Are Spiders REALLY our friends????

[tymejumper]

So as to not highjack the TG Folk thread, I thought to start a thread about those cuddly little arachnids, Spiders. As it was pointed out by Pablo, they are our friends. But, are they? People are pretty darn scared of these creepy little animals but they do searve a purpose. They eat bugs that harm my garden, and I am glad to get Orb weavers in there. Also, they feed birds, bats and various other creatures. They also eat tons of bugs that would quicklyl over run us if not disposed of.

I used to be really terrified of them but then I had kids. There was a small spider on my newborn daughter and believe me, instinct took over and I snatched that creature right off of her. Also, someone has to rescue my wife from them, she's terrified!:lol::lol:

Aside from the fact that my belief of not harming anything I don't have to, keeps me from killing the creatures outright, I quickly had to learn how to 'catch and release'. A glass serves the purpose well enough.

Other than that, my teen is terrified of bees and wasps. I actually thought she had recently cut off her foot while mowing the lawn because of all the terrified screams and "oh, my Gods' coming from the front yard. I ran from the back fearing the worse, only to find out that she had run over a wasp nest and they were buzzing after her. When I saw that she was fine, I wanted to kill her for scaring the heck out of me. She later wandered into the kitchen in time to see me down a quarter of a bottle of wine, directly out of the bottle, because I was still shaking so hard!

Anyone else have a terror out there they want to post about?

[labguy22]

Around a year and half ago I became vegetarian at which time I also refused to kill anything just because it was deemed a pest. Like tymejumper, I also use the glass to catch and release. We live on the third floor, so they get tossed down into an adjacent garden. My husband is terrified of spiders, but he tries to overcome his fear knowing that the killing of something just to put himself at ease is wrong. Besides, we all what would have become of Wilbur, had Charlotte not intervened ;););)

[Alecto]

I'm cool with most insects as long as they're not all in my personal bubble. Like...stay off my FACE, and I'm usually happy to just walk away. I will get a wiggins if it moves to quickly, or jumps ::shudder:: and I'm definitely not ok with things that bite and sting.

[wmanion]

I would have to agree with Alecto. I don't mind insects as long as they are outside and away from me. I consider bees and wasps my enemies, and running into a spider web can give me the creeps all night long. But, I have to admit if a spider or a bug gets to close to me or is on me...it gets squashed.
However this thread has reminded me of an incident that happened to me as a teenager. I was living with my Aunt and my brother and I shared a room upstairs. There was no heat upstairs and it was winter and we had electric blankets to keep us warm. Well, the first thing I did when I jumped out of bed was to pull my jeans on and it just so happened that sometime during the night, a mouse had also decided to slip into my jeans. The jeans went on and the mouse ran down my leg. I do not know if I was so shocked that it did not phase me or if I was still too sleepy to realize the EEK of the situation. However, mice do not bother me still to this day. I would rather catch and release them than a spider.

Bill

[Pablo Rafael]

I am glad to see some others who agree with me that arachnid life is worthy of being preserved. I'm sure MATTHEW will make his way to this thread to contradict, so I will get here before he does. :D

A few years back I had a picture on the wall that I took down. Behind the picture was a spider guarding a batch of spider eggs. (What do you call those cocoon-like egg cases of spiders?) I decided to leave it and watch. The mother spider stayed with the eggs and guarded them for a week or two. Then I saw a couple of little black dots on the webs areound the nest. The next day there were dozens of little black dots. A close look showed they were tiny spiders. After a day or two they were all gone, finding a new home somewhere else.

It was cool to watch new life spring into existence and nature at work.

[RedneckDyke]

Spiders kill flies and I love them for it! The flies at the farm sem worse every year. I think because it doesn't get cold enough in the winters to kill them off. (And they say global warmings doesn't exist!)
I don't like walking through spider webs, it gives me an icky feeling. But I do appreciate the spiders and their fly killing abilities.

Bees are fab also. Without bees to pollinate them, we wouldn't have a lot of our food crops. I used to have a hive. I enjoyed working with them. I would say "Hi ladies!" Got a year's worth of good honey. Unfortuately, a sow got out and knocked the hive over, ate this year's honey crop, and scared my girls so bad they swarmed and flew off.:(

[matthewspeed]

Sorry all. I kill all spiders that are in my way!!!!!!!!!!!

[tymejumper]

My Sppech Thearpist came to work last week with a spider in a jar. She said she had opened her door and in crawled this Wood spider, she started to say how hugh it was and I really thought that she was exagerating a bit so I took a look.

Wow, that was one hugh spider. She(only know this beause she had an egg sack with her)was probably as big as a 50 cent piece, not counting the legs. Well all the patients really loved and enjoyed looking that darned spider and her egg sack.

The only bad part was the fact The State Licensing Board of Michigan chose that day to walk in to survey us and make sure we were up to code and keeping everyone safe etc. We had to hide our spider out for the rest of the day. We would have been in a bit of trouble for that if they found her.

Well, happily she made it fine hidden out in the Speech Therapy office under a coat(the jar). She was set free that night in the woods behind the Speech Therapists house.

[Pablo Rafael]

Sorry all. I kill all spiders that are in my way!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey folks, I think we have someone here with a real problem. This tendency toward violence is turning into an emotional crisis. :smashy: We need to take action before he goes off the deep end and does something that will scar him for life.

Let's have an intervention. I am inviting Matthew over Saturday night for drinks and dinner and a DVD. We can all meet at my house at 6:30. Don't park in the driveway or he will know something is up; park east of the garage. We will make him face this head on. (And remember, mum's the word.)

Pablo

[matthewspeed]

Let's have an intervention. I am inviting Matthew over Saturday night for drinks and dinner and a DVD.



As long as there will be alcohol, I'm there. Spiders or no spiders!!!:lol:

[wmanion]

As long as there will be alcohol, I'm there. Spiders or no spiders!!!:lol:

Just watch out for the worms at the bottom of the bottles!

[Zerbie]

This damn thread.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning screaming from a dream that a spider had attached a thread to my leg and was with me everywhere I went until the dream de-escalated into a freakout session that I was running in circles and screaming like a lunatic. When I woke up I thought "What the --?"

Then I remembered this thread.

[labguy22]

This damn thread.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning screaming from a dream that a spider had attached a thread to my leg ...
Then I remembered this thread.

Oh Zerbie, you should never read this stuff just before bedtime...aweful nightmares:eek: try a nice little slasher movie instead :weee::lol:

[tymejumper]

Oh Zerbie, you should never read this stuff just before bedtime...aweful nightmares:eek: try a nice little slasher movie instead :weee::lol:



I totally agree with that. Gi, my teen told me that you never read The Hobbit before bed because you have really weird dreams about Gandolf and Hobbits playing poker with you.........:lol::lol::lol:

[RaymondCharlesWoollcombe]

Cant stand Spiders! I have a very big phobia of them, Wont even walk under one if its on the celling. I know i know silly but thats just how i am with them. :p

Peace and Love
Raymond.....:pray:

[Alecto]

A few years back I had a picture on the wall that I took down. Behind the picture was a spider guarding a batch of spider eggs. (What do you call those cocoon-like egg cases of spiders?) I decided to leave it and watch. The mother spider stayed with the eggs and guarded them for a week or two. Then I saw a couple of little black dots on the webs areound the nest. The next day there were dozens of little black dots. A close look showed they were tiny spiders. After a day or two they were all gone, finding a new home somewhere else.

Ok, so there's totally one more thing that freaks me out. God I did not need that. :- /

[livewithsoulandfreedom]

hey,
since I haven't had first hand experience with spiders I do not know if I am scared of them or not. I'm not scared of mice. Mice are cute. If there is one thing I hate it is cockroaches :eek: AAAAAAHH!!!! Get it away from me.

One time I was walking down the street in vietnam and I was walking under a tree and this BIG cockroach fell from the tree (don't ask why it was in a tree, I wouldn't know, but it was there) and landed right on my head. :eek: I went beserk the second it landed on me and I saw what it was. I shouted and shook myself all around. And no one else around knew why so it was kind of random for them... :lol: .... none the less it wasn't a pleasant experience... :(

[RaymondCharlesWoollcombe]

Poor you chris! Thats sounds like it wasnt a good experience!

[livewithsoulandfreedom]

Poor you chris! Thats sounds like it wasnt a good experience!

The reason it sounds like a bad experience Ray, is because it WAS one... :mad: :mad: :mad: :'(

.... :rolleyes: :D

you know I'm only mucking about but you pretty much stated the obvious there :rolleyes:

:D

[RaymondCharlesWoollcombe]

I know your mucking about and i did that for a reason...Cause i wanted to be annoying! weeeeeeeee :D :D


Peace and Love
Crazy Ray...:pray:

[livewithsoulandfreedom]

I know your mucking about and i did that for a reason...Cause i wanted to be annoying! weeeeeeeee :D :D


Peace and Love
Crazy Ray...:pray:

Annoying huh?

MUWHAHAHAHAHA!!!! MY EVIL PLAN TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD IS WORKING!!!! MAKE EVERYONE WANT TO ANNOY EACH OTHER AND WATCH THE WORLD AS IT ENGAGES IN CHAOS!!! ANARCHY!! ANARCHY!! ANARCHY!!

you want to be annoying? good for you, thanks for helping me destroy the world :D ;)

[RaymondCharlesWoollcombe]

No worries!:D

[Pablo Rafael]

Thanks for helping me destroy the world :D ;)

I have heard it said that we gays were destroying the world. I guess it is true. Since I am easily swayed by peer pressure, I will join in. What should I do? Is being my annoying self good enough? ;)

I could also hatch a bunch more spiders if that will help. :D

[tymejumper]

Hey Pablo,
They are called 'spiderlings', aww how cute is that? I only know this becuase my 9 year old is bound and determined to be an Entamologist. We have bought pins and I have had to dedicate a portion of my freezer to 'bug space' for freshness before we pin. Ellie put her little foot down and won't let her have spiders in the house, so we are at a crossroads here! :lol:

We were watching a bunch of spiderlings hatch last month on the front of our drainspout. They were so tiny, it was really amazing that they are little animals not insects. I have instructed the kids to 'catch and release' spiders into the garden so they will eat the Aphids on my tomato plants, cause other organic measures are not working! :'(

[Pablo Rafael]

"Spiderlings" indeed a very CUTE word.
How could one not love something with so cute a name.

And check out this picture:

[matthewspeed]

Pablo,

That photo of the baby spiders gives me the "hee bee jeebies!!" YUck man!!!

I see spider in my home, I KILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[livewithsoulandfreedom]

I have heard it said that we gays were destroying the world. I guess it is true. Since I am easily swayed by peer pressure, I will join in. What should I do? Is being my annoying self good enough? ;)

I could also hatch a bunch more spiders if that will help. :D

Everything you have suggested sounds perfect.... :D

MUWHAHAHAHA!!!! DESTROY!! DESTROY!! DESTROY!!


oh!

AND

I almost forgot :p ,

if you see any cockroaches kill them too.

KILL! KILL! KILL!

:D

[tdogg]

I use a large tupperware container for my catch and release. I'm definitely the wildlife wrangler in my home. :D I love bees and bumblebees too, although I'm not too fond of wasps (they are known to chase and attack people), tho I'm starting to be become slightly more tolerant of their presence. ;):p

Mice, rats, no problem. Just prefer them to not be in my house or garage. We have dogs and cats so that's not normally a problem for us. We constantly have pest control vendors stopping by for business. I can usually get them to leave pretty quickly by telling them that we love our pests. :):love:

We chased a skunk into our garage one evening, driving up towards the garage door. I told my partner to stop the car, open the garage and then we waited until the little thing scurried out into the neighbors yard. We are only about 4 blocks from the river so get all sorts of critters, including lots of birds (we feed 3 to 4 different types of food at all times). I love it!

[tymejumper]

Pablo,

That photo of the baby spiders gives me the "hee bee jeebies!!" YUck man!!!

I see spider in my home, I KILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!



You big old meany!:lol::lol::lol:

[prairielesbian]

Cant' state that I have any "spider" horror tales to speak about and of, but I have been set aside as the desinated spider killer in the family. My partner when she spots a spider - I'm the one that is called to capture it. I always tease her that she's scared of them, only for her to come back with the reply of: "I just don't like killing anything." Yeah! ;)

Many a night, when my "love" crawls into bed and before the lights are out, she can spot the smallest almost transparent spider in the farthest corner. She'll just casually hand me over a kleenex and tell me - "get it" as she points in the direction of an empty corner - well empty to me. Sweet that I am - I'll spot, capture and kill, in order to protect my sweety. The kicker here, my partner was in the Army and shot guns, and jumped out of planes, etc. etc. and yet - my little toughy can't squish a spider.

Living in Ohio, I do have to say - there are a lot of spiders here - must be with all the trees around. ???

Spiders usually don't "freak" me out unless they look like they could defeat me. A few nights back, my partner spotted a spider outside by the main door and she called me over to see something - not telling me it was a spider. I got outside, turned to my side and OMG...the biggest spider I had ever seen. :eek: Did I kill it? NOPE!, - I let it be. To this day, it may be the size of a 8 lb bowling ball. ???

Guess spiders are our friends where they eat flys and such but so does the indoor cat.

[tymejumper]

. The kicker here, my partner was in the Army and shot guns, and jumped out of planes, etc. etc. and yet - my little toughy can't squish a spider.



That is about the situation that I am in. My wife, grewup in the wilderness and hunted, camped and was a basic country girl. She fixes everything, paints and roofed also. She fixes hugh machines at work all day that would take your arm off. But a tiny little spider sends her into massive fear. She kills wasps and gets rid of their nests but that spider sends her off! :lol::lol::lol::lol: