Arachnophobia…

MissAdventure

I sometimes can't bring myself to pick up tomato stalks - even though I'm the one who removed them just minutes before.
For some reason they are very spidery looking.
Does anyone else find that?

Yes!?
We grow tomatoes, and once brought into the house for use I have to take all the tops off before putting them into a bowl.

Living in an older house we get a lot ( of whoppers) every Autumn.I use the fly killing battery operated ‘bat’ shaped thing you buy in garden centres, works every time.
I don’t mind the kind of spiders that make webs ( I just remove them with a tickling stick) but the kind that don’t, the big hunting spiders get swiftly executed.

An arachnophobe!!

I am and arachnophobia but can’t help admire the way the spiders spin their webs, just saw this on the washing line this morning, will take it down gently and put the spider on the fence… as long as they stay outside they are fine with me ????

I made dead a big ‘un on the bathroom wall in my DD’s house on Thu night. There was no one around to deal with it and as it was in the en suite in the room I use, i knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep if it was still there. I grabbed about a mile and a half of loo roll, gave it a side eye and blatted it and straight down the loo and flush flush flush.

Later that evening an even bigger one appeared from nowhere in the middle of the floor. How do they do that? Before I could take action it scuttled under the sofa and I swear I could hear it having spider-sex under there all evening, its legs clattering on the wooden floor. ???

I have tried most of the grabby/sucky type spider "getters", and I know they rely on a non hysterical person at the other end.
Hence, my raquet.
Bang! Gone!

I've come back to report that the sucker things you can buy for £12.99 do not work, so don't waste your money. Actually, they are ok for puny things but the big hairy monsters it definitely cannot cope with, I've tried. My DH/spider catcher is currently out of action due to medical reasons so I am sitting here with the vacuum cleaner plugged in and ready to go. It worked last night when a giant spider appeared from nowhere but I had to leave it running for half an hour before I dared turn the motor off.

haz mat

Oh god, I’m going to have to wear a hat mat suit to bed after reading those! ☠️

Oh god Amberone and Shinamae, I’m feeling all tense and nervy now.
Two similar and terrifying experiences, first, as a teenager, left home to live in student accommodation, my roommate and I still on polite terms, having only known one another a couple of days. We were both sat in bed reading when one ran up my bed, I leapt the gap into her bed, where we both clutched each other screaming till a braver girl arrived.
Fast forward a few years, early days in the relationship with my now husband, it was going to be the big night, I went upstairs, but instead of finding me naked in the bed, he found me naked standing on the bed screaming, he had to spend the next hour tracking it down, not quite what he expected.

Something similar happened to me a few years ago. I read in bed but not with my glasses I just have a book about 2 inches from my nose(and I am extremely shortsighted )anyway this night I saw something move on my right,not sure what it was, thought it might be a moth(have no idea why I didn’t think spider !)so reach for my glasses and when I put them on a huge spider making his way towards me I threw the duvet back over it but he had disappeared God knows where he got to but I spent about 15 minutes trying to find him and just couldn’t so I didn’t sleep very well that night…????

Woke up yesterday morning and as I opened my eyes a huge spider walked across my bedspread right beneath my eyes. Just ambled, as if it was out for a walk, didn't even have sense to be frightened when I opened my eyes, and I'm sure it must have felt the vibrations beneath it from me shaking.

All I could see was a big black blob. Nearly had a heart attack there and then, couldn't even scream. OH was nowhere around so all I could do was throw the bedspread back to try to pin it down while I leapt out of bed. Found a 'spider catcher jar' in the drawer (every room should have at least one) and eventually managed to catch it under the jar. I was a bit stuck then as I had nothing to slip under the jar and had to slowly drag it across the bed until I could reach the cupboard. I was so cross by that time that it didn't even just get slung out of the window onto the roof just beneath, it went down the garden near the bird feeder. I fully expect to see it again in the next few days so now the bedroom gets a full inspection before I actually go to bed ?

Well done, MisAdventure!.

It was my youngest’s turn today. She was sitting on a loo, having just completed a long shift in A&E, when a giant daddy-long-legs decided to join her. She said she fled the cubicle, clutching her knickers so they didn’t fall down! ?. She had such a fright, she thought she was going to have to do CPR on herself.

I have just had occasion to resort to "the" racquet.
My heart's pounding here, but I did it!

My poor dd nearly went into premature labour the other day. She was tidying up prior to her cleaner coming when a spider leapt out and ‘attacked’ her! She said, to be fair, that it was probably having a nice nap and her scrabbling about disturbed it and gave it a fright too, but she shrieked loudly enough that her Dh and 3yo came running in.

I’m away from home at the moment and have left the window open so hoping I haven’t had an invasion while I’m away ??????

This is the skylight in my French doors for my downstairs bedroom, see underneath them two little spiders are quite welcome to stay there. I spray the inside of the curtain at the level of that skylight with peppermint oil mixture hoping it will keep the buggers at bay ????

SueDonim

2cm is 2cm bigger than any spider I care to see in my house! ?. I can’t look at your pic, Shinamae. It might jump out at me and then I’d have to boil myself in bleach for two hours at least.

?????

Agree, Misadventure! I accidentally left a tomato stalk in the worktop while cooking and my poor Dh nearly had a heart attack!

I sometimes can't bring myself to pick up tomato stalks - even though I'm the one who removed them just minutes before.
For some reason they are very spidery looking.
Does anyone else find that?

2cm is 2cm bigger than any spider I care to see in my house! ?. I can’t look at your pic, Shinamae. It might jump out at me and then I’d have to boil myself in bleach for two hours at least.

Crying with laughter at this thread. I do genuinely sympathise with anyone with a phobia though.

By large, I mean about 2cm.

I was very, very brave and picked up quite a large one in some toilet paper yesterday.
I kept repeating "it's just a blob" to myself, took my glasses off so I couldn't see any details, then did it!

And so it begins….Must’ve popped in for a drink, I didn’t kill him just found him
like that…

Very interesting article Sue….???????