Never will I ever.……….

I went to make toast the morning after arriving in France - put the toaster on and heard a dreadful noise - realised there was a mouse in there. Luckily turned the toaster off before the poor mouse got badly burnt. Recently my daughter was complaining about a mouse in the house they were renting, her husband and one of the children said it was nibbling their feet in the night. The people renovating the house next door popped round for a word and said "Just to let you know that we have discovered a nest of rats" - yep, that mouse was a young rat - shudder.

One night I felt quite itchy and kept scratching. When I put the light on I found I was covered in ants!
Another time I got into bed and was stung on the foot by a hornet. It took 2 weeks for the swelling to go down.

Whilst in Tripoli, the practice was to turn your shoes upside down whilst not in use. This was to discourage tarantulas from taking up residence. Huh! I did more than that.

Spiders have no redeeming features for me, I'm afraid. I was brought up in a house with an outside loo. It often had spidery inhabitants lurking in the dark corners. Going to the loo in the dark was worse. My imagination ran wild. When my Dad lifted the galvanised bath into the house on a Saturday evening, I would make sure no creepy crawlies were inside. Quite an irrational fear really because they are not dangerous. I have an 8 year old grand-daughter who describes spiders as 'cute'! She doesn't get that from me!

I keep a shaped towel for my hair when I've washed it,
the sort you can twist and button at the back to keep in place. I'd washed my hair, put the towel on and when I took it off to dry my hair there in the folds was a large spider!! It went out the window quick sharp and I always check now!

OMG! Reading this has made me itch. YUK! We have a 'sous sol' in our French house and huge spiders take up residence. I refuse to go in. They don't often leave their home, but not long back, while hubby was in the kitchen, once fell on his head. I wasn't there to witness it, but I'm sure he did a rather fetching jig as he flipped it off ... he tells me he's not frightened of spiders .... yeah, right!

It would never have occurred to me to check my bed for intruders of any kind before I got in. I do however check my wellies before I put them on.

Years ago I remember my Mam telling me about cockroaches roaming over the eiderdown at night in the old colliery houses her family lived in.

I feel for you! A few weeks ago after having a bath I grabbed a towel. As I went into the bedroom I felt something skitter down my back. I flung the towel off and there was a huge spider on it! It still gives me the willies thinking about it. Every towel is inspected before use now

When I was a child I had a fear of bats, I think somebody had told me the tale that they would get tangled in your hair. One morning my father came into my bedroom to wake me up, he pulled the curtains and was fiddling with something at the top of the window. When he finished I asked him what he had been doing and he told me there was a bat which had settled at the top of the window which had been open. He told me very gently what had happened, reassured me and gave me a long cuddle. One of the many reasons I adored my Dad and was devastated when he died in 1966, I was only 22.

Many years ago on holiday in Greece, we were sitting on the verandah of our holiday home under the shade of a luscious grapevine. We heard a loud thud as a dead rat dropped right in front of us, just missing my dad's head. Also, when I was child, I pulled back the candlewick bedspread on my bed to find the very bloody remains of a mouse that the cat had snuck upstairs to eat in peace.

I really wish I hadn't read this! I have a terrible phobia of spiders.

My DD lives in Wisconsin and seems to get quite a bit of wildlife in the house, despite living in the city. Millipedes so big that, seen from the corner of your eye, you think that they're mice. Stink bugs, which are as horrid as they sound. Recently they had to chase a chipmunk around the kitchen. They can carry rabies and apparently jump straight at your face if you get near them. Not like adorable little Alvin at all! Eventually her DH managed to push it outside with a brush.

I am an arachnophobe and this thread has given me the heebie jeebies.

I have such a visceral reaction to the shape of large, thick legged spiders that even the top of a large tomato which looks spiderish sets of the dread in the pit of my stomach.

Many years ago I was on a lounger in the garden, it was a warm day and I'd been reading...
I must of dozed off slightly and I felt the cat jump up and lie next to my leg - thigh level.
I reached down to stroke her and can recall thinking that she felt very strange, her fur felt odd.
I sat up and came face to face with a huge rat .
I screamed and tried to get up, fell on the floor with the lounger and rat on top of me.
My Mum ran into the garden to find me, a hysterical mess!

Spiders I can take, but a mouse sends me hysterical. I went to the toilet in our tiny downstairs loo. A mouse ran from behind the sink. I screamed so loud my husband thought there was an intruder hiding in the loo.

Oh dear everyone, you’ve made me laugh out loud. However whilst living in Rhodesia, Zambia and South Africa when going to bed the rituaL was to strip back the sheets, check not 9nly spiders and other oddities but ticks. Then in the morning, especially if anything was outside, to shake and tap shoes, boots, Takkies to ensure no scorpions in there. Delightful creatures.

MrsEggy

When we first moved into this house, about 40 years ago, there were no carpets. I opened the cloakroom door and a rather confused little mouse ran out. It looked around for a suitable hole to dive into and the first one it saw was my wide-leg trousers! It disappeared up them very rapidly and I dropped them with a shriek just as quickly!

??????

When we first moved into this house, about 40 years ago, there were no carpets. I opened the cloakroom door and a rather confused little mouse ran out. It looked around for a suitable hole to dive into and the first one it saw was my wide-leg trousers! It disappeared up them very rapidly and I dropped them with a shriek just as quickly!

Most of my experience of nasties has been in France. Those great big hairy centipedes are horrid and send shivers down my spine when they run across your hands.
One early morning wake up call was courtesy of a lizard which plopped down from a beam and landed on my tummy, I never slept naked again after that.

Had a flat in London eons ago. Flat below needed fumigating but before that happened, was troubled one night by an itch on my face. Not enough to truly wake me.
Next morning, came to make the bed, plumped up & turned the pillows and came across a massive German Cockroach. So THAT was what crawled over my face! Horrendous!

After living in the Far East I learnt (the hard way) to check before getting in bed, putting shoes and boots on and outdoor coats. It became a habit.

Wish I hadn’t read this just before going back to bed after a bathroom visit! I foresee a visit to Nightowls!

BradfordLass73 your mention of crickets reminded me of a very elderly uncle in rural Ireland in the 70’s. His wife had died and his son and Dil persuaded him to leave his remote cottage and live with them 4 miles away.

He was finding it hard to settle in their house and wanted to go back to his own cottage. He was so used to sitting by the fireside at night with just the sound of the crickets under the Aga range.

His son went back to the homestead and managed to catch a few crickets in a matchbox and take them to his house and deposit them under his Aga. Once the familiar sound of the crickets started there was no more mention of going home.

What a liberty!

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Living so near the bush, I often get skinks (like geckoes) bush cockroaches and cicadas in the house and although I'm not scared of any of them, jumping mice included, the most troublesome of the lot are crickets.

They come in at the end of summer and lie silent until I'm sleep then start this loud creechy-creechy. As soon as the light goes on, they stop. Leaving the light on doesn't work btw - I tried

Even if you can find them, they're too quick to catch.

The worst though was finding a weta in the nightie I'd just slipped over my head. I didn't notice until I snuggled down and it pinched me!