If you have done the friendly spider course at London zoo

[JanewaysBun]

Hello all

I'm planning to book on London zoo's friendly spider programme when ticketing 'reopens in November.

If anyone has already done it may i please ask:

1. How much time is spent on handling house spiders? I want to learn to be confident doing the paper and glass method of removal however from the website there only seems to be about 1 hr devoted to this?

1. How good is the hypnotherapy? Tbj I'm a bit sceptic about this in general so not sure why it's the main component of the day.

Im actually getting better with spider and generally let them be but the big ones that run around need to be evicted!

I’m googling to see if they do something similar near me. It’s that time of year when, after I’ve turned the lights out, I have to keep turning it back on to check nothing has crawled out of its hiding place. They fill me with terror.

I could only find this from ages ago

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/1307540-Curing-fear-of-spiders

Just the thought of this terrifies me and how do you do the paper and glass thing when the creature is high up on a wall with a massive piece of furniture in front of it. Is there another way, like brain bleaching or something?

This year I have progressed to not freak out, but I have a big spider in my shower that I don't want to kill and can't move either. So I've decided I'm happy its living there but means I can't use my en suite shower anymore. I need someone to intervene

@Doingtheboxerbeat ,
This may be of use to you , I haven't tried it but the reviews are good (and funny )

And now with the link
www.amazon.co.uk/Spider-Catcher-Extra-Long-Green/dp/B079P5HYSF?th=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

@AlCalavicci, oh thank you, just reading the reviews and they are so so funny. Makes you feel like a proper fanny, how something so small can mess with the highest of the food chain. Absolutely pathetic .

If you buy one I hope you post a funny review too

Ah thanks @pinkshrimp
Haha @doingtheboxerbeat I would also be up for that if they offered it - and it sounds less stressful lol.

I actually have one of those spider archer things although yet to use it. I have 2x toddlers and want thrm to grow up free of this horrible fear so feel I should Do it soon!

The exposure part of the afternoon goes on and on for as long as needed and most people complete it all the way through to the tarantula stage. I’ve done it twice, once for me and once to accompany a child. It was absolutely life changing, my phobia was at the more severe end of the scale as are most people who go on the course tbh. There’s a lot of psychoeducation first then the hypnosis then graded exposure (starting with a teeny tiny spider and working up at your own pace).

I can still have a moderate return to feeling scared if I’m very tired or stressed when I encounter a massive one unexpectedly but 99.9% cured. I certainly don’t run outside screaming for help anymore 😅😳 I can almost always handle it myself. One unexpected bonus side effect is that I rarely see spiders anymore, I think the hypnosis switched off that hyper vigilant thing where I could literally see them in the dark. I’d sense them, switch a light on and there it would be. I just don’t notice them at all now. It’s the best thing ever.

Oh that's great to hear! I would love to see a massive house spider and not care. Also interesting about the not looking for them. If I see one in one place and it disappears my brain imprints the use a of a spider being there every time