A show I saw on Discovery or A&E a few years ago about snakes said that, unlike with arthropods, humans are not born with a built-in aversion to snakes, so fear of snakes has to be learned. It stuck wth me because, even though the show was about snakes, the main thing I got from it that was new to me was the implication about arthropods that it tossed out while actually making a statement about snakes.

Didn't they poop everywhere? I had a problem with ants in the kitchen of the apartment I was in in college. One day I noticed a spider that had eaten a few ants so I let him stay. But then later I noticed all his droppings, and it was nearly impossible to clean them.

I wonder if the cat just couldn't see it because it wasn't moving. The cat would be able to smell it though, and when he went closer to get a better sniff, the mantis would wack his nose. So from the cat's perspective, it's like this "hey what's that smell? *whack* Ouch! ok note to self: If I ever smell that again I'm walking in the other direction!"

I never saw anything that I thought could be mantis poo. I never saw anything of them actually use the 'facilities'. This may be due to the fact that mantids are much more mobile than web-based spiders, and so anything they did leave behind would have been scattered about and much harder to spot. I did have to pick up after them though because mantids are notoriously sloppy eaters. Since they eat their prey alive, the squirming around sometimes causes premature dismemberment. If the mantis drops a body part, or even the whole meal, it won't bother retrieving anyting. Plus, they will often eschew things like legs and wings for a nice meaty abdomen or head -- dropping the unwanted pieces form wherever they are eating. When catching stinging fliers (wasps/bees/etc) the mantids would catch the head in one claw and the abdomen in the other, right next to the stinger so they couldn't get stung. I'm sure this was no accident. From there, they would frequently chew their way through the midsection and proceed to eat from the inside out, dropping the empty husk to the floor. Spiders too -- except they would usually make efforts to avoid the head, and would usually try to immobilize at least the rear legs.

I just kept a dustbuster handy -- and didn't use it for anyting but cleaning up after the mantids.

As far as the cat goes, she was constantly aware of the mantis I had at the time, greatly intrigued by it, and extremely wary of it. That one was more then six inches in length, probably the biggest, fiercest one I have ever kept. So I know she could see it even when it was still. (Even when they're 'still', mantids aren't still. Like many camouflaged tree-dwelling predators they tend to wiggle back and forth to simulate movement by the wind. Especially evident when on the hunt.) I never saw such a thing, but I do think that the mantis struck the cat. It sure doesn't feel very good, and I imagine it hurts more on a smaller organism.

But they never stung you when you'd pick them up?

I am not the least bit afraid of spiders. If there is one on my pillow, I’ll pick it up and put it outside. I would not touch a poisonous spider, but that’s rational. However, I was afraid of them when I was a kid. My earliest memories of spiders involve panicked jumping and screaming when accidentally touching one. I got rid of that fear by forcing myself to pick up spiders and hold them. It was very difficult at first, then less so, and eventually the fear was gone.

So yes, I think it is inborn.

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I think from an evolutionary standpoint that there is some level of instinctive fear of arachnids. The fear of spiders is more common in people than a general fear of all 'bugs' (arachnids and insects). It makes some sense as many species of spider can harm or kill a person, and early primates lived in tropical areas where contact with harmful spiders would be more common. It might also apply to scorpions.

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I saw a program once that said it is a remnant of our ancient instincts. It didn't really back it up with anything though, I thought the show would help but it just gave me nightmares. I am just convinced that I must give off some pherimone (spelled phonetically) which attracts only grown man-hand-sized, spiders, covered in hair. Yes my posts get a bit longwinded so I will give you the short version of my two best spider anecdotes which I feel shareworth.

I once jumped out of a car, that I was driving, to escape a spider. (the car was in neutral so catching up to it was no big deal.)

I once stepped on a toddler, running away from what I thought was a spider, which turned out to be dog whiskers. Mind you it was not five minutes earlier, that a spider, roughly 8 inches across, black, and hairy, literally jumped off the wall at me. Believe me, I am not big fishing that either.

I remember getting into a car when I was young, and turning my head to the right, was surprised and freaked out by a large huntsman (big, hairy, tarantula like), inches from my face. I also remember being in the bush and walking into a giant spider web (I totally freaked).

I'm surprised that I am fairly calm around spiders, but if they run at me my logic goes south and I just have to get away. I remember once a large ugly running at me and I jumped up backwards into a chair. I have never been able to duplicate that maneuver conciously.

I seem to remember a doco on arachnaphobia which said it comes from the"alien" look of spiders (and many bugs in general). As someone mentioned early, we cant anthropomorphise a spider. Kittens, seals, dogs, even fish, have a face with two eyes and a mouth.

Its no surprise that many Hollywood aliens are insect like.

There might be a point in that. I'm not afraid swimming around fish (though suddenly seeing a huge one for the standards of this area is scary), but I'm not too fond of crabs, even though they don't tend to do anything to a diver. But as with many animals, the animal fleeing away is the scary part .

I think a cyclope is more scary than a Grey.

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My fear of spiders goesback to a child hood trauma. Other critters I 'm not good around include Siamese cats (trauma- Lady and the Tramp), emus (trauma- being chased around the zoo by one when I was about 24), horses (they all seem to hate me). I actually don't have a problem anthopomorphising spiders, especailly jumpers. They have these cute little faces,and you can sort of see which way they look. I can pick them up, but the other kinds I leave to the GF.

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An evil person would do the things I think up.

For anyone like myself who has a fear of spiders and wants to keep them out of the house, here's how.

Use Horse Chestnut. It gives off a chemical that spiders don't like.

A string off horse chestnuts in a room will keep it spider free for a year. If you want to go into the loft then plan in advance and put some leaves, branches and chestnuts in there a few weeks before going in and it will be spider free.

I can assure you it works, I have been using it for 6 years now.

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Use Horse Chestnut. It gives off a chemical that spiders don't like.

That seems a lot easier than my solution. I send my daughter out to catch some geckos. Frogs work fairly well too, but they drive the big dogs crazy.

I remember getting into a car when I was young, and turning my head to the right, was surprised and freaked out by a large huntsman (big, hairy, tarantula like),

The spider that freaked me out so much that I stepped on the toddler looked exactly like a huntsman only it was black. I spent hours on the internet looking for a name but that was the closest. The funny thing is, the whole time I was looking, I was heaving, but couldn't look away. Hubby even came in and warned me that every time I go on a spider obsession, I have a really bad spider experience. Low and behold, I pushed the chair away from the computer and there, sitting on my prosthetic foot, was a medium sized Wolf spider. They are after me I tell ya!

I'm not gullible because I'm a Leo.--Actually said to me by a co-worker

did you laugh at her? him? right then or think about it later? I'd have gone home and figured out the irony only to spend the entire evening laughing at that peron's sillinness.


I have one like that:

In 11th grade I was in the band. Every Friday night we played at the High School Football Game. The first game of the year was in another town so we put 200 kids on buses. The band payed for our dinner at a Lubys. Of course I was in the back of the line with my new freshman girlfriend and her friends. Can't leave her standing alone

Well, the girl in front of us, also freshman, was quite blond. And during the long wait (200 people remember) She was telling us about how she's a vegetarian and despises people that eat meat. That went on for a while until the subject changed. The, we turn towards the food and guess what? She gets something from the meat server! I comment, "what about all that you just told us?" She replies that chicken isn't meat because it doesn't have any protein. DOH.... Talk about dumb, but that wasn't the worst....

wait for it....



She had ordered Chicken Fried Steak. LOL

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-Cross
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Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

If I recall, I didn't quite make it into the closet next to me when she said it. The best part was that what she was not going to believe was some comment I had just made about talking horses or something obviously silly. That is one of the things I want to put on a t-shirt some day

I should add, that this is the same woman I convinced that you can't your own voice when you speak because the speech center of the brain lie right beside the ear canal. The brainwaves of what you think cancels out the sound waves that come in, thus what you hear is really your imagination, and why you will not recognize your voice wen you hear it on a recording. She said, "Oh, that's why my choir teacher told us to put out fingers in our ears to hear what we really sound like when we sing." That one stunned me a bit.

Same woman leaves work in May for "open heart surgery", only to come back in September to get her check wearing a bikini top and shorts, perfectly tan, and no scars on her sternum.

Same woman changed out of her checker uniform to go to lunch "Just in case she got into a wreck, she wouldn't want to be seen wearing THAT"., but when she changes to go to the gym, she walks out in a black on piece leotard thing with a white thong bikini bottom, the rear string of which was not visible.

Another time I had her believing I was in a cult that I took from a role playing game. Basically, everything that was alive grew from moldy food left in a big sack. Actually acknowledging the giant carrying the sack would cause him to become aware of the problem, clean out the sack, and destroy the universe as we knew it, so no church buildings. (I hope that didn't go over the line here for religion)

Another guy I worked with said his mother-in-law asked how many came in the all you can eat shrimp, and has seen people nod when asked if they want fries at a drive up window.

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I'm not evil.
An evil person would do the things I think up.

oh, those kind of things happen all the time.


I once asked a man from whom I was buying a truck (didn't buy it though) is that slant 6 a V? After we stopped laughing I went home.

People like that amuse me. I've gotten over letting them upset me and let them live those simple lives. It's got to be easier than making decisions for yourself.

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"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

Maybe not this spider.

Here in Australia our houses are constantly being invaded by the common Huntsman Spider. It has a non-fatal bite but it's huge and ugly and scares almost everyone.



clop

My fear of spiders grew from an episode of Dr Who back in the 70's. There was a room full of huge spiders and they jumped on Dr Who's back and controlled his mind. Ever since that episode from behind the sofa I have had a fear of spiders.

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Thank God for magnetism.