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Original poster

Spiders, tarantulas and millipedes!

54 replies

Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 08:45

Ok tell me i'm being stupid and to get over it.

I have a real phobia of spiders and generally don't like any insects in my house.
I woke this morning to see a millipede/centipede wriggling accross the ceiling above my bed. so got up pretty promptly, wishing i could scoop it up in a tissue and throw it (but i can't bear to) cos i know when i go to bed tonight i'll need dp to inspect every inch of the room for me

Then i get downstairs and find a dead (thank god!) tarantula by the back door (ok not a tarantula but the biggest spider ever). luckily dd loves spiders and thinks i do to, so i said oh look theres a spider why don't you put him in the garden to find his friends! she did and i am soooo glad she did.

Now i'm sitting at the table on pc with my feet up, because there is another big spider on the ceiling and i have to keep my feet up in case he drops on the floor and gets me!

Oh please its made me feel like crying writing all of this down but i am so genuinely terrified of these stupid creatures why do they all come in my house??? dd is watching tv and i want to get ready so we can go out, but too scared to look in shower in case theres another one there

sorry this is so long! help me!

OP posts:
kid · 02/09/2005 09:28

I'm in Hackney but no i don't fancy coming and doing it for you, I hate the things!!!

triceratops · 02/09/2005 09:28

Did you watch the "house of obsessive compulsives" on the telly. It was about three people with severe phobias like agrophobia and fear of touching people.

They used a form of behavioural therapy which seemed to revolve around facing your fear. They made the cleanliness woman touch a toilet and then eat crisps etc.

You said that you were better with spiders after you had touched a tarantula Hattie. I think the only way that you are going to get over this is if you pick up a few spiders a day and poke a centipede.

I have a phobia of flies so that I had to use the vacuum to pick up their corpses from the window sill. Dh was concerned that I would pass on my phobia to ds so I force myself to pick them up with my fingers and put them in the bin. I am quite cool with it now.

kid · 02/09/2005 09:29

Where are you and how big is it?

Original poster
Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 09:30

Yes i saw that tricertops and likened lots of things to myself

I know it will and did help to touch a tarantula, but omg i'm not in any frame of mind to do that right now. thankfully dd doesn't have a clue.

She saw me looking at it, so i said look at that spider watching us and she laughed and that was that!

OP posts:
Hulababy · 02/09/2005 09:31

Broom? Knock it tot he floor? Are you mad?!?! It'd run. It'll hide. It's not my house or my spider, but I feel sick witht he thought. Think I should leave this thread before I terrify me with the mere thoughts!!!

Original poster
Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 09:32

LOL kid, i wouldn't make you do it!

But i'm in se london and its not the biggest, but it is the blackest with fat legs. Its body is the size of a raisin and legs span to as big as a 10p.

OP posts:
kid · 02/09/2005 09:34

I am very scared of spiders, I can't stand to be in the same room as them. I have managed to hide my fear from my kids until recently.

The reason they found out was DS (3.5) came in from the garden holding something. He put his hand right under my nose and said look what I found. I almost fell off the chair!
It turned out to be a woodlouse or something but I almost had a heart attack which DS thought was hilarious. He then spent the next few days saying 'mummy, theres a spider on your back!'

The reason I say to catch it, is because if he goes off for a walk, where will he turn up next?

Original poster
Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 09:35

Its nothing compared to the dead one that dd through out the back door. That means i can't do any washing today as can't get in garden to hang it out!

OP posts:
Original poster
Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 09:36

I know kid, but i just can't do it. i'm going shopping and then to a friends, by which time my own personal spider catcher will be home! oh the relief!

OP posts:
Original poster
Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 09:38

Right, thank you all for your support! I am going to brave it in the shower now, and then get dressed really quickly in the bedroom before the millipede gets me and then get out of the house!

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triceratops · 02/09/2005 09:39

Just be glad we don't live in a country where the spiders are poisonous. The worst they can do is to stamp on you really hard .

But seriously - by dwelling on the issue you will feeding your phobia. Go and do something else instead to take your mind off it until you are ready to deal with it.

suedonim · 02/09/2005 20:02

Did you survive, Hattie?? I'm spder-phobic too and could not* resist opening this thread and reading it. I hate the b+gg+rs, I really do. We've had some monsters in recently, boohoo. If dh is away I have to vacuum them up and then leave the vacuum running for ages and ages. And now we're going to be living in Africa, I'm blinkin' terrified, arrrgh!

PS I know people say spders eat flies but I've never, ever, ever, ever witnessed such an event so I think it's all spder propaganda.

Original poster
Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 20:51

Hi Suedonim,thanks for asking but no you would not believe how my day turned out!!! i have surely had my years worth of bugs today.

Got home this evening, went to put the rubbish out for the dustman tomorrow, only to discover one of the black bags was riddled with maggots!!!! and i nearly touched them!!!!
THEN

I cooked us a delicous dinner, chicken and broccoli cheesy bake. All enjoyed it very much. As we were coming to the end i noticed an unusual object in my dinner and asked dp what it was. He inspected it and looked worried. We both laughed and went no it can't be, it must be a bit of chicken. Then gave it full inspection under kitchen lights and it is/was a caterpillar!!!!!!!!! OMG i cooked and nearly ate a caterpillar. Who knows if there were others that i had already eaten.
It so is a caterpillar, you can see its head, its legs, those funny spots they have down the side of its body and hair.
I don't think i want to buy organic broccoli anymore .

I never wash brocolli (do other veg) but always think broccoli will just fall apart, and assume that anything will come off when its boiled . Didn't this time!

Good grief what a day! And still gotta check the bed for millipedes before i get to sleep tonight! Thank goodness the spider was still on the ceiling so dp has removed that for me.

OP posts:
Original poster
Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 20:52

To whoever said exclamation marks were unnecessary, don't you agree they are necessary on this thread?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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suedonim · 02/09/2005 21:51

Oh my, what a day you've had!!! And, yes, exclamation marks are really the only punctuation to use when discussing this subject!!!!!!!! It's the equivalent of my hair standing up on end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Health Warning!! This story about a huge centipede behind a telly is truly arrrrgggghhh!!!!!!!

Original poster
Hattie05 · 02/09/2005 21:55

OMG!!!!!!!

I so wish i hadn't clicked on that link.

uggggh

i can't sleep tonight. we have holes in our bedroom ceiling where light fittings used to be, that is where the millipedes come from! what if theres a giant one lurking up there?

OP posts:
kid · 02/09/2005 22:14

I've clicked on that link, just waiting for it to load, am I mad to view it?

kid · 02/09/2005 22:15

Oh no, thats horrible, I live very near to Islington, glad I didn't find it in my house!

jamiesam · 02/09/2005 22:21

God, that looks like it has big teeth!

Personally, I find the only way to be brave about British creepy-crawlies is to come across them in front of the boys. I picked up a worm off our tent the other day - yuuuuuuuuuccccccckkkkk! and casually threw it onto the grass, like it was the most normal thing in the world to do. If just me, I would of squeaked and hopped from one foot to the other...

kid · 02/09/2005 22:31

I developed a fear of worms after I stepped on one and it squelched under my foot. Have you ever noticed how many worms are on the pavement after it has rained?

If I find one in the garden, I flick them away with a spade. I wouldn't say I was scared of them, just don't want to touch one!

jamiesam · 02/09/2005 22:33

Ugh, it's slugs and snails round here after it rains. Hate that feeling (or even worse sound) that you've just stood on one.

NannyL · 03/09/2005 00:30

all i can say is i know eactly how you feel...

OMG i so HATE those creatures... spiders especailly

myturn · 03/09/2005 00:32

DADDY LONG LEGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cas73 · 03/09/2005 22:32

I've been reading this thread and was feeling quite lucky that I haven't found any big spiders this year, and just a minute ago, dh found the HUGEST spider running up the living room curtains!!! He put it in a glass to take outside, and I couldn't even go past him (it) to open the door!!!
Now I'll be worrying for the next fortnight. (They always come in three's: mum, dad and baby - unfortunately not very small baby....)

suedonim · 04/09/2005 13:10

Eurrgghh! Glad your dh caught it. My dh suddenly leapt across the room at lightening speed last night and walloped the ground with his shoe - a monster eight-legged thingy was marching towards us. And this pm we're going to clear out the garage - I'm terrified of what might be lurking in there.....