Darn arachnophobia!

[luckystar112]

I just found this in my back yard...about 5ft from my door. I''m going insane right now....I can''t take it!!!!

Creepy crawlies all over my body!!!!!!

(btw...this is exactly what it looks like, but I didn''t take this picture. I don''t dare to get close to it!)

 

[jcrow]

eek!! what IS that thing? yuck.

 

[luckystar112]

It''s called a spinybacked orb weaver.

Apparently they bite!!!! (Though they can''t kill you.)

I was on the phone with my mom when I realized it was about 2ft away from my face! I almost walked directly into it''s web. I am SOOOOO afraid of spiders. I''ve been panicking ever since!

 

[Molly1024]

EW EW EW EW EW EW! I hate spiders! I would have completely flipped out if that had been anywhere near me! Now I have the creepy crawlies.

 

[FireGoddess]

That is a COOL looking spider!!! Sure, I wouldn't want one caught in my hair (EEK!) or something but I'd take that over a big ole roach any day. As long as they're ALL sorta far away.

How big are they IRL?

 

[luckystar112]

Not very big at all, which is why I almost missed it. I''d say the whole thing is about the size of a jelly bean.

I was so confused though. I knew it was a spider right away (it was on it''s web) but I thought maybe it had it''s legs ripped off or something. Then I looked it up on the net and found it right away.

I''m telling you, I CANNOT HANDLE these southern spiders! A couple years ago I sat down right next to a black widow''s web!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

At least it''s bright and easy to spot.

Ugh, I can''t stand creepy crawlies. When I see spiders and things in my house, I always try to throw them back outside, but sometimes it''s not so easy to save them from a swirley death by water.

 

[monarch64]

It kind of looks like a crab, cool! Creepy crawlies without wings don''t bother me too much, it''s the flying things that freak me out!

 

[Dee*Jay]

O...M...G...

 

[Gypsy]

Date: 6/11/2007 3:41:36 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
O...M...G...

Ditto.

 

[marvel]

Date: 6/11/2007 3:06:00 PM
Author: FireGoddess
That is a COOL looking spider!!! Sure, I wouldn't want one caught in my hair (EEK!) or something but I'd take that over a big ole roach any day. As long as they're ALL sorta far away.

How big are they IRL?

That is a COOL looking spider!! And ditto everything also FG said.

BTW: Where do you live?

 

[kcoursolle]

Whoa, weird looking spider!!!

 

[Mara]

hah i am an absolute FREAK about spiders. greg reminds me that they are much smaller than me but that just freaks me out more because then they can hide in tiny crevices, leap out and sink their fangs (spiders have fangs right?) into my unsuspecting skin just that much more easily.

also spiders love to bite me. LOVE it. i have spiders in the garden but as long as they stay in there, i am okay with them. we have black widows here in N.CA but mostly in dark, dusty, dry neglected areas, so usually we don't really see any...but yeah not a fan.

when we were in hawaii for our wedding, we walked into the bathroom of the big house where we were staying with some of the bridal party and there was this MASSIVE (as in about a base hand span size) spider on the wall under the sink. i saw it and said WHAT IS THAT. my gf and i were too scared to go anywhere near it, we called the maintenance guys at the plantation, and the guy comes over with a RAG in his hand. he walks over, scoops it up into the rag (as my gf and i clutch at each other and turn white), and walks out. we thought it was a tarantula but it's apparently a 'cane spider'...YAK. i was so freaked out the rest of the trip....i would walk into the bathroom and keep looking around for other large spiders invading the house. i love the tropics but man there are some scary looking bugs out there. there were also these yellow and black spiders that would spin huge webs all over the eaves and awnings of the houses out there....they just hang out but i was paranoid about them dropping on me.

the photographer took a picture of the massive taranta-cane spider (as i shrieked at him that if he scared it and it moved, he was FIRED!!!) and put it up on his website with his own pictures of the trip and was like 'hey look at the spider'...yikes, just thinking of it gives me the willies!

 

[luckystar112]

Mara, I just googled "cane spider" and now I am so mad at myself!!!!! lol


Half of the spider's web is connected to our house, and the other half is connected to this lattice (sp?) wall that we put up so that our neighbors can't stare at us anymore. lol. Anyway, so I got this "bright" idea to go around the wall and look through the vines to see if I could see the bottom of the spider. But my plans were foiled when I saw an even BIGGER web with what appears to be that spider's MAMA in the middle. It was devouring an insect. Oh my God...it was so big.


I'm more afraid of spiders landing on me and crawling on me than I am of them biting. But I've never been bitten before so that's probably why! It also really creeps me out how fast they can run. ewwwhhh.

Usually if there is a spider in the house I'll put a glass over and leave it for my boyfriend. But when I found out he was killing them instead of putting them outside I had to take over. I still use the glass method, but it takes me about 20 minutes to get up the nerve to slide a piece of paper underneath so I can flip the glass over in order to bring it outside. I just can't kill anything...no matter how scary or ugly it might be! But I have to get rid of spiders as soon as I see them or else I won't be able to sleep. Not kidding.


ETA for Marvel: I live in Houston! Apparently these spiders are all over the south though.

 

[Love in Bloom]

I agree with firegoddess, that is one kewl looking spider. I work with insects for a living...but I still make DF ''take care of'' (kill

) spiders and various other creepy crawlies at home. If I''m going to make peace with bugs, it is going to be with them in a vial!

 

[sumbride]

Spiders are the only "bug" I''m willing to let stay in my house. We have some in the basement, although they are the non-biting and non-terrifying kind, and they stay in the corners and eat whatever else may venture in. As long as we stay out of each other''s way, I don''t mind them. I remember my parents used to have beautiful spiders in Texas... they would weave webs in the breezeway at night and we would go look at them when somebody spotted one. They are one of the most beneficial insects in the garden because they eat all the bad insects! That said, the poisonous ones wouldn''t go over so well! My sister had a bite from a brown recluse and had to have a big chunk cut out of her leg because it was ROTTING. EWWWW.


I have NO tolerance for roaches though... they scare the heck out of me! (they fly in the south) And we''re just staring to have some show up on our patio at night. I don''t know where they are coming from but they HAVE to go.

 

[luckystar112]

Just another reason I can''t wait to move back to the northeast....the freezing-cold bug killing northeast....::sigh::

My BIGGEST fear is getting bitten by a brown recluse down here! They hang out in garages, under floor boards, in your closet, in crevices...you can''t avoid them! And the SCARIEST part about them is that they look almost identical to every other spider out there!

Unlike the black widow, which you can instantly identify, the brown recluse has a "violin" shape on it...but do you think I''m going to let myself get close enough to make the distinction? um...NO!

 

[VegasAngel]

That is one crazy looking spider. I have never seen one like that.

I keep telling my husband I want to move the heck out of our house because of all the spiders. This is the only house I have ever lived in with a rediculous amount of them inside. Grossest thing ever.

 

[Harriet]

Eek!

 

[snlee]

EWWWW! That is some weird looking spider! If I saw that in person, it would freak me out so much! I can't stand big spiders with meat. The baby spiders or skinny spiders I'm fine killing but the one that go *crunch* when you kill them freak me out!!!! Ahhhh! I never want to see one of those in real life!

 

[Love in Bloom]

Date: 6/11/2007 8:15:34 PM
Author: snlee
EWWWW! That is some weird looking spider! If I saw that in person, it would freak me out so much! I can't stand big spiders with meat. The baby spiders or skinny spiders I'm fine killing but the one that go *crunch* when you kill them freak me out!!!! Ahhhh! I never want to see one of those in real life!

Me too! That 'meat' description is disgustingly accurate. The crunch is the worst! If BF (not boyfriend, brave fiance, lol!) isn't around to do the deed I use about a whole roll of paper towels to squash the thing and dampen the crunching (also keeps the guts away from fingers, ewww!).

This sounds mean but I only really put out a hit on big bodied spiders that are in my house. The others I leave alone. I'm always afraid they will lay eggs and make more spiders in my home

.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I thought that "jewelled" spider was cute, in a creepy sort of a way...

my pal who lived in Vancouver used to tell me she could hear the spiders running across the hardwood at night.......don''t think she likes them all that much.....

cheers--Sharon

 

[Harriet]

How big is it?

 

[KristyDarling]

OMG can we please stop talking about spiders and spiders'' big huge mamas?!?!?

Looking at that picture and reading through this thread worked me up into such a panic that my dog came over to lay his head down on my lap...something he does whenever he senses that I''m sad or scared. I hadn''t even noticed how panicky I got until the dog came and DH said, "WTH is the matter with you?!"

 

[monarch64]

Kristy, check out Mrs. Mitchell''s thread in hangout, her case of a.phobia is even worse. (Sorry, can''t remember how to post the link.)

 

[monarch64]

Date: 6/11/2007 6:15:40 PM
Author: sumbride
Spiders are the only ''bug'' I''m willing to let stay in my house. We have some in the basement, although they are the non-biting and non-terrifying kind, and they stay in the corners and eat whatever else may venture in. As long as we stay out of each other''s way, I don''t mind them. I remember my parents used to have beautiful spiders in Texas... they would weave webs in the breezeway at night and we would go look at them when somebody spotted one. They are one of the most beneficial insects in the garden because they eat all the bad insects! That said, the poisonous ones wouldn''t go over so well! My sister had a bite from a brown recluse and had to have a big chunk cut out of her leg because it was ROTTING. EWWWW.


I have NO tolerance for roaches though... they scare the heck out of me! (they fly in the south) And we''re just staring to have some show up on our patio at night. I don''t know where they are coming from but they HAVE to go.

I knew a guy in college who got bitten by a brown recluse (IN), dang, they had to take off a big chunk of his upper calf, though, because he didn''t seek medical attention asap.

But to add to the fact that there is beauty in spiders...i''ve never killed one inside my home or my parents'' home, esp. after reading/seeing Charlotte''s Web, lol! I am terribly afraid of flying insects but am fascinated by spiders/arachnids, and have always picked up the unwanted ones with a dustpan or newspaper and set them outside.

Last year we had a spider outside of unknown species who kept coming back every night to make a web between our grill on the upper deck to the harnessed-in patio umbrella, such a sight to behold! It would literally take about 15 minutes to spin its web and then lie in wait for prey, it was really a beautiful thing. By morning it was always gone, but each night we sat out on the patio, lo and behold, there it was, spinning, weaving, waiting to eat! I loved it!

Mrs.Mitchell, you best not be reading this..

 

[Beacon]

This spider reminds me an awful lot of a crab. If I look at it too hard I doubt I will be able to eat crab for a long time. (This happened to me before; I could not eat crab for quite a while after the whole "spideriness" of the crab hit home.)

There are two bugs that worry me: spiders and mosquitos. Both can bite and cause problems. My husband has a huge, horrible fear of bugs. I am quite sure one of the reasons he married me is my fearlessness about killing them.

This spider you photographed is sort of neat looking in a picture, but IRL it would be totally creepy and terrible. Cannot deal with that!

 

[ladykemma]

wow, cool spider.

 

[bee*]

Date: 6/12/2007 1:56:46 AM
Author: ladykemma
wow, cool spider.

I agree-I think it''s cool looking-look at his colours!! I have to admit though that I love spiders-this might freak out some people, but we used to have spiders nests down the end of our garden when I was a kid and I used to love going out to play with the baby spiders. I''d bring my dolls house out there and let them all sit in it!

Yep, I was a weird kid!

 

[Dandi]

We get dinnerplate-size huntsmen spiders in my part of Australia, and I'm pretty happy just popping them in a container and deporting them outside

. Creepy crawlies don't faze me much, in fact I'm fascinated by spiders, but that this is bizarre, luckystar!! Never seen anything like it!!