Spiders

[bellalou1234]

Help I’m so scared of them. I have moved into my own flat following a break up of a 17 year relationship. I can’t cope with them. Just came in from a 13 hour shift to be greeted by a bloody tarantula I’m shaking. Any tips to keep them out.

Yeh I've just looked it up to confirm: it's all in the web. They have messy complicated webs that are easy to ensnare much bigger prey in. When they've sufficiently wrapped it up /caused it to become tangled, they then deliver the venom. (I'm surprised something that skinny has the power in their venom to kill a much bigger spider. But I won't ask to many questions - they can carry on as they are 😁)

Please could someone explain to me what the aversion to spiders is all about? They're not dangerous in any way (in the UK) and they're not disgusting like, say, maggots, nor do they spread disease as far as I know.

I'd genuinely like to know because I don't understand it at all. Or is it not possible to explain it logically?

I can completely emphasise, I'm absolutely terrified of them. Luckily I have a small army of friends who come to help me get rid of them. Had to get a friend round at 10pm one night last week and he had to sit with me after cause I was so shaken up.

Last year I had one crawl over me and I moved out for 2 weeks and didn't come back till the pest controller had been and had a full deep clean from a cleaner who was fine with spiders. She was really lovely and didn't judge the fear.

My handyman is coming tomorrow and one of the things I'll be discussing is ways he can hopefully help me with spider proofing my place even more 🙈

I'm doing the friendly spider course at London zoo soon and I'm really really praying it helps me even slightly.

Thanks @SquishedMallow, most interesting and quite grim at the same time. Still, if they’re wrapping up and eating the big buggers then I’m all for it!

Oh they’re in London, trust me!

We get them every year, they unfortunately tend to congregate in DDs room. Many years ago there was an absolutely huge one under her pillow when I made her bed.

The peppermint spray comes out now.

I've just arrived back from holiday and am dying for a long sleep but cant forget that just before I left there was a massive spider in my bedroom that I failed to catch! I am sure he is in here somewhere waiting for me.

What is the Indorex spray? I'll try anything but the one I am finding when I google says it is a flea spray?

I'm the same @bellalou1234 and also live alone. I now keep all doors and windows shut in August and September (read that last year and it was the first year without the bastardy monsters marching in). I also allow a cellar spider to take up residence in each room. I don't like them but I'd rather have those eating the big ones instead of me having to deal with them. They just stay in one spot and don't move about.

My terrier is rubbish btw. My last one was too!

I did have a big one in July which caught me out for being early but it disappeared under the bath and I know that's where a cellar spider lives. Never saw it again!

The vary nature of phobias is that they're irrational. its different to a fear.

This is what I can tell you about my (irrational) phobia of particular spiders :

-an excessive of legs mixed with speed
-coupled with unpredictability (in their movements)
-the way their bodies are on the floor and their legs raised off the ground (house spiders) looks menacing and aggressive
-the dark colour of them looks menacing/spooky
-the "suprise" element. They just appear by open doors, on ceilings, on skirting boards, above your head with no prior warning
-its a very real visceral 'repulsion/disgust/terror' it's an autonomic response that I literally have very very little control of.

Just to add : I am not scared they'll hurt me. It's not about coming to harm from them. It's a total misconception that it's rooted in fear of being harmed.

I think it’s the way the big ones move and scuttle across your hand unexpectedly. Also horrible if you walk through a web and get one ON YOUR FACE 😱😱

Other than those 2 scenarios I reckon they’re ok. I had a false widow on my ceiling for months who did no harm. I called him Maurice.

Also, if you can bear it, watch this cartoon, Simons Cat. It makes me cringe and laugh at the same time! It's just a black and white line animation

The problem you're having is you're trying to rationalise something us phobics are aware is irrational.

you wouldn't ask someone with OCD why they keep tapping the door 7 times before they go out because it won't have any effect on whether their children die ?

I'm not critisising your question by the way. But attempting to explain. You can't rationalise the irrational.

To be fair, I'm utterly perplexed that anyone can look at a big black spider and not feel any visceral reaction.

My husband isn't phobic and he's totally at one with creepy crawlies and other insects and animals. But even he admits he feels a bit creeped out when they are in his hand when he's getting them out. I know he doesn't particularly 'like' them. And thats a non phobic person.

Seen a long legs spider wrap up a chunky with its web, holding the chunky away from its body. Once bound, the long legs moved in for a bite.
Also, I vacuum spiders and never had one survive or jump out. They suffocate in the dusty bag if they aren't ripped apart by the vacuuming. It is me or them.

I have always felt bad for being so scared of them solely because of their appearance and I know it's my problem, but the idea that they run to us for protection is both heartbreaking and terrifying.

That's the definition of design flaw.

My mum uses Zero spray around the door and window frames and says it works. I came home from 10 days away recently to find lots of really big ones in the laundry room. Two in the washing machine (!) which I managed to safely get out with a long duster, one in the sink and another scuttling along the floor.

You've just perfectly described why they scare me. It's not that we know they are going to hurt us, but it's really how ugly they are. I've ordered an Amazon spider catcher today. I just hope I'm going to have the guts to use it.

I thought the poster @spidersareshitheads would make an appearance on the thread 😆 🤣

I love how pp are mentioning cellar spiders! Probably about to jinx myself but I haven't seen any other spider in here since I started leaving them be (I'm talking actual years since seeing a giant house spider!)
I hate the thought of people killing them, though I do get it. I have my windows open all day everyday, cellar spiders are the best pest control for everything!

Also, there's an amazing group on Facebook... Can't recall the name and not on it anymore but... British Spider Identification Group... It's something like that. That group has helped alot of people learn more about spiders and helped to calm people that have phobias of them. Joining won't keep spiders out of your house obviously but... You'll soon learn the actual names of the ones evicting you from your own home 😁

Good luck 🍀 with the catcher! Worth a shot.

Yes you're right they are incredibly 'ugly' unfortunately, coupled with darkness and speed.

If they were 'hot pink ' I don't think the fear would be anywhere near as intense. There is something about the dark colour of them that amplifies it. I think it just adds to the creepiness/sinister look.

I'm on it and can confirm it is helpful to some degree. I can't lie and say it's cured my phobia though 😬

They do seem to be coming out from under the floor boards but I have 2 cats that make short work of them unless I'm quick enough catch them first and 'humanely throw them out the window' 😳. Cats are definitely the solution if you can have pets.

I don't have a phobia but hate how they just appear from nowhere and run across the floor at 100mph.

Ps I really want to pop for a quick vape before I sleep , but this thread has put me off getting out of bed in case I encounter a spider 🕷️ 🕸️ 😬

Am I the only one that's got raging spider 🕷️ 🕸️ paranoia now ? 🙈

It is flea spray but it works on spiders too! I remember flea spraying the house with it years ago when my cat had fleas i moved the sofa a few weeks later to hoover and there was a huge spider corpse in the middle 🤢

Oh yes the dark colour. Small head with those legs. I walked into my lounge, yesterday and spotted a big one clinging onto the wall. Of course, you naturally scream. I had to call my friend over to take it out. He put a glass over it and let it out. They make me heave. I found two massive ones in my kitchen sink on separate occasions, when I lifted the bowl out of sink 🤢 I've put sellotape over the vent holes 😆 🤣 and pour vinegar now around under plug to deter them. I do get fed up of said friend saying "they won't hurt you". I bloody know that but it's just the look of them and how they quickly scuttle along the floor x

😆 even the name spider is ugly!