Massive spider in lounge, shut the door and sealed with masking tape last night,now what?

nobody asked for your sympathy, love. and you might be interested to know that being unable to conceive of experience outside your own is a sign of being hard of thinking.

Not how phobias work. Rationality.

Im not phobic of spiders happily but have another ridiculous phobia which arachnophobics think is hilarious. Doesn't matter does it. Spider is no more likely to hurt you than the thing im frightened of, but its still a genuine fear.

So funny. Love this post. I guess the spider will love it - they've been trapped in a room with lots of lovely flies they can eat.

Remember, UK spiders are fine (yes they are, even the ever-so-slightly-mean ones just nip you. Ex aussie).

You clearly don’t know what it’s like to have a debilitating fear of spiders then. Lucky you 🙄

I do a spider patrol twice a day, l cannot stand the nasty things. I have a little hand vacuum. Very good as its long enough to reach the ceilings and covings. ...and zap, sucked up. I am a little paranoid, during the night l once woken up, itching my face, driving me mad. Put on the bedside lamp and my dh tells me, there's a massive spider dangling from my fringe....omg, that did it for me.l have spider spray, that doesn't cause damage to carpets etc , it is odourless. I spray, well not spray, more of a pump action, the whole house every three days. Obsessed? Yes l am..

Have you found the beast yet? I can lend you a cat!
Thank God we dont live in Australia 😑

I accept it doesn't work for everyone, but I can guarantee that most of the people on here who scream and quake at the sight of a spider haven't even made an attempt to get professional medical help.

Ah spiders don’t bother me, but I do have a terrible wasp phobia so I do sympathise.

It’s so embarrassing. My husband spends his life rolling his eyes at me about it (although he will happily deal with any that come into the house). It’s totally irrational as well, I’ve been stung a couple of times and it’s not even that bad!

Sadly I have passed this stupidity on to my children (which is why my husband gets a bit irritated with it - fair enough).

But what then? I’d be terrified seeing them crawl about inside, plus if there’s a way in there must be a way out😱

@lightclock I'm really sorry for laughing out loud at the first "burn the house down" comment. It was pretty funny, but some of us on this thread have been insensitive about your genuine fear. Apologies x

British house spiders, I just let them go on their way, even if I spot a hefty one warily tippy-toeing across the carpet near me when I'm reading in bed. I don't think they mean us any harm, and there's no way on earth we're all chowing down on spiders while we sleep as scaremongers say.

Wasps and bees, on the other hand, turn me into a wafting, flailing, spectacle (mocked by friends) because I have a mild-ish but still unpleasant allergic reaction to bee stings. Slugs: harmless to me, but I'm gagging and retching at the sight of them, even thinking about them.

Cats are fantastic spider-hunters and spider-eaters, but of course that's a big commitment.

I'd go with a big, large diameter glass (not an opaque mug) and a large, stiff postcard plenty bigger than the glass. Hold the card tight under the glass, transport the spider into the garden. If it's nighttime and you have a good large glass, leave the spider under it until it's daylight, so it's less scary for you.

You’re talking here as though all therapy is effective. That’s really not the case. It isn’t some sort of magic pill.

I have several spiders in my house. They each have their own space and have been there a week or so at least. Ive given them all names. When they move out I'll get some new ones move in.

Buy a spider catcher. Then transfer outside.

My children are adults and not scared of spiders.

Masking tape wouldn’t keep a dragon out!! In fact I don’t think anything would … maybe a steel door?

🤣🤣🤣

This is a myth btw

You should seek help for your phobias, there's plenty available. I have no sympathy for people that have phobias yet don't seek treatment. That makes it appear they somehow get some kind of positive feelings from their phobia, maybe it makes them feel special in some way.

If people have a mental illness, which a phobia is, they should seek help as they would do if they had depression or anxiety. I'd have no sympathy for people who didn't seek help for that either.

I do think that a lot of phobias are learned behaviour and people don't try hard enough to overcome them.

Nuke it from space. Just to be certain.

I think snakes are beautiful. I've held lots as neighbour keeps them. Wasps don't bother me, I waft them away. If I was allergic to them I'd carry an EpiPen like a relative does.

I suggest you have therapy as has been suggested above to others if you're unable to look at a picture of a spider. I hope you don't show this irrational fear in front of any children you may have.

You're being sensible OP, cant risk a bite and have to be Spiderman after your teens

What’s pathetic is you being completely devoid of any empathy or understanding of phobia’s.

Just because YOU don’t get frightened by them, doesn’t mean that other people are the same as you. Good for you, you’re not afraid of spiders. Have a gold star 🙄

Often phobia’s are irrational and you can’t just suddenly overcome your fear of something, just because some random on the internet tells you to ‘get a grip’.

Get off your high horse.

🤣🤣🤣

That’s just it now, you have, effectively a time capsule.
did you use that room much?
id call the estate agents and market the house. (Or actually get them round to view and get them to get rid of it)
I had a health visitor catch a bird that had got into my kitchen once. when she was visiting me and my newborn.
im normally fine with birds l, they somehow always ended up inside my house…but on this occasion I actually went to shit. I’ll forever be grateful to that lady …
in short get someone sympathetic round to help deal with it or move out.