Arachnophobia? It ain't just spiders.

[Buzz Clik]

I dislike all arachnids when they invade my space. No spiders in my house, please. No ticks in my nether regions. No chiggers burrowing into my skin. And now, my new source of heebie jeebies: scorpions. I hate seeing them anywhere.

So, I get it: some people will collect spiders they find in the house and gently take them back outside. But the others? Death cannot find them soon enough.

And you? Where do you stand with our eight-legged friends?

16 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Time expired
	I fear nothing. I love all living creatures.
	2 (13%)
	I am friends with spiders and have never encountered chiggers, ticks or scorpions.
	0 (0%)
	I am friendly to spiders and scorpions. Ticks and chiggers are icky.
	5 (31%)
	Spiders must die when in my house. I am unfamiliar with the rest.
	3 (19%)
	Spiders and scorpions have a zero life expectency in my house. You cannot kill ticks and chiggers.
	4 (25%)
	My environment has been sterilized. I am the only living creature within these walls.
	1 (6%)
	I hate polls.
	1 (6%)
	I hate you.
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[mokawanis]

1. I release spiders back outside

but ticks, mosquitos, and any insect that bites me will be terminated with extreme prejudice.

[Buzz Clik]

4. I once was on a tour of a prairie with a group of folks...

We managed to encounter a gaggle of ticks. Back in the van, we were busily picking them off ourselves and tossing them out the window. I noticed that a young woman in front of me found a tick and simply held it in her fingers. When the van came to the next stop, she scurried outside and gently place the little disease vector on the ground.

The reason the rest of us were tossing them out the window was because it is nearly impossible to kill a tick. Slapping, stomping, squishing are all pointless exercises. All the ticks that were thrown out the window at 25 mph survived.

Geez.

[bunnies]

5. Same here.

I did allow one especially cute jumping spider to live in a plant in my kitchen window though. I named him fluffy. It was a spider plant. How could I evict him?

[Doremus]

103. I let a common garden spider stay when he spun his (her?) webs near my 'puter.

Fascinating to watch. So symmetrical and lovely. I learned they molt their exoskeletons every so often when it would disappear for a few days and emerge a little larger.

When it got 1/2"dia. I took it outside and 're-homed' it, lol.

[bunnies]

110. lol.

You just reminded me of the one time I let a large spider stay inside. The thing was the size of a quarter with its legs included. We have 9' ceilings so it was really rather more of a convenience thing... until the day it dropped on my bare shoulder when I wasn't expecting it. I re-homed that one straight to spider heaven just out of reflex. Scared the living hell out of me. Boundaries!

Its funny though, I have a house spider on my ceiling in my living room. It died there about 3 years ago now & its become quite the experiment for me. First... how damn long is that thing going to stick to the ceiling? and Second... how many people will just eyeball the thing the entire time theyre here? And can you believe that not one person has ever said a thing about it?

Im sure it'll fall off one day?

[Silent3]

46. Usually that's not a release, but an eviction and a death sentence.

The spiders you find in your house are nearly all species which are adapted specifically to indoor living. They are rarely outdoor spiders which happen to have wandered indoors. Indoor spiders are generally not well adapted to outdoor life at all.

[cherokeeprogressive]

2. All freakish 8 legged creatures should fear me.

Well, actually they should fear my Wife.

[Buzz Clik]

10. LOL!

[polly7]

3. I don't kill them, I call someone to take them outside.

They scare me.

[Buzz Clik]

9. I like that! I hope you don't have to hire anyone.

Last edited Sat May 25, 2013, 02:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Your response reminds me of the scene from Annie Hall. Annie (Diane Keaton) had called Alvie (Woody Allen) in the middle of the night to take care of a monster in her tub: "Honey, there's a spider in your bathroom the size of a Buick."

[Chiyo-chichi]

27. "A monster in her but"?

Hee hee.

[Buzz Clik]

77. LOL! I am a dyslexic typist.

...tub...

[polly7]

30. When my Dad was alive I'd call him at all sorts of odd hours.

After the first few times, I don't think he was all that impressed. He'd just walk in, I'd point to where I saw it last - he'd find it an pick it up, say good-bye, and leave. Now I have a super nice neighbour! I take care of his snarling scary dog when he has to leave for a day or two and he gets rid of my spiders. It's strange, because I grew up on a farm and am not afraid of anything but bugs. I've ridden more untrained horses than I can count, I used to sunbathe laying on the back of our bull as he walked around the yard grazing, dogs don't scare me ... nothing else does, really. I'm not sure why bugs do. I can't eat anything that looks like one either - no lobster or crab for me! Uck, uck, uck.

[Buzz Clik]

78. Fear of spiders is deeply seeded in our psyches.

I don't think it's acquired; it's wired.

[Brickbat]

6. I usually leave spiders, unless they're really big. Then I take them outside.

No scorpions or chiggers up here in the cold northern woods. Ticks? KILL THEM WITH FIRE.

I can handle a lot of gross and scary things. But when I find I tick on me, I go to pieces.

[Buzz Clik]

11. Frankenstein would be in a bad, bad way if he had a tick on him.

[BainsBane]

7. Spiders are useful

I never kill them because they eat other bugs. Besides, it's bad luck to kill a spider. I've never seen a scorpion but I have seen plenty of ticks. Ticks are parasites so they don't just hand out in the house. They attach themselves to a person or animal. So there isn't an option for me to select.

[Buzz Clik]

14. Finding a spider web on a remote window is often eye opening.

A large, fat, contented spider happily tending her web with a mountain of dead bugs beneath.

It's hard to argue with their efficiency, but is it too much to ask to take out the garbage?

[LuvNewcastle]

41. I have little spiders in my apartment. I used to kill them until

someone reminded me that they eat bugs. I thought about it and I realized that I never have bugs in here. No roaches, flies, or anything. The little spiders are doing a great job, so I let them live. When I see one scurry past, I just watch him go by.

[defacto7]

114. Yep, me too

I like spiders when they do their job and they are very good at it. Flies and mosquitoes are good for decaying things outside but I have no dead animals in my house so flies and mosquitoes are food... for the spiders. Window sills are great fly traps and as for over population of spiders, the spiders take care of that themselves. Too many spiders, the spiders eat each other. I never have too many spiders for my house, it's always pretty balanced. Every 6 months or so I vacuum the sills of the waste and they build another fly trap.

I don't like ticks or chiggers in the house but that is not a problem here inside or out. Scorpions aren't around here in particular though they are prevalent in the desert areas out of town.

As for spiders being a cuddly, cute, lovable creature... no. They stay to themselves and I stay in my place. Anyway, they probably think I'm too ugly to get close to.

[Pragdem]

8. Kill the small ones. Run from the big ones. nt

[Buzz Clik]

15. ..

[enlightenment]

42. That's fake, right?

Tell me that's fake. Please.

[Buzz Clik]

45. I really, really hope so. Or in some country far away.

[PlanetBev]

137. I sure as hell hope that's a photoshop creation

Just looking at that thing and it's thinglets made me lose the will to live.

[PDJane]

79. Oddly enough, for spiders it should be the other way around.

Things like wolf spiders, golden orbs, etc., are harmless to humans. The ones you have to worry about are smaller; funnel spiders, hitchhikers, brown recluse. Those things are poisonous, and I don't mean maybe.

[RKP5637]

12. I'm not a bug fan, but I take them outside when I can. Scorpions,

YUCK! The less bugs in my life the better I am. Ha, now sitting on the porch as I type you've got me looking for any creepy crawlies in my territory!

[Buzz Clik]

17. My cat is a great seeker of scorpions in the house. He finds them quickly, for which I'm grateful.

The scorpions are far less grateful.

[MineralMan]

13. I don't worry about many-legged critters.

If they bother me in some way, I remove them. Otherwise, they're free to share my space.

This spring, I have an adventurous centipede that inhabits the area around my workspace. I see it from time to time, scurrying up a wall or crossing my desk. Very interesting to watch, and it doesn't seem to notice that I exist. Crawl on, arthropods. Crawl on.

[Buzz Clik]

18. Which kind of centipede?

In Indiana, it was the "house centipede". They move quickly and are actively mostly at night.

[MineralMan]

26. That looks very similar.

I haven't gone through an arthropod key to see which species it is. That would mean disturbing its normal activities. When I lived in California, right near the coast, we had millipedes by the dozens living in our house. I found them fascinating, too. Oddly enough, we also had sand-colored scorpions as well. Those, I caught with a plastic cup and relocated outdoors.

Our only real pesky critters were black widow spiders. Impossible to eradicate completely, I left them alone, as long as they weren't visible without looking hard for them. Pretty stationary spiders, they are, loving dark places, so I rarely saw them. We managed, somehow, though, to move one to Minnesota with us. I found it on the interior of a recliner. That one I smooshed, since they are not a native species in Minnesota.

My wife, who grew up in Minnesota, was shocked to find a Jerusalem Cricket ambling across the floor of my house when she moved to California to partner up with me.


Actual Size

She found it icky, until I caught it and showed it to her up close. I explained to her that they are called "Children of the Earth" in Mexico. After that, she allowed them to visit us freely.

[Buzz Clik]

28. Interesting cricket.

My only reaction to crickets is, "If you don't SHUT THE HELL UP, I'm getting the can of Raid. I swear! I'll do it!"

[premium]

40. Here in Nevada,

we call those Potato Bugs.
We also have a rather ornerous bug called the Vingaroon Spider,



Scary as hell looking, but harmless, when you get bit by one, you have a taste of vinager for about 2 days, hence the name, Vinagaroon.
We also have the Desert Scorpion,



They're harmless to humans as far as their poison goes.

[enlightenment]

44. You forgot the Palo Verde beetle.

Otherwise known as the 4 inch flying cockroach from hell.

[premium]

50. That too.

And, of course, the Waterbug, I hate these fucking things, although our cats love playing with them.



And the Desert Tarantula.

[darkangel218]

84. I love cockroaches

Last edited Sat May 25, 2013, 03:00 PM - Edit history (1)

I like their lil antennas and how they move them x I also think they're super smart.

[LeftInTX]

87. If you don't live in Texas, you are welcome to come and study them here

There are lots of em

[Aerows]

101. Move to Mississippi on the Gulf Coast

You can get your fill of the critters. And if you would be so kind, take them back with you from wherever you were that had none, keep them in cages so that they can't get out and terrorize the rest of the people.

[enlightenment]

121. You're welcome to these.

Their antenna are almost as long as their bodies and their mandibles look like they could take off a finger.
And they fly - slowly, and with creepy menace.

[Kali]

92. NOT a vinegaroon, it is a solpugid - aka sun or camel spiders, wind scorpions

(and I know them as potato bugs from childhood)

this is a vinegaroon



solpugids - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifugae

uropygids - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelyphonida

[Aerows]

102. I'll take twenty of them

if you will take a roach in exchange. The big ones.

Okay, maybe I'll take 10 in exchange.

[Kali]

104. those wind scorpions will take care of your roaches, for sure

they look like freaking aliens and they run really fast but they are excellent predators and are not venomous (to humans)

I saw a small one on the wall last night, summer is here!

[Aerows]

105. Send me a bunch

If it kills roaches, I welcome it as long as it doesn't harm me. Hell, I'll build them a nice little house if they take out the fire ants, too.

[Kali]

106. I don't have fire ants - does anything eat them?

we have harvester ants and I swear their sting is worse than almost anything else I have ever been stung by. Sting ray being one exception.

[Aerows]

107. As bad

Possibly the same or worse. They form a ball when it floods and there is a seething ball of fire ants ready to seize on anything moving. Wouldn't you love to see a ball of fire ants floating down the street ready to grab onto you (size of football)?

EDIT: Not as bad as a jellyfish. I can confirm that. Hornet? Nothing worse.

People think I'm kidding when I relate the antball story. I grew up in New Orleans where it floods regularly. They form a ball crawling over each other to survive, and once they hit something, they swarm over it, but they are fire ants. :shudder:

But getting hit by one hundred or more at one time? I'll take a stingray, a hornet and a few wasps.

[Kali]

111. it is so freaking dry here it would be tempting

to deal with a ball of ants just to have the water (but not really, you can keep them - we do have some kind of little pissants that will swarm you and sting, but they are more irritating than truly painful)

[Aerows]

113. Football sized ant swarm

Not kidding. That thing latches on to you, you will be stung to death. It's not publicized, but fire ants are indeed, deadly, particularly in a swarm.

Sorry it's so dry there, though! I hope you get some rain

I lived in Tuscon when I was a child, and I still consider it the most beautiful place I ever lived.

[Cirque du So-What]

16. Depends on the species

Some of the more benign arachnids, such as daddy long legs or the light tan, translucent spiders that I mostly find in the bathroom, are merely evicted. On the rare occasions that I have found a wolf spider in the house, however, they are immediately subject to capital punishment. If scorpions were indigenous to my locale, they would similarly be dispatched to arachnid heaven.

[Buzz Clik]

20. Yep. That's my general philosophy.

I find wolf spiders to be terrifying. The females can be gigantic, like a smallish tarantula.

[PDJane]

95. Wolf spiders are scary looking, and they're pugilistic....but harmless.

I keep telling people that it's the small ones you have to worry about. I've been bitten this past week by a spider; thought I was going to have to go to the emergency department. Fortunately, antihistamine worked fairly quickly. Damn thing had my leg swollen. And that was a little one, had to get down and find it before killing the damn thing.

[toddaa]

19. Taking spiders outside is a more cruel than just squishing them

Indoor spiders don't belong outside. When you put them outside, they die a slow, miserable death. Unless, of course, a bird gets them first. In any case, you are putting them to death. If your conscience won't allow you to kill a spider, put them in the basement or the garage.

Personally, I love spiders. I like when the drop from the ceiling on me in the morning. Like that one time when a whole mess of little white garden spiders somehow got into my bedroom and colonized the corner ceiling right above my pillow. WAKE UP!!!

[Buzz Clik]

22. Okay. No way.

You like waking with a gazillion baby spiders crawling on your face?

yeeesssh!!

[Jamastiene]

63. Trust me.

If you know the species and you know it belongs outside, you are not sentencing some species to death. Carolina Wolf Spiders and rabid wolf spiders do not belong inside. There is nowhere near enough for them to eat inside. Granted, when I see a spider I know is a house spider, I leave it alone, but to say that any spider you find inside is a house spider is not necessarily the truth. It is best to identify the species.

[LittleBlue]

85. I don't understand

How did indoor spiders live before humans built homes?

[darkangel218]

90. Youre wrong

Spiders can find home pretty much anywhere.

[Aerows]

21. Roaches

I cannot be in a room with a roach without having an overwhelming urge to kill it. They scare the crap out of me. All of those other bugs are okay.

[darkangel218]

93. I would like to keep one as pet. i love them.

[Aerows]

99. Have at it

They make me shiver and scare the crap out of me. Keep it away from me, and we'll be fine.

[PDJane]

96. I'm with you on the roaches. I HATE those damn things.

I also swear that the ones in the southern US are, without any doubt, training for the Olympics. Those suckers can move a large McDonalds drink across the table.

[Aerows]

98. I live in the South

and the damn things are huge. They scare the hell out of me.

[Aerows]

100. It's an anecdote

but I heard someone slapped a brick on one and the brick moved. LMAO.

I despise them.

[PDJane]

108. I stayed in a Hotel in Florida.........

After moving out of one that had roaches galore, we moved into one that didn't, by reputation, have them. There was a sign in my room that said, "please don't kill the lizards." Between the lizards and the roaches? No contest. I settled down to sleep, woke up to the sound of crunching. There was a lizard above my head on the wall; it had what I suspect was roach parts sticking out of its mouth and was munching away. I wished him bon apetite, pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep. The damn things apparently worked, because I didn't find roaches in shoes or luggage or the kitchen.

[Aerows]

109. I love lizards

And this is only one reason why. Bon appetite, indeed.

Was this in Key West? Jesus Christ they have the biggest bugs I've ever seen in my life there. Thank you, please give me lizards instead of a roach big enough to scare the piss out of everyone in the ladies room, defy getting smashed by a shoe and then scurrying on to do more damage.

[PDJane]

115. yep.

[Aerows]

116. Yes, that explains that

Good GOD they have big bugs in Key West.

I'll just Duval crawl instead - but it is fun as hell on Memorial Day weekend.

Have fun if you are hitting the Keys

[unionthug777]

23. immediate death

if not sooner for spiders in my house !!!!

[Buzz Clik]

24. I have lived in areas where the brown recluse thrives...

And, I have seen two people in the aftermath of a bite from the brown recluse. I have learned to spot them instantly and take immediate corrective actions.

[unionthug777]

34. immediate corrective action

lol love it !!! that will be my phrase for today.

[Buzz Clik]

36. Euphemisms are your friend!

[hunter]

25. I fear nothing, I love all living creatures.

That does not mean I let the flies, fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes live in my house. Most spiders are okay, however. They eat the critters that I don't like.

I've got a treaty with the ants too. So long as they stay out of the kitchen they can come and go as they please. Pests like cockroaches can never gain a stronghold, the ants and spiders eat their babies.

I don't use pesticides. The birds and predatory creepy-crawlies hold the number of pests to negligible numbers.

Pesticides kill all the beneficial creepy crawlies which allow pesticide resistant creatures like cockroaches, bedbugs, and fleas to take over.

I wouldn't let a black widow or brown recluse spider live under my bed, but most of the others are okay. I go about my business, they go about theirs.

[Buzz Clik]

31. Ecological balance in the house. Interesting approach.

We had a "pet" garden spider who loved building a web face high outside the sliding door to our back deck. Twenty times per year I would dash out and get a faceful of spider web, knowing a really pissed off spider was crawling on me somewhere.

[premium]

29. We are overrun by Black Widows and Brown Recluse spiders,

they scare the hell out of me, I kill them as soon as I spot them with no misgivings.

[Buzz Clik]

32. +1

[Starry Messenger]

49. +1

I used to be live and let live about spiders until the year my then boyfriend and I got bitten by a widow who managed to fang both of us in our sleep. We were ill for days.

[premium]

52. My wife was viciously attacked by a Black Widow spider on the right side of her face

while she was asleep several years ago, we went to the hospital and a doctor told us that the venom never leaves the body, long story short, every year about spring time, her face will swell up and she'll be sick for about 4-5 days.

They are evil creatures and deserving of death.

[Starry Messenger]

60. On the FACE. Oh HELL NO.

Jesus, I want to give you guys a laser spider gun! We both got bitten on the leg/ankle area. It's like a baby vampire bite and it is horrible. We don't seem to have recurring symptoms, but I'm not surprised to hear this could happen. We've never been so sick.

Hug your wife for me! God, what a nightmare!

[premium]

64. Thank you,

it's rough on her, but she's accepted it and has learned to deal with it.

[shanti]

66. ok, you're scaring me

that attack sounds horrifying!

i have black widows around the outside perimeter of my house, and have seen them occasionally in the garage. i kill them as soon as i see them, but pretty sure they aren't going away...

[premium]

67. Black Widow spiders are very adaptable arachnids,

for every one you dispose of, there are probably 10 more around. I spray Sceptricide Spider Control spray around my house once a month to try to keep control of them, seems to work pretty good so far.

[Zorra]

33. I remove insects from my home, take them outside, and wish them well.

I'm not a big fan of spiders, particularly poisonous spiders, and would not hesitate to kill a brown recluse or other recluse spider if I found one in my home after seeing what happened to friends who were bitten by brown recluses. I remove harmless spiders from my home.

But over the course of my life, I have been tortured by external parasites, such as chiggers and no see-ums, that fed on my body and afflicted me with full body uncontrollable, unbearable agonizing itches.

Chiggers and no see-ums are creatures from the depths of hell, sent here to convince warm blooded creatures that there is a hell on earth.

[Buzz Clik]

35. Yes, indeed.

I have been afflicted by chiggers, as well.

I had a friend who was so bad off that she had to miss several days of work. That was the most extreme case I'd ever seen.

Back a few years, I had taken the family on a short hike through the prairie. The wife, the 4-year-old, and I were all victims of chiggers. The two-year-old was clean -- no bites. I am convinced it's because he was carrying a load in his diaper. I will test that theory some day.

[siligut]

37. I want to know why winter is coming has a problem with Buzz Clik, WTF?

[Buzz Clik]

38. Buzzophobia?

[siligut]

39. Maybe just a contrarian and YOU provided the option, lol

If you don't know, I gather it is nothing personal.

[Buzz Clik]

43. Oh, I agree. I invited the response.

I despise polls, and I would select that option if given the opportunity.

[siligut]

48. I just think it is funny

A poll with the option of hating the pollster, maybe it will catch on with CNBC.

[Buzz Clik]

140. I can see it now: "The Gallup poll on abortion rights was released this morning..."

"23% of the respondents support abortion under all circumstances, 32% support a woman's right to have an abortion in the first trimester, 18% are totally opposed to abortion, 7% have no opinion, and 20% said these despise Gallup and Gallup polls."

[siligut]

143. More people would respond to polls if they were given that option

Me for one. Of course the increase in responses would directly correlate with the number of people who hate the pollster.

I notice that you caught another in your carefully devised plan to get more responses

[rucky]

47. I'm a friend of the spiders

but my wife and daughter demand I take a different approach.

[Buzz Clik]

51. Spider escort service.

[RedCappedBandit]

53. Ticks die.

Spiders probably get left alone unless they look particularly threatening, then they die or get moved.

Scorpions? I live on Long Island. If I saw a scorpion I'd start crying and run away. :p

[Buzz Clik]

55. Scorpions are pretty threatening looking, but they run away given the chance.

[Avalux]

54. Not fair to lump spiders and scorpions together.

I respect spiders and won't kill them in my house unless I find a brown recluse or black widow. Most spiders are harmless however.

Scorpions are a different story. Years ago, my dog found one in the middle of the living room. It blended in with the carpet and I didn't see it until he started barking and running around it in circles. I freaked out, grabbed a thick phone book, dropped it on the scorpion and left it there all night, figuring it would be smashed and dead and I'd dispose of the little bugger in the morning. When I picked up the phone book about 8 hours later, it was still alive and mad as hell. I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and chopped the scorpion in half.

[Shankapotomus]

56. Just the other night

I was driven from my room in the middle of the night by a quarter sized spider I just happened to catch right next to my pillow as I was turning over. The bugger darted away and disappeared before I could launch a major offensive. So I've been sleeping on my living room couch since then. I hate the possibility something is crawling on me and drilling exploratory wells into my skin surface while I am asleep.

Needless to say, I am looking into one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00925NV14

[Buzz Clik]

71. I sympathize completely.

[X_Digger]

57. I generally leave harmless spiders alone.

We leave the small house spiders / jumping spiders where they are.

We'll catch and release wolf spiders and tarantulas (we haven't lived in an area with those in quite a while though.)

We do kill black widow, brown widow, and brown recluse on sight, but I haven't seen one of these in years- maybe because we let other spiders alone. We do kill ticks when we find them on us or the dogs.

If it's a spider I haven't seen before, I may even get a few pictures under the microscope.

[Buzz Clik]

72. Perhaps you get convince one to pose for a spider beard pic

Not unlike this

?cb5e28

but more like this



but with a gigantic spider.

It would be awesome!

[X_Digger]

89. It's funny, I just found one I've not photographed before..

Last edited Sat May 25, 2013, 11:55 PM - Edit history (1)

It's being anesthetized as I type. I'll come back and edit this post if I get any good pics.

(And no, he's not spider-beard material.)

* -- got some pics. It's actually in the daddy long-legs family

[siligut]

142. Interesting hobby, identifying and photographing spiders

What do you use to anesthetize them?

[X_Digger]

146. Rubbing alcohol..

If you do it right, they're just stunned for a while. Too long and it kills them, which causes their legs to curl up, and they're a pain to straighten out.

It's not just spiders, though.. I put a lot of things under the scope..

A bee laden with pollen..


Pollen from the bee leg






A small parasitic wasp..






A moth wing..




A scale from a moth wing..

[siligut]

147. Wow, do you post any of your photos regularly?

Maybe in the Photography or Science Groups? I didn't see your name in the OP listings on quick glance. These are fascinating to look at.

[X_Digger]

148. Nah, my stuff pales in comparison to stuff posted there.

I use a simple USB camera, so it's not like I'm messing with exposure, shutter speed, etc etc etc.

I do have fun with video, though..

My other hobby is marine reefs, and I set up a lipstick USB microscope camera pointed at the sand in my small tank. Here's a short clip.

[Marr]

58. You'd have to be fool not to kill or remove scorpions.

They're a lot more dangerous than most spiders.

[Buzz Clik]

73. Ours are the small, three inch variety.

Pretty daunting, nonetheless.

[Jamastiene]

59. You would need therapy if you ever visited the jungle that is my yard.

I don't just have spiders, ticks, chiggers, and scorpions, but zillions of other things I haven't gotten around to identifying yet too. However, if you were here for about 10 years, like I have been, you would eventually get over your fear and/or loathing of spiders and be glad they are there.

Spiders are the LEAST of my concern where I live. I see them as allies in the fight against the wasps, ground hornets, fire ants, velvet ants, and zillions of other creepy crawlies that are way creepier than even the huge ass Carolina Wolf Spiders here could dream of being. I also have rabid wolf spiders too, but wolf spiders are the least of my concern unless they get in my aunt's bedroom. Then, I have to round them up and get them out of there. She FREAKS and PANICS until they are no longer in there.

Trust me. There are WAY worse things than spiders. On the ticks and chiggers, though, I agree, kill them with fire and don't look back. Scorpions are fascinating. If they get in the house, out they go, but not killed.

On the other hand, the recent crazy ant invasion I got in my kitchen was a formic acid/ant spray bath...for them and me. I didn't want to. I had to. They started in on my legs first thing one morning while I was changing the trash bag out of the trash can. I'm allergic to wasps/bees/ants in general. So, I had to murder about a thousand of them. Not in my damn kitchen. Spiders are welcome anywhere but my aunt's room, but the ants had to go. Something about their venom makes wherever they sting me swell to about 5 times the normal size. Same with wasps/bees.

The bad thing is that I have several red imported fire ant mounds in my yard that I truly wish some archaeologists would come excavate just to see how large they have built their mounds underneath the ground. I'm talking at least 6 feet in diameter is visible above ground. The thing is, though, fire ants eat ticks. So, is killing them in the yard the best idea? No, not considering how many ticks are in the jungle near where i live. But, considering how allergic I have gotten to their venom, I don't think I have a choice. I can just spray for the ticks. Fire ants are hard to kill even with fire.

So, you see, where I live, spiders truly ARE your friends. I would probably be dead already if it wasn't for the huge ass Carolina Wolf Spiders, rabid wolf spiders, grass spiders, and oodles of other species of spiders where I live. I no longer cringe when I see a spider, inside or outside. I'm just happy for whatever horrid insects they eat that won't be stinging or biting me to death in my sleep.

[Buzz Clik]

69. I just ran into a really wonderful spider outside.

She is living in the hollow portion of a fallen branch. She has this fantastic, tightly woven web that eventually forms a funnel into the hollow log. She hangs out just inside the funnel. I would be shocked to see such a beast in my house -- she seems quite content in her log.

[Aerows]

112. Exactly

I don't dislike spiders and lizards, I'm kind of fond of them.

[Xyzse]

61. I release spiders back outside...

Scorpions, I've never encountered, but they are liable to die.

[Buzz Clik]

70. Do you have a reformation/retraining program for the spiders?

You'd hate to see them start making the same bad choices once on the outside again...

[Xyzse]

135. Well, as far as I know, once they are released

I do not see them back...
So I am guessing they have went to the straight and narrow path.

[nolabear]

62. You don't find ticks and chiggers; they find you.

And I do have my limits.

[Buzz Clik]

74. Hunting for chiggers or ticks would be a fools game.

I agree.

[nolabear]

80. Unless you're looking in your own armpits. Ew.

I just grossed myself out.

[elehhhhna]

65. oh ffs people suck em w/ the vac attachment...voila!

[Buzz Clik]

75. You think they won't crawl back out?

[elehhhhna]

138. this is where the insecticide comes in or

put the vac outdoors/garage and let hubs handle it

[Buns_of_Fire]

68. I have a few eight-legged roommates. They come and go as they please.

Usually. Once one had climbed into a glass of juice and seemed to be in some distress, so I rescued it with a strip of paper -- whereupon, the ungrateful little bastard climbed up the paper, onto my thumb, and bit me. That encounter did not end well for the little shit.

But other than that, we tend to co-exist reasonably well. I watch them walk from one end of the apartment to the other, and wonder if they've eaten today. They watch me wander around the apartment, and probably wonder if they can construct a web strong enough to immobilize me.

[Buzz Clik]

76. "What's wrong with you? You know damned well that spiders are addicted to juice!!!"

Poor thing was just disciplining you.

[baldguy]

81. My dog loves to hunt spiders & other bugs.

She never actually seems to be able to *catch*, mind you, but she has a great time stalking them, pouncing on them (and missing) & then barking at them.

[Buzz Clik]

83. My daughter, when she, was just under two...

... came up to me while I was engrossed in some reading. "Here, Daddy." And she put a huge spider in my hand.

[baldguy]

94. I hope you thanked her & gave it the serious attn that any gift from a little girl deserves.

[Scootaloo]

82. I don't mind spiders that live where I can't reach

However, there is no worse sensation than one of 'em creeping around on my body, or running facefirst into a web. Such spiders dpn't make the mistake twice.

That said, I have much more tolerance for web-builders, who get tossed outside, than for the running kind, who die as fast as i can whip a magazine at them. I justify this because for the most part, these are hobo spiders - think brown recluse, now make it the size of a cat - and fond of snuggling into bed with you. I'll take bad karma over seeping necrotic wounds any day!

[Kali]

86. other - spiders are fine

Last edited Sat May 25, 2013, 03:28 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8978326



spiders are fine, they control flies and other insects - though I do eventually clean their dusty webs once in a while

if the fucking scorpions would not drop off the ceiling into my bed I could live with them too, but they are assholes and sting you multiple times as you are trying to levitate off the bed, so fuck them.

ticks are undesirable and thank god I have never had to deal with chiggers - I tend to be "itchy" and from what I understand those things can drive you insane.

out here we have a strange little arachnid - it is actually a mite - but it is the size and shape of a large cattle tick. However it is BRIGHT red. They come out after the summer rains get going.

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/07/02/velvet-mites-2/

[LeftInTX]

88. Scorpions sure know where to hide!!

When I was 9 months pregnant, ran to the bathroom and as I was putting my feet down, this huge thing. And then there was the one that hid in my shoe.

Great pic!!!!

[Buzz Clik]

117. Scorpion on the toilet paper is just wrong.

[RebelOne]

91. Any bug in my house has a zero life expectancy,

and that includes rats and mice. I had a rat infestation because of a field being cleared behind me, which drove 19 rats into my house. I had to call a pest control expert, who killed them all. I do not like killing any animal, but when I had to pay over $1000 to replace chewed electrical wiring, those rats had to go.

[Buzz Clik]

119. Yikes. That's worse than scorpions.

[LostOne4Ever]

97. Bugs

It had to be bugs.

I hate all bugs including arachnids. They must all die.

[Buzz Clik]

120. Fortunately, there are those who are willing to sell you the tools of the trade.

... including bug bombs. You could have your own Tet Offensive in the comfort of you own home.

[Laffy Kat]

122. That's what kids are for.

I am totally freaked out about spiders but brought my kids up to have compassion for all creatures. Now, when I find a spidie indoors I call my boys and they gently catch and release. It's a win-win.

[Buzz Clik]

125. I'm certain the spiders view it as a win.

[stevenleser]

123. Arthropods are not welcome in my home and do not survive the encounter with me

Insects and Arachnids die immediately. Various crustaceans end up as lunch or dinner.

[Buzz Clik]

124. You have crustaceans invading you home?

[stevenleser]

126. Yes, somehow they find their way into my grocery bags and delivery boxes!

[Buzz Clik]

127. Infiltrators!

[ScreamingMeemie]

128. I was okay with living things... until I met a waterbug in my bathroom.

It took half a can of Scrubbing Bubble... which makes me a bad person.

In my defense, I regularly rescue geckos and chameleons from the kitties when they get in the house.

[Buzz Clik]

129. You have the little geckos? About 2-3 inches long?

[ScreamingMeemie]

132. Yeah... The longest they get is about 5 inches.

The babies (all pink and a half inch) are adorable.

[Buzz Clik]

133. these guys

Very cute.

[ScreamingMeemie]

134. Yup

Here's one from our back patio from a couple summers ago:

[greytdemocrat]

130. Heh...

[Buzz Clik]

131. Yeah. That's my fear.

When I commit to a struggle with a spider, it's to the death. His, hopefully.

[Heidi]

136. We catch and release spiders, kill ticks, and don't have chiggers or scorpions.

[Buzz Clik]

139. A scorpion died in my garage this morning.

He died alone. Well, I was there.

[Heidi]

149. RIP, scorpion.

I am not a fan of scorpions. We had plenty of them where I grew up in Oklahoma, and I had the misfortune being stung by a scorpion that was hiding in a mop rag.

[Buzz Clik]

150. I understand that the scorpion sting is painful and has some odd side effects.

The sting is like a wicked wasp sting, accompanied by swelling and some muscle spasms in the affected area.

Sounds bad enough. I now wear slippers in the house.

[Heidi]

151. The sting site was the center of my palm.

It was like my hand was on fire and it lasted for quite a while. I don't recall any muscle spasms but, you understand, I might not have noticed them as I was so distracted by the sensation of my hand being ablaze.

Slippers sound like a good idea.

[countryjake]

141. I agree that it's not fair for you to lump spiders in with scorpions...

and I think your poll is lacking, for that reason.

I love spiders, I'm also familiar with scorpions, chiggers, and ticks, but I certainly don't love them. I was raised to first identify the little buggers before deciding their fate, same goes for snakes. If they are useful to the environment in which they're found, it is you who may be the intruder and the feared sight to behold.

Spider eyes...

[Buzz Clik]

144. All in my list are arachnids, and my poll certainly breaks out spiders from scorpions.

Everyone needs someone to love them, and spiders have you.

[countryjake]

145. Well, Buzz, the way I see it...

the only reasonable choice I could have clicked on would be the "I hate polls." option, which actually would not be accurate, either. So, my original response still stands and you are correct, spiders do have me, but scorpions, chiggers, and ticks do not.