Scary thought about spiders...

[MinionZombie]

*shudder* spiders in your clothes ... I remember when I was a kid I put my dressing gown on (it was manly blue though, grrr) and went sauntering off downstairs and little did I know but there was a massive house spider hanging out on my back. My Dad swiped it off and for months and months afterwards I'd drag said item of clothing from my room, chuck it over the banister so it crash landed downstairs - just to make sure there were no nasties in it. As I've said here already I'm an arachnophobe. I remember reading somewhere before that the phobia usually starts at a very early age, probably being in your cot (crib) as a baby and a spider gets in and you as a little baby have no idea what's going on and you forever associate spiders at a subconscious level with that first "meeting". The fast paced scuttling makes a sufferer think they're "after you" for instance. *shudders* Goddamn spiders, get rid of them all I say, I'll gladly flyswat all the flies left over!

[AcesandEights]

Man, I saw a HUGE spider, the kind with fangs you can see on casual inspection, in my apartment the other day and it was on the lower portion of a wall with a a low end table between me and it. With it being so close to the floor and having the furniture partially in the way it was in a very awkward situation for me to attempt a kill shot on it. It seemed to be struggling to pull its vast bulk upwards on the wall, but that may have been my imagination. Anyway, I didn't want to try and reach back to kill it because that would necessitate me getting down to carpet level and closing for the kill. I mean, what if I missed? What if the spider is a jumper? I reconoitered my surroundings and came up with a compromise...death by broom. In the end, I don't know if I killed it or not. Even now, it could be watching me. Or worse, laying eggs in it's web somewhere in my home, out of my line of sight!!!

[BUTCHYPIE]

In the end, I don't know if I killed it or not. Even now, it could be watching me. Or worse, laying eggs in it's web somewhere in my home, out of my line of sight!!! Sounds like you spider killers are going to up the Darwinistic ante here, and make a new generation of revenge-seeking spiderlets... Actually, I'm not scared of creepy crawlies. I've had to rescue people from spiders all my life. I've been bitten by 8-and-6-leggers a few times, when moving wood piles or camping, but I've had a lot more bites from mosquitos and ants in that amount of time. No damage from either. My question for you arachnaphobes is why is a zombie spider scarier than a living spider -- to qualify, I mean an aggressive species (or highly defensive and dangerous species, like the Brown Recluse). Aren't zombie spiders just like regular spiders? But in the spider train of thought... I remember the scene in Fulci's The Beyond, where a guy gets his eyes and lips pulled off by spiders... Were there zombie spiders in Brian Keene's The Rising? I can't remember. I can't think of another zombie reference... Anyone else? -

[Debbieangel]

Man, I saw a HUGE spider, the kind with fangs you can see on casual inspection, in my apartment the other day and it was on the lower portion of a wall with a a low end table between me and it. With it being so close to the floor and having the furniture partially in the way it was in a very awkward situation for me to attempt a kill shot on it. It seemed to be struggling to pull its vast bulk upwards on the wall, but that may have been my imagination. Anyway, I didn't want to try and reach back to kill it because that would necessitate me getting down to carpet level and closing for the kill. I mean, what if I missed? What if the spider is a jumper? I reconoitered my surroundings and came up with a compromise...death by broom. In the end, I don't know if I killed it or not. Even now, it could be watching me. Or worse, laying eggs in it's web somewhere in my home, out of my line of sight!!! ewwwww....Years ago I had my first experience with a jumping spider..I never knew they jumped, I was cleaning under my bed and this big black one jumped at me...my husband was working nightshift and h is little brother was living with us at the time..I actually woke home up to kill the jumping spider I was soo scared of...so now I am scared of all kinds..well the little itty bitty ones not so much but the bigger they are the more the fear I have .

[Danny]

ewwwww....Years ago I had my first experience with a jumping spider..I never knew they jumped, I was cleaning under my bed and this big black one jumped at me...my husband was working nightshift and h is little brother was living with us at the time..I actually woke home up to kill the jumping spider I was soo scared of...so now I am scared of all kinds..well the little itty bitty ones not so much but the bigger they are the more the fear I have . actually i have no problem with stuff like tarantulas, they seem more like pets, if you can de fang em and see they have fur then its a pet not a pest. its those little mother****ers that can crawl down your throught while you sleep and lay eggs in your brain that get me runnng for the hills screaming bloody murder.

[MinionZombie]

Pets shouldn't have more than 4 legs, lol ... and be more like gerbils or bunnies, not satan's best mates. Debbie - aye, same here, the bigger they are the more scared of them I am. Ickle-bodied spindly losers I can deal with (but I don't want them ON me still!), when the legs/body are clear to the naked eye from 6 feet then I'm going all goose bumpy and touching cloth.

[MikePizzoff]

About 4 or 5 years ago we were all drinking over a friends house that has a pet tarantula. Because I was slightly drunk I figured I'd be brave and let the gigantic seventy pound spider crawl up my arm. It wasn't bad at first but I started to freak out once I realized I could actually FEEL its breath on my arm. I believe I used the line "Somebody better get this ****ing thing before I throw it!"

[AcesandEights]

70 POUNDS!?!? AND you could feeling it breathing on you?!?!?!

[MikePizzoff]

70 POUNDS!?!? AND you could feeling it breathing on you?!?!?! hahahahaha not quite 70 pounds. Probably about just under A pound. Regardless, it was HUGE!

[AcesandEights]

I thought you might have meant **GULP** 7 pounds, which would have been bad enough

[MikePizzoff]

I thought you might have meant **GULP** 7 pounds, which would have been bad enough I don't think any spider can weigh that much. I think over a pound is probably a little rediculous.

[MinionZombie]

Still though - feeling it BREATHE on you, damn! Even if I was drunk I'd never go near a spider in a million years, and if I passed out and somebody f*cked with me with one I'd bust some skulls when I woke up again...*shudders* frickin' EWWW!

[Shemp]

The most common lethal eight-legged nasty we have in Northern California is the good ol' Black Widow. A VERY common spider here, I've seen them on the outside of my apartment complex. The last one I saw was a week ago while I was on a hike (it was hanging out under a wooden bench). Luckily, they're really shy and most people that get bit were probably teasing them. They aren't huge, but their bite packs a wallop, I'm told (severe abdominal cramps, sweating, weakened pulse, but only rarely death). Their webs are a tangled mess, but really strong. I read somehwere that widow's webs are used for the cross-hairs in rifle scopes., being the strongest known workable material relative to their thin-ness. When I was in 6th grade, a buddy and I caught one on the schoolyard and put inside an empty terrarium in the classroom. I think either the principal or the teacher found out and told us in no uncertain terms to "get that damn thing out of this classroom!"

[Danny]

and dont ask me how but becuase of the heat my house is overrun by those bastard ones that are like a round ball with 7 legs, there the worst they dont even look like bugs there frikkin' evil man!

[MikePizzoff]

The most common lethal eight-legged nasty we have in Northern California is the good ol' Black Widow. A VERY common spider here, I've seen them on the outside of my apartment complex. The last one I saw was a week ago while I was on a hike (it was hanging out under a wooden bench). Luckily, they're really shy and most people that get bit were probably teasing them. They aren't huge, but their bite packs a wallop, I'm told (severe abdominal cramps, sweating, weakened pulse, but only rarely death). Their webs are a tangled mess, but really strong. I read somehwere that widow's webs are used for the cross-hairs in rifle scopes., being the strongest known workable material relative to their thin-ness. When I was in 6th grade, a buddy and I caught one on the schoolyard and put inside an empty terrarium in the classroom. I think either the principal or the teacher found out and told us in no uncertain terms to "get that damn thing out of this classroom!" Contrary to popular belief, black widows (statistically) only kill 5% of the people they bite. I also just learned that they can be found world-wide. I always thought they were strictly located on the East Coast.