symondrake » Spiders

I like spiders

Symon — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:53:00 +0000

NZ Black Tunnelweb Spider

I moved an old railway sleeper yesterday and found (to my delight) a Brown Vagrant Spider. I was rather enjoying handling it when I realised that I’m not that scared of spiders anymore. Actually, it is almost a miracle, becasue I am becoming rather fond of them now.

NZ Brown Vagrant Spider

Three months ago, I had a deep fear of spiders. Now, I have a healthy respect, and fascination for them (from fiends to friends in 3 months… not bad). My secret? I forced myself to handle them, until fear gave way to common sense. Simple (but not easy).

I could have easily pushed it too far though (as some of you thought I did with the White-tail). The other day I found a huge Tunnelweb spider (about 25% bigger than the Vagrant shown in photo above) and was about to handle it, but chickened out. Was a good thing that I did, because I recieved a reply from a NZ spider expert about them which said…

Hi Symon. Tunnelweb spiders are not very social and often attack rather than run away and they hit hard using their whole body to sink their 5mm fangs into you so we recommend you DON’T HANDLE them. I tried to move our Tunnelweb with a knitting needle, over to the other side of her enclosure, she viciously attacked it I could feel and hear her hitting the knitting needle each time she attacked I definitely won’t be hand feeding her.

You can read about why I became scared of spiders, and my decision to own that fear here. You can read about my encounter with the small, but dangerous Whitetail here.

Incy wincy White Tail…

Symon — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:03:00 +0000

Back in July I confessed that I had a fear of spiders, but was determined to overcome it by forcing myself to handle them. Read the post here.

Last night I was relaxing on the sofa (much like the gentleman in the photo above), when I noticed a rather large White Tail walking on the curtain close to my head (adrenaline spike now). I grabbed a glass and captured it. There are times in life when we have the choice to be couragous or cowardise. This was one of those times. I told Paisley Jade to grab the camera (photographic proof), and let the thing loose on my arm.

There is much debate as to how dangerous White Tail bites really are. This chart shows the White Tail is extreme on both agression and venom scales.

After a few minutes I dropped the spider on the ground and as I placed the glass over it, it lunged (super quick) at my finger and attempted to bite it. Lucky the glass was between me and it. Nasty creatures.

I’m scared of spiders

Symon — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:49:00 +0000

When I was really young, I wasn’t scared of spiders… in fact, I used to play with them.

We then moved to Auckland and it was there that I witnessed an event which would change my view of spiders indefinitely… from being fluffy friends to being fanged freaks. One day an Avondale Spider (minding its own business) meandered up our lounge wall. Bad mistake. I watched horrified, as my dad transformed incy-wincy spider into gwakamole goop with no less than ten direct hits of a broomstick (if it’s worth doing once…). I had never seen him so terrified before or since.

They say that fear is learned, and it was at moment that I became scared of spiders.

In the years following I have had numerous nightmares about being attacked by spiders. My poor wife… I think I’ve scared her more than my dreams scared me! A few years ago I woke up thinking that a Labrador-sized spider was trying to eat me. It took quite a while for DW to convince me otherwise. Goodtimes.

So, starting small, I have determined to overcome my fear of spiders. I actually think they are fascinating. Spiders can bite, sure, but my cat (Barney) can bite. His fangs are much bigger than a spiders. Am I scared of him? No… I snuggle him (as you can see I’m really trying hard to convince myself)!

Photo evidence follows…

As you can see, I was a very brave boy the other day and let a Grey House Spider crawl all over my hand for ten minutes. It looked much bigger in real life (seriously) and was a very cheap way to get an adrenaline rush (who needs to spend $100 on a bungy jump?)!

My 4 year old daughter was rather amused, and thought she’d give it a try. Notice her expression… I feel like such a coward.

My goal is to handle a Whitetail and not break out in a cold sweat. Stay tuned…