spiders has never been one of my favorite acts, since I find them fascinating and have a certain respect towards them, plus don't like having to clean up messes left behind (my father smashed one he found in my room once, and the stain is still there on my wall). They're rarely a problem, anyway, and run as soon as they're discovered, otherwise make their home in otherwise empty areas.

    The only problem is when watching videos of say, wolf spider mothers carrying their young on their backs and going "d'awww XD" only to find hundreds of "kill it with fire!" comments below. -_-
     
  20. Steele

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    I don't have arachnophobia, but my sister has it bad. Whenever she sees a spider in the house she makes me catch it and put it outside.

    I do, however, have chilopodophobia and myriopodophobia, fear of centipedes and millipedes, respectively. I hate those little fuckers!