I've just been traumatized! (speech, topic, crazy, house)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Steve-o, congrats for defending the spiders. You have every right.
I, however, am like the OP, and cannot stand spiders...at all. I freak out just as much as the OP, maybe worse. I even had the nerve to watch Arachnophobia and had nightmares for about a year. I just don't like bugs, any of them. I have my DH kill them if I see them in our apartment or immediately call the management office if I see any in our area. Ewww....I am glad I skimmed over the original story or else I would be having nightmares tonight. And yes, I agree logically that I should be ok re spiders, like you say Steve-o, but my mind just can't agree. <<<<cowering in a corner>>>>>
Well, by watching needlessly stupid movies like Arachnophobia, what did you expect would happen? Seriously, the movie uses harmless huntsman spiders with the sole purpose of scaring the bejeezus out of you, and for no specific reason. I hate that movie because its just a silly piece of crap intended to scare people silly and make people despise and kill harmless spiders who do more good than anything. Go ahead people, kill harmless spiders and watch your mosquito populations soar (west nile anyone?), cockroaches run unchecked spreading many diseases, etc. Is that worth it to kill a spider that just happens to set up shop around your house and keep the insect population in check? Do yourselves a favor and leave the spiders/scorpions alone and kill the bugs that REALLY do harm.
Im a HUGE tarantula lover, but I understand a phobia. First off, that wasnt a tarantula your hubby just hauled off and wailed on. That was a harmless wolf spider. How do I know? Tarantulas do NOT carry babies on their backs, wolf spiders do that. Tarantulas are wonderful creatures. They freak people out because of their size, thats it. Did you know that tarantula venom is about as weak as a honey-bee's? Did you also know that tarantulas have never killed anyone? Their venom is too weak. Betcha didnt know that either. Seriously, the only two spiders you have to worry about are the brown recluse (Loxoceles reclusa) or the black widow species (of the Latrodectus genus: mainly hesperus, mactans, etc). Even then your chances of dying are super slim. Most widow bites just result in mild flu-like symptoms. Brown recluse venom is not neurotoxic (attacks central nervous system), but rather cytotoxic, attacking skin cells, causing nasty lesions and perhaps amputation if youre severly allergic. In fact, my 5 year old nephew in Kansas was bit by a big recluse over last weekend and had a few hours of temps and chills, but he's 100% ok now.
Back on the subject, American tarantulas are generally more docile than any dog youve ever owned. Hollywood will feed you lies about them, etc, making you believe that they can kill you or stalk you or jump on you.:rolle yes: The tarantula species in the United States belong to the Aphonopelma genus. Theyre 100% harmless, but can and will bite if they feel threatened. But hey, what animal doesnt??? I actually spend time in AZ and MO every year hunting them down in the wild and photographing them and observing them. I can find one, gently pick it up, and it is completely fine. Now I know what Im doing, so I have yet to get bit, dont try to do it yourself unless you know what youre doing. Not that youll die, but its never fun being bitten by anything for that matter. LOL
There are soooooo many different tarantulas across the world and I love them all. Some of them are downright beautiful!!!!!! Here, check out these sites and look at the variety, youll be amazed, I promise!
PLEASE, do yourself a favor and browse the pictures, get over your arachnophobia, and when you do, youll feel silly that you were ever afraid of spiders. I know I did!!!! Read a little, learn something about them, thats how I got hooked. Tarantulas are nothing to be afraid of. Some are defensive and are quick to show their fangs (mainly old world species), others are so gentle that youd swear that they were dead. LOL Heck, one of mine used to sit on my lap for HOURS and watch tv, never so much as moved a millimeter.
Here is one I scooped out of a burrow in Missouri. I ended up taking this little guy home. Hes nicer than my miniature Dachshund! No joke!
Here is a Avicularia versicolor tarantula from Martinique. Beautiful and docile as can be. She posed on this black fleece for about 30 minutes allowing me to get in her face and snap lots of photos:
Here she is on her web, Im 1" from her, she still didnt care.
BEWARE THE HORRID TARANTULAS!!!!!! hahaha Not so bad, are they?
Here is a Aphonopelma hentzi I found in Missouri:
Here is a Missouri brown recluse (Loxoceles reclusa), aka "fiddler spider". Note the fiddle-shaped marking on its body? thats how to ID a recluse. Plus, they only have 6 eyes, compared to the normal 8.
Here is what you saw (wolf spider):
Here is a Latrodectus mactans I collected in Missouri (note the telltale hourglass):
I have a few wolf spiders living in my basement I leave em be just as long as I don't get a couple hundred babies running around.
Got a better picture of the wolf spider? That one is really hard to see.
Thanks!
As for the spiders in your basement, Im not sure theyre wolf spiders. Do they have webs? Wolf spiders roam for food, one of only a few spiders that do such. As for the photo, I dont have a better pic, sorry! Wolf spiders are hard to spot, theyre extremely cryptic as you can tell.
Hi ! And No Your Not The Only One I Was Also In Tx, When Something Like This Happend To Me To I Was Walking To My Part Time Job At Mcdonalds When Soundenly Out Of The Ground I See 3 Black Hairry Legs Coming Out Of The Ground I Jumped Accross The Street And Couldn't Breath When I Got To Mcdonalds The Girls At Work Asked Me Are You Okay I Said No !! They Asked Do You Need A Dr Couse Your So Pail I Couldn't Speak All I Could Say Was No For The Next 5 Minutes That Is Very Scary .i Do Understand What You Went Througe
Hi ! And No Your Not The Only One I Was Also In Tx, When Something Like This Happend To Me To I Was Walking To My Part Time Job At Mcdonalds When Soundenly Out Of The Ground I See 3 Black Hairry Legs Coming Out Of The Ground I Jumped Accross The Street And Couldn't Breath When I Got To Mcdonalds The Girls At Work Asked Me Are You Okay I Said No !! They Asked Do You Need A Dr Couse Your So Pail I Couldn't Speak All I Could Say Was No For The Next 5 Minutes That Is Very Scary .i Do Understand What You Went Througe
Soooo, you saw some spider legs in a hole in the ground, then proceeded to almost have a heart attack and run (needlessly I might add) to your job? You really watch too many movies. That spider is MUCH more afraid of you than you are of it.
Oh, and please dont capitalize the first letter of every word, that is beyond annoying.
I hate spiders...especially big furry ones...eek ! But I did have a pet Tarantula as a kid, I can't believe I use to let it crawl up my arms, yuck, I wouldn't do that now !
I feel like the people from City-Data have become my friends and so I need to share my latest scare with someone other than my husband. He took care of the problem, but thinks I'm silly for getting upset. This evening, my daughters and I were out in the backyard practicing their softball skills. My husband was up at the fire station meeting with his fireman buddies. Upon completion of our softball session, the girls and I went on out to the garden to pick some of the squash. I was bent down parting the large green leaves of the plant to expose the yellow buds when my oldest exclaimed, "What is that?" I looked down and right upon my flip-flopped foot would appear to be the largest tarantula I've ever seen crawling across my foot. It was about 5 inches in diameter and had babies hanging on its back. We all three screamed as I kicked it off and we sprinted to the house. Of course the girls took off on their own, before me, with intentions of saving themselves. Anyway, because of my lifelong arachnophobia, this was traumatizing for me. I can still feel it crawling on my foot. If any of you have read some of my posts on the Texas forum, you would know that we have seen these occasionally where we live, but never this big. My husband came home when I called him and he went out to kill it. He admitted that it was the largest one he'd seen around here, but he has been laughing at my state of distress ever since. I have to wonder, am I the only one that turns into a big baby over spiders?
Sounds like a normal reaction to me. I would sleep with the lights on for a week. Your husband is probably making light of it in order to calm you down. My dh does things like that for me all the time. I am sure he knows how dangerous it was. Now do you want to hear about the snake that came into our house. Sorry, but the story would be too long. To make a long story short, my dh had to buy me a flashlight to get me to turn off the overhead light.
My brother lives south of Austin and he has big tarantulas crawling all over the main roads in his development. It's hill country so it's basically rocks, cliffs and arid. He likes to hear the sound of them crunching when he is driving in the morning.
I have caught them and looked them over well - while wearing gloves - those things have 1/4" fangs. They don't scare me but rattlesnakes are all over the place as are scorpions. Scorpions are a whopping 2" long, snakes vary from 2-4' on average.
I don't like to kill any of them, there is no reason unless you need to take it to a hospital so they can ID the thing for anti-venom purposes.
Wasps and horseflies are dead meat as they are but a persistent nuisance. Get the BB guns!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That was a harmless wolf spider. How do I know? Tarantulas do NOT carry babies on their backs, wolf spiders do that. 
Tarantulas are wonderful creatures. They freak people out because of their size, thats it. Did you know that tarantula venom is about as weak as a honey-bee's? Did you also know that tarantulas have never killed anyone? Their venom is too weak. Betcha didnt know that either. 
