Meanwhile..here in Australia

[Zimba]

Today I was walking around in my house when I saw something and had a heart attack..a spider. I realized it was a mother so I took a quick photo (mainly to show and creep out Nahla yes she my real life friend) I grabbed a cup and tried to trap it and it starting dropping little baby spiders......it honestly looked like it was pooping mini spiders...sadly this is a common thing here in Australia... I shall tell you about more of my spider or snake encounters if they happened..which is actually an everyday thing in this part of the country...Australia...you scary.

Oh if you easily get creeped  out,turn away now

Here the picture...I warned you

[Nahla]

*Shudder* Nature must like testing my sanity.

Welcome to Australia

[Malte279]

I sometimes wonder where the far spread extreme fear of spiders is comming from. Don't get me wrong, if I saw a spider like this in the picture (or even most smaller kinds) crawl up my arm I'd likely throw an insane fit until I got it away, but there is no good explanation why I would do this. Generally spiders are a very fascinating design of nature, there is a degree of elegance to their movements with their eight feet. They can even be beneficial organisms to humans by taking out some of the mosquitos which we usually don't fear nearly as much (in spite of the fact that most likely infinitely more humans suffered from diseases transmitted by mosquito bites than suffered from the bite of a toxic spider). So where is that fear comming from?
Is it a kind of natural instinct? If so, then what is that instinct based on? Moreover in some cultures the fear of spiders doesn't exist at all and I don't think babies who are confronted with them are usually creeped out by spiders.
So are we somehow brought up to fear spiders? Neither of my parents is any more creeped out by spiders than I am. In fact my father would allow for a Tarantula to crawl up his arm and it was not much of a "test of courage" or anything like that for him. My dad always tought me respect and a fascination for animals which would creep out some others. So really, why is it that same as the huge majority of people I'd be freaked out by touching a spider? It is not like the sight of a spider would send me running and screaming and same as you Zimba I'd always trap a spider in a glass to set it outside rather than killing it or anything, but still the thought of touching it gives me the shudders; I just don't know why. Unlike people in Australia we don't even have the excuse of any spiders over here in Germany being particularly large nor are there any significantly toxic spiders over here. I really wonder what causes the far spread of arachnophobia (fear of spiders) that is not a new development either, but documented even in ancient times.

[Nahla]

I have arachnophobia so anything like spiders,scorpions etc scare the daylights out of me. For me it because when I was about 3 I was actually bitten by a red-back spider,that memory and the fear is still with me,,I was okay though since I got antivenom pretty fast and it actually very rare to die from a red-back bite since they bought out the antivenom,but still I'll never get over that fear. I'm 17 now so that was 14 years ago and I still remember how scared I was,even a tiny baby one sends me into a panic.

[bushwacked]

I sometimes wonder where the far spread extreme fear of spiders is comming from. Don't get me wrong, if I saw a spider like this in the picture (or even most smaller kinds) crawl up my arm I'd likely throw an insane fit until I got it away, but there is no good explanation why I would do this. Generally spiders are a very fascinating design of nature, there is a degree of elegance to their movements with their eight feet. They can even be beneficial organisms to humans by taking out some of the mosquitos which we usually don't fear nearly as much (in spite of the fact that most likely infinitely more humans suffered from diseases transmitted by mosquito bites than suffered from the bite of a toxic spider). So where is that fear comming from?
Is it a kind of natural instinct? If so, then what is that instinct based on? Moreover in some cultures the fear of spiders doesn't exist at all and I don't think babies who are confronted with them are usually creeped out by spiders.
So are we somehow brought up to fear spiders? Neither of my parents is any more creeped out by spiders than I am. In fact my father would allow for a Tarantula to crawl up his arm and it was not much of a "test of courage" or anything like that for him. My dad always tought me respect and a fascination for animals which would creep out some others. So really, why is it that same as the huge majority of people I'd be freaked out by touching a spider? It is not like the sight of a spider would send me running and screaming and same as you Zimba I'd always trap a spider in a glass to set it outside rather than killing it or anything, but still the thought of touching it gives me the shudders; I just don't know why. Unlike people in Australia we don't even have the excuse of any spiders over here in Germany being particularly large nor are there any significantly toxic spiders over here. I really wonder what causes the far spread of arachnophobia (fear of spiders) that is not a new development either, but documented even in ancient times.

That's an interesting question, I've never really thought about it. Could it be because of an ingrained fear of the danger they might represent, which has been passed down from long ago - but as time passed and they became less of a threat, due to us living inside etc, it's just started to fade from us? Of course I could just be talking from you-know-where.

 I suppose it's a similar situation with snakes.

[jansenov]

I wouldn't know. I'm not afraid of touching spiders, even big ones. Just a few days ago I had a funny incident. I was walking towards the kitchen to drink some water from outside of the house, and I stopped abruptly in front of the sink. Suddenly, I see a largeEuropean garden spider flying off my head towards the kitchen, and hitting the countertop and immediately pretending to be dead. I must have been running towards the kitchen to give it such flying speed.  

I didn't release the spider, however. I picked it in a paper towel and crushed it and threw it in the carbage can. If my folks saw me releasing it they would have thought me crazy.

[Malte279]

Thing is however that spiders only in very few cases (most of which happen to live in Australia) can pose an actual threat to humans and spiders are usually not particularly aggressive (a particularly unpleasant risk can arise from the habbit of some toxic spiders to next in human shoes). But if phobias were based on rational fear of death causes we would be a lot more scared of cars or fastfood restaurants than of spiders;) or if we were to include only animals in the list we would have to be scared of mosquitos (no other animal has caused the death of as many humans), hippos (they are hardly ever perceived as a threat in spite of being more aggressive towards humans entering their territory than some kinds of animals much more perceived as a threat). I did not verify this, but I think it is quite likely that more humans fall victim to dog attacks every year than to spider bites and yet phobia of dogs is much less frequent than that of spiders.
Actual risk analysis cannot be the basis for spiders being more commonly dreaded than almost any other kind of animals. It would also be interesting if fear of spiders is actually receeding or increasing in our times. Fear of spiders and their perception as "ugly" is documented in old stories. For example there is the name giving legend of Arachne, a woman whose artfulness in weaving surpassed even that of the godesses of ancient Greek and who mocked them about it to the point that she was transformed by Athena into an animal that still showed this art (spider silk is a material that is inspiring a lot of research for its extreme tensil strength, and many people (even if scared of spiders) would see a degree of artistic quality in the layout of a spider web) but was still hated and despised by humans. I wonder though if ancient Greeks or Romans would have thrown just the same kind of fit as most of us would if they had a spider crawling along their arm or if their reactions on average would have been less or even more extreme (though I don't see how the reactions could be even more extreme).

[DarkWolf91]

Hoo, that is a magnificent beast! Thanks for sharing an awesome photo

[Blais_13]

This planet isn't big enough for me and a thing like that!


I read some facts about fear a while ago,and if the source is correct we learn how to act with animals like spiders,snakes or wasps in our childhood from other people,and possibly from the TV.Anyone who have owned at least one big spider knows that letting one crawl on you is always risky no meter how long it knows you,or how much you love it.In one second they just calmly move,in the next the suddenly bite,so I can see why some nervousness with them is good.

[somerandomfangirl]

I'd like to bring your attention to this and this.

The media plays a large part in promoting the fear of spiders. One of the headlines describes the UK's false widow spider as a 'killer' despite that nobody has actually been killed by one yet. There's been a huge hysteria about this in the last couple of days but the false widows have been in the UK since at least the early 1900s. They say they're most likely found in Devon but I've been there many times and haven't been bitten by one. My grandparents have lived there for at least the last 40-50 years and haven't been bitten, and if they have, then it wasn't serious enough to go to hospital for.

There was one guy in the article who has his leg pretty much sliced up because of the spiders to get all of the venom out, but I soon found out in another article that he had gone and disturbed a whole nest of the critters, so that's more his own fault for being, well... an idiot. Just leave those things alone, and you'll be fine. Some people will also get a bad reaction to the venom because of an allergy, but I don't think that there is as much need for all of the fear. You're more likely to get stung by a bee/wasp/hornet and it's probably more dangerous to eat a peanut. :/

The media tends to over-exaggerate more or less everything. I personally don't like touching spiders, but if I do see one, I won't scream or freak out. If they're just sitting there, I'll leave them to their business. If they're causing a disturbance, then I'll get it under a cup and chuck it outside.

Anyway, that does look like quite a big spider there, Zimmy. I would usually freak out over such spiders, but these creatures are important for the ecosystem and I do have quite a lot of respect for them. Saying that, I wouldn't really enjoy having that and it's kiddies crawling around my house, but I wouldn't go around killing it. Spiders can't help but be spiders, after all.

[DarkWolf91]

I was afraid of them when I was younger, but now I'm old and tend to rationalize everything
They don't bother me anymore, and I'll go so far as to handle them if I know what kind they are, and the potency of their bite. I actually have a great picture of me holding a camel spider, though it was stunned at the time so I guess that's kind of cheating

[bushwacked]

I'd like to bring your attention to this and this.

The media plays a large part in promoting the fear of spiders. One of the headlines describes the UK's false widow spider as a 'killer' despite that nobody has actually been killed by one yet. There's been a huge hysteria about this in the last couple of days but the false widows have been in the UK since at least the early 1900s. They say they're most likely found in Devon but I've been there many times and haven't been bitten by one. My grandparents have lived there for at least the last 40-50 years and haven't been bitten, and if they have, then it wasn't serious enough to go to hospital for.

There was one guy in the article who has his leg pretty much sliced up because of the spiders to get all of the venom out, but I soon found out in another article that he had gone and disturbed a whole nest of the critters, so that's more his own fault for being, well... an idiot. Just leave those things alone, and you'll be fine. Some people will also get a bad reaction to the venom because of an allergy, but I don't think that there is as much need for all of the fear. You're more likely to get stung by a bee/wasp/hornet and it's probably more dangerous to eat a peanut. :/

The media tends to over-exaggerate more or less everything. I personally don't like touching spiders, but if I do see one, I won't scream or freak out. If they're just sitting there, I'll leave them to their business. If they're causing a disturbance, then I'll get it under a cup and chuck it outside.

Anyway, that does look like quite a big spider there, Zimmy. I would usually freak out over such spiders, but these creatures are important for the ecosystem and I do have quite a lot of respect for them. Saying that, I wouldn't really enjoy having that and it's kiddies crawling around my house, but I wouldn't go around killing it. Spiders can't help but be spiders, after all.

One of my friends is deadly afraid of spiders, and he was waving one of the newspapers running the whole 'False Widow spider' article in my face because he's so worried about them. I think I read that their venom usually just makes you feel a little unwell for a few days at most, but it won't do anything more than that (though obviously there would be rare cases where the effect was more serious).

[LBTDiclonius]

WARNING: THIS IS A REALLY BIG IMAGE! SORRY




Completely relevant.

[Nahla]

I see who many of those 'Meanwhile in Australia' memes/joke/things.

True spiders play an important role,but do they have to look so creepy?

Welcome to Australia,home of

Brown Snakes-worlds 2nd most deadly snake
Red backs-worlds 5th most deadly spider
Sydney Funnel Webs-Worlds 3rd most deadly spider
Great White Sharks
Blue-Ringed Octopus
Stonefish
Crocodiles
Box Jellyfish
Irukandji Jellyfish
Bottleheads
Stingrays
Bull sharks
Bull ants
Honey bees (yes they kill you,they actually kill more here then snakes or spiders)
Taipans
Red Belly Black Snakes
Death Adders
Copperheads
Tiger snakes
Dingoes
Mouse spiders
Trap door spiders
White tailed spiders
Wolf spiders (Zimmy's photo is a wolf spider).

Enjoy your stay!

[Zimba]

That was a wolf spider? Ah man....really least they don't really bite.

[Nahla]

No they don't bite...they jump.

[bushwacked]

I really want to visit australia... but everytime I do, I see a list like the one you just made Nahla and I chicken out