I Hate Spiders

[Machiavelli]

Okay, I really hate spiders.

I hate them and I'm deathly terrified of them. It's my one true fear, and it's almost crippling.

I've killed maybe 4 in my entire life, and each time was a battle, filled with blood, sweat, and tears.

Okay, maybe not blood. Other than the spider's......

The only reason why I even killed them was because I was the only person around. I have woken up siblings, parents, and roommates to help me kill spiders before. I would seriously ask my neighbors to as well if the spider was scary-looking enough.

Anyways, after I kill them I hyperventilate and shake for about 10 minutes.

It's the way they look. It's the way they move. It's the way there's a tiny chance that it's one that could kill you.

So, this thread was brought on by .... you guessed it, the invasion of my room by one of these disgusting vile creatures.

Three days ago, I had a random dream that a spider got into my room and I had to kill it. Nothing provoked this dream. I hadn't seen a spider in ages, wasn't thinking about spiders before going to bed, nothing.

The morning following the dream, what happens to crawl across the wall in front of my desk but a spider. No joke, swear to god.

So, my usual approach to killing spiders is to spray them with RAID, air freshener, whatever chemical I have on hand basically, so that I won't physically have to squash it.

Then I use wads and wads of paper towel, dispose of the body and paper towel in a bag, and then throw the bag in a garbage can as far away from my room as possible.

Anyone else have an intense arachnophobia like mine?

[hakani]

I wasn't creeped out by spiders until this...

[V]

I have a horrible arachnophobia, just like yours. I've found that the best way to deal with spiders is the vacuum cleaner. As long as the handle of the cleaner is a long distance from the business end.

[flylock shox]

Have you considered harnessing the fear you have of spiders and directing it towards crime fighting - using it as a symbol to inspire fear in the hearts of evil-doers?

Seriously, I think the only way you can ever really overcome a fear like that is to confront it. I used to be really frightened of bears (not that I'd ever come across a bear, but the prospect of seeing a bear or pack of bears just terrified me when I went camping). Then, one day, I actually DID come across a bear. I didn't know what to do, so I instinctively just started screaming at it. I kept on screaming and shouting and swearing at it, and it actually ran away from me! Since that day I'm no longer frightened of bears.

I'm also no longer allowed at the zoo, but it was worth it.

[Momo]

Have you considered a Spider Catcher? Apparently it works quite well, and you don't have to kill the thing either.

[MoneyGuy]

Are you guys serious? Spiders? Aside from the poisonious variety, they can't hurt anyone. I pick 'em up and throw them in the toiler and flush.

[algernon]

I seem to get bit in the abdomen quite often, usually while sleeping. Is this normal? I think the welts are spider-bites, as there are usually two tiny holes in the area. I used to be scared of all spiders, now just the Brown recluse, whose venom apparently leaves symptoms similar to flesh eating disease....*shudder*

[Jayems]

They usually lay their eggs inside you when you're sleeping and won't notice.

Sleep tight.

[Resolute 14]

I have no similar phobias, but my mom has ophidiophobia. It's funny.... even pictures of snakes on TV cause her to bail from the area.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Jayems

They usually lay their eggs inside you when you're sleeping and won't notice.

Sleep tight.

CP certainly is not the place to expect sympathy....

[Azure]

You know its your time....when....

[Jiggy_12]

I hate spiders too. They are near the top of my list of fears/hates, right next to oceans and eyeballs.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

CP certainly is not the place to expect sympathy....

I actually meant to add a emotiocon to show I wasn't serious... but I forgot.

[Dion]

nm

[photon]

I hate most bugs, not just spiders. Spiders actually lower than most, it's the flying ones I really really hate.

Not quite this level of phobia though. I know someone who has this level of phobia of snakes though.. once we were in Wal Mart and they had one of those big bins full of stuffed snakes, she was beside it when she realized what it was and she literally shrieked and ran.

If she ever had a real snake on her I'm positive she'd either pass out from anxiety or have a stroke.

[Sainters7]

I always had a wicked case of arachnophobia. I moved to B.C. in 2004 for a couple years and since coming back its gotten alot better. After seeing the massive ones out there(a wolf spider actually got into my bed. Its roughly the size of a tarantula), coming back here and seeing the wimpy ones isn't so bad anymore. I still definitely have it though.

Anyone seen the crispy badger's avy on here, which is a picture of a girl shoving a massive spider into her mouth? Every time I see it I have to quickly scroll down or get out of the thread. I avoid his posts at all cost.

EDIT: you guys havent seen spiders until youve been somewhere with a damp, warm climate like BC. That wolf spider in my room? I ran upstairs and my roomate's visiting hick cousin got it. He put a rye glass over it to contain it. It was so big that its legs crumpled and squished against him inside the rye glass. Ughhhhh....

[Dion]

These camel spiders would scare the bejeezus out of anyone.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by Dion

These camel spiders would scare the bejeezus out of anyone.

I'd have a new army issued cot and blankets every night if I knew those were in the sand beneath me.

[Kjesse]

I used to be afraid of spiders, but not so much anymore.

When I went to UVic, I rented a basement suite in a house. In the bedroom, the bottom half of one wall was styrofoam instead of drywall for some reason.

That's where the head portion of my futon was.

One night, I could swear I could hear intermittent "rustling" on the styrofoam. At first I thought I was hearing things, then I realized it was real.

I jumped out of bed, went across the room, and turned on my light. I have bad eyesight and didn't have my glasses on, but there was no mistaking it... it was a spider a little smaller than my hand, on the strofoam right by where my head was.... I was freaked out.

I didn't know how to get rid of it, it was too thick to use paper towel, the squishing would have been too much.

So I grabbed a bowl, and a piece of construction paper. Trapped it with the bowl, then slid the paper between the wall and the bowl to pull the spider off the wall. Then to the toilet, shook the bowl so the spider wouldn't scurry out, dropped the spider into the toilet, and flush! Victory!

Didn't sleep all night after that, but strangely, since coming back to Calgary, spiders don't bother me any more.

[jammies]

I remember I was at a gas station once and this girl asked me, a perfect stranger, to kill a spider in her car for her as otherwise she wasn't getting back into it. She told me if she had seen it somewhere where she couldn't have pulled over right away and jumped out of the car, she probably would have crashed it.

I even had to minutely check the vehicle after killing the thing to be sure it didn't have any buddies, she was that scared. Usually I'd find the urge to mock someone like that irresistable, but she was clearly completely wigged and I just shut up and squashed 'em.