Are you frightened by insects or spiders?

[Bertha Venation]

I love all the critters, no matter whether their skeletons are inside or outside their organs.

In spite of this, I am frightened by bugs if I get too close to them.

Last summer I noticed a small brown preying mantis outside on the screen. I took the camera outside to get some pictures of it. After about three flashes it had had enough and it jumped right onto my face. I screamed and did the bug dance. It jumped off, and I went inside to find Mrs. V. laughing hysterically.

Last night we saw a huge spider -- these spiders are named Boris -- beginning to build a web on the inside of the sliding screen door. I didn't want the cats to get it -- I knew it would be eight legs all over the house by morning. I got a plastic dish & lid to trap the thing & toss it outside. Who knew Boris could jump?! It didn't jump on me, but it jumped into and out of the dish a couple of times. I finally got it clear of the screen but I couldn't put the lid on because it was crawling either on the lid or on the lip of the dish. When it was on the lid I finally just opened the door and tossed out the lid, along with an utterance that I can't type out; have no idea which letters make up the sound that came from my mouth. When I closed the screen and turned around, I found Mrs. V. laughing hysterically.

The first time she laughed hysterically at me was a few years ago, shortly after we'd moved into our house. We were lying in bed, talking before we turned off the lights. There was a black flying thing in the room and although I tried not to be afraid of it, I just couldn't help myself. Finally it lit high up on the wall near the ceiling. I stared at it for a long time, willing it to stay put. Eventually it flew again and when it did I jumped. It didn't fly at me. I just jumped.

Sigh.

What about you -- do bugs scare you?

[indepat]

1. I must admit to shaking a bit after having brushed a brown recluse from

my arm last summer.

[Bertha Venation]

2. Yikes! Aren't those poisonous?!

Yeah, I think I'd shake a little too. :scared:

[tXr]

9. I've seen what the bite of a brown recluse will do to a person...

it's not pretty! :scared:

[indepat]

14. Very much so: Moreover, a large hunk of flesh often falls off from the

area surrounding the bite which necessitates reconstructive surgery.

[Christof]

3. No.

I'm not afraid of bugs. I'm cautious by insects and spiders that I have never seen before, but not afraid.

A couple of years ago, in Rapid City, South Dakota, my geology class went out to study the Minnelusa Formation in a rock outcrop along the highway. When we got there, our guide told us to watch out for black widow spiders because they made their homes in the eroded limestone. Well, in my fascination of geology, I carelessly peered into one of the holes and there was a black widow spider not more than a foot in front of my face. She (the females have the hourglass shape on them) startled the hell out of me, but I didn't fear her. I left her alone and continued my exploration of the rock outcrop. It was a creepy experience nonetheless.

[Elidor]

4. My SO snapped this shot the other night

And then delighted in sending it to me at work:



I do not fully share her enthusiasm for spiders. God, look at the bag being wound about some hapless insect! Eeeeek!

If my father were still alive, he'd say this was how his first marriage ended.

[Christof]

5. What kind of spider is that?

Looks creepy...but interesting.

[Elidor]

8. I don't know

But it is currently living at my SO's apartment in middle Tennessee, where he is a favored guest. *shiver*

[KT2000]

6. Getting better, but some are just creepy

This has been a bad year for insects - at least in my house. I run a shuttle out the front door in the evenings with my jar of captured bugs. But these are mostly spiders and beetles.

But there is one bug that I have seen at the beach - it is about 1 1/2 inches long, fat and round with heavy wings that sit over its back at rest. They are mostly at rest when I see them, but they THROB!!!
If one of these gets into a room, I close the door, stuff a towel under the door and go meditate on courage until I can actually face getting it out of the house.

While courageously blathering - I courageously scoop up the creepy bug into a container and courageously throw container, bug and lid out the door - to be courageously salvaged after bug has had hours to escape.

[shadu]

15. I would sure like a picture of that

[KT2000]

18. OK but you will have to

go to the NW corner of Washington state - across from Victoria. I'm not going out to look for any though.
I'll cruise the internet to see what I can find.

[Bronco69]

7. I don't like creepy crawly things either!

Here's a funny story for you that happened a couple of months ago: My dogs Annie and Duka love to go lay next to the chain link fence by the neighbor's yard. My neighbor's daughter has Downs Syndrom and just loves petting the dogs through the fence. Well, the dogs had been running in and out all day long and toward the end of the day I was going to sit on the couch to watch tv. As I was walking to the couch I saw a HUGE spider on the floor. He was just sitting there not moving at all. I yelled for my partner to come and get it, so he brought a plastic container and scooped the spider up and through it out on the deck. When the spider hit the deck it just laid there still not moving. I got a twig and sort of kept poking it to see if it would move, but it didn't. Assuming the spider was dead, I just scooped it back up in the plastic container and took it inside to flush it down the toilet. I dumped the spider in the toilet and noticed the spider was PURPLE! I fished it back out and saw that it was one of those rubber spiders that you can buy at the store. The neighbors daughter had put it through the fence assuming that the dogs might like to play with it. Instead they brought it in the house and scared the s*it out of me! :-)

[Christof]

10. LOL!

That's funny!

[LWolf]

11. No.

I prefer to avoid contact, but I share space with spiders and many insects very well. I don't share well with:

flies of all sorts
roaches
ants indoors or on my plants outdoors
aphids
hornworms
whiteflies
ticks
fleas

I get along well with most of the rest.

[Nikia]

12. No, only bigger creatures

Since they are small, bugs don't really care me. Mice, geese, and snakes do though.

[hiphopnation]

13. Certianly not!!

Oh wait...I mean HELL YES!!!


http://research.amnh.org/entomology/blackrock2/pictures/spider_images/galleries/dysderidae/cpdysch22











http://photographytips.com/Images/xspider%2Dtarantula%2Din%2Dhand%2Ejpg

[Bertha Venation]

16. What in the name of holy mother of God Jesus Christ on toast is THAT??!!

The last photo!??

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?
:scared: AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[AmyDeLune]

17. A Hissing Cockroach...?

maybe...? :scared:

[hiphopnation]

22. you got it!

ain't it loverly??

Sorry to scare, Bertha. LOL!!

[Lukymom]

20. Excuse me!

After seeing these pictures I'll have to go now to have my heart attack. If I survive, I'll have nightmares for a week for sure!!!!

[Lukymom]

19. Do you have to ask? OF COURSE!!!!! ;-)

I hate - no, I mean, I fear - spiders and snakes more than you can imagine. It's almost a phobia. And I'm so scared of them that somebody have to kill them for me. I'm even scared of killing them. But my husband is one of those guys that feel terrible even if he steps on an ant by accident (although, when we were dating, he called me on his cell phone and while we were talking, all of the sudden he screams "Jesus Christ, I killed a squirrel!" Before I could say anything, he screams again "I killed another"! Since then he was elected the squirrels worst enemy... :-) )

But anyway. My husband makes me feel so bad for killing spiders that I started to let them live. Every time I saw one smaller than my pinkie finger nail, I let it live. Big mistake! Now I spend part of my day cleaning spider webs and the other part trying to find the little devils to step on them really bad!

[mairceridwen]

21. YES

This is a true story. I am terrified of spiders and tend to have terrible, night terrors almost all of which include a spider of some kind. And these are real, night terrors, the kind that rip you out of stage-four sleep, sweating...they're not just "bad dreams." Anyway, when I was a little girl I tormented a big spider hanging in our bathroom window...spraying him with hairspray just to see him wiggle.* I am convinced that the soul of that spider has been haunting me until this day.


*For the record, I never tortured any other animal before or after this. You won't hear about me years from now, as a serial killer or anything. I was just curious to see this big ole' spider wiggle. I also do not support the killing of spiders. My cat can, but when I see them in my house, I put them outside.