Yes - I see that by the posts of others. I have no phobias, so my understanding is limited. In fact, about the only species I really fear is the human one. The irony doesn't fail me... ; )

I cannot understand why so many people hate spiders..

I always go into one of these discussions with the arguments following..

1. Most of them aren't poisonous (if u count them all / ratio between)
2. If u hate bugs, yeah..guess what? THEY KILL THEM ALL! That's why I like spiders so much cus they get rid of all those tiny and big bugs of all kinds and shapes.. :S
3. They look cool and have a nice anatomy.
4. They rarly bite an human if there no sharp moves that scares them.

So if there's any BUG we should be happy for, the spider is clearly the way to go.

I can't understand it either. They're really quite beautiful.

This picture set has been floating through the intratoobs for years.

I remember when it was posted on these two messageboards I went to. The first one gave warnings about it. The second one did not. While in a chatroom this fellow who knows I dislike spiders with a damned passion told me not to click the link on the first boards. (He went to the first boards as well)

Well after his warning, I didn't click the link. However when I check the second set of boards (which he didn't go to) I was treated to this. I went back into the chat and was all EIYR$*OEYONG(R*YG KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!! And he just said "I *TOLD* you not to look!!" ROFL I had to explain that it was posted elsewheres with no warning...

Moral of this tale?

This is why SilverCougar will never ever *EVER* step paw over to Aussieland.

It's called waking up with a wolf spider on your face when you're 5 years old. That's enough to make anyone afraid of the damned things.

That's awful! Its no wonder you're so frightened. Do you think you'd be bothered by spiders if that didn't happen?
I remember when I was around that age my father brought a huge wolf spider home from a job site. My mothers fright rubbed off on me and I couldn't sleep until he let it go in the back yard. I'm not by nature afraid of spiders, though.

Given that it did happen.. I can't tell ya.

Then I guess you wouldn't want to learn that we, on average, swallow about 6 spiders a year? While we're sleeping that is...

Urban legend.

So isn't true. But thanks for playing!

My cousin used to collect bannana spiders on a stick and chase me around with about 10 of them at a time. They terriffy me, although there bite don't kill it hurts more than a wasp. Ouuggg. !!!

The figure is more like 6 in a lifetime, although it inevitabaly varies, and probably isn't true...

Then you may want to inform National Geographic or the Discovery channel and let them know they're putting false information out there. I saw it on one of those channels, but don't recall which one for certain. It was about 5 years ago...

Lol! Are you kidding? Someone says "urban legend" and that's all it takes to convince you... Oooookay. Carry on.

Yet you don't remember the program? How ironic! It was on "Urban Legends," on Discovery.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who Started It?

Back in 1993, people were already getting fooled by online urban legends at an amusing rate. So, a columnist for PC Professional named Lisa Holst decided to prove that you could make up anything on the internet and people would believe it.

She did this by making up a set of facts that were utterly ridiculous, the spider myth among them (which itself was taken from a collection of insect folklore that dates back to the 1950s), and unleashing it on the world in the form of emails.

In a twist of oh-so-predictable irony, people who forwarded chain mail about this just "happened" to forget to include the fact that these were completely fake.

Who Was Fooled?

Ask a group of internet strangers and you'll find at least a handful of people who wholeheartedly believe this myth. Presumably because they read it somewhere. You've even got this supposed entomologist from Experts.com quoting it.

In 2006 The UK's Daily Mirror warned that "the average person will swallow anything from eight to 20 spiders before they die."

Not satisfied to go along with the normal fudged data, The Mirror upped the ante of r******ation by adding "A spider is also likely to drink from your eye at least THREE times in your life. Some experts have suggested they are attracted by the vibrations of snoring and the smell of undigested food - a good reason to floss your teeth before bedtime."

http://www.cracked.com/article_16241_6-mos...statistics.html

I barely got past missing this image as soon as I was able to read a bit. Um if you can for any posts like this put in the topic that it is a spider. Spiders are my worse fear and...if I saw that picture I would honestly freak out....badly. Just the description is going to keep me up =/

My mom has always disliked spiders. So I probably got my fear from her. Yet I'm interested in learning more about them. I don't fear them as much as I did when I was younger.

They're okay now but I still don't like them.

I thought banana spiders were the most deadly?

Barking spiders.

Why is snopes the leading "urban legend buster?" It is one chick's website. you huge group of skeptics will drop an issue once some one says snopes says so. well i call shennanigans. I say i will eat 6 spiders in a lifetime, a small percentage of the many little bitty baby ones I catch crawling on my arm at various times of my life. and yet I don't like it.
Boo to snopes being the only urban legend buster in the world.

Chomp away to your heart's content.

Snopes provides a valuable service, even if you insist they don't.

Wow scary scary

Why is "skeptic" a dirty word? I'm sure snopes.com isn't perfect, but they do make an honest effort to actually research and get to the bottom of urban legends. You can agree with their findings or not, but they do give you a trail of actual facts, like names, dates, and published references, which you can use to do your own research, if you're so inclined. This is way more verifiable than "I read it in an email". No one should take snopes as the final authority on anything, but with the huge amount of research they do, they are a useful reference. I'm sure they're not the only urban legend buster out there, but they've become the most famous because they are very good at it.

And just for the record, snopes doesn't say that people don't swallow spiders in their sleep, only that the statics often cited in the urban legend are completely fictional.

Shotgun + Spackle = No Spider problem.

Oh, I don't use my shotgun for spiders, milady. Bootheels work just fine for spider sized creepies. I reserve my shotgun for larger creepies, thank you. (Haven't used it yet, but don't intend to grow lethargic, neither!)

aaaahhhhhh thats huge but don't kill it it just wants a home I say that u should put it in a jar and put it outside but still aaaaahhhhh

Umm, it crawled across your shoulder as you were sleeping..................

I think we're all missing the big picture here, was 10:39 AM or PM???? it makes all the difference

That was awesome!!

omg. I'm not squimesh type, but that sucker was HUGE.

Nope only 4 groups of spider are dangerous, only 2 are ever likely to kill

Dangerous -
Widow spiders.
Recluse spiders.
Funnel web spiders.
Wandering spiders.

Only wandering spiders and funnel web spiders are venomous enough to kill a adult human and only wandering spiders are ever likely too.

ASOP was referring to a nickname for wandering spiders, and gabolai was referring to the nickname of a type of orb-weaver. I thought I replied already but I guess I didn't. *dork*

Dont worry folks...I've taken care of that nasty spider...It was a tough go, and I thought I was a goner more than once, but there was only some minor structural damage:



...and they said I was crazy for keeping those spare grenades from my Army days...

Grenade? that thing would need a nuclear missile.

nuke it, hit it with a gernade and then nuke it again cause i HATE spiders

lol
;P That was pretty funny.

I'm not afraid of spiders per se, but I am always afraid that they might be poisonous. If I know for certain that they're not, I can just get some kind of paper or jar or something and take them outside, but I guess I'm afraid my doggies would poke around the spiders and get bitten and get sick or something. XP Stupid fear, I know, but I can't help that. XP Otherwise, I think they're creepy looking and cute. ...Well, cute if I see them in pictures. But pretty scary, especially that big one pictured, if I saw it in real life. ;P

I would definitely set my house on fire if I ever saw one of these things in my room
UGLY!! UUUUGGGLYYY!

Fluffybunny that is GOOD!

Thanks Asphodel.

that is one big spider, but where there is one there is bound to be another!!!!!!!

Wishing to cannibalize the other! That's what I love about spiders, they'll eat their own.

BTW, I killed a centipede in my apartment a couple nights ago, the second arthropod I've killed here in a year. Gawd, I hate centipedes!

thants the biggest huntsmen spider ive ever seen yahoo!

only two ??

almost everyday i found and killed centipedes on my bathroom or kitchen

Second floor of three probably makes a difference. Have I mentioned how much I fraking hate centipedes? Spiders are worse..............

There's a huge tree in front of my house, which seems to breed those Huntsman spiders......In summer I always find two or three in my car hiding where the doors slide (I've got a people-mover).......Once I used a whole can of fly spray on it and it was still moving.....

During our last summer, I discovered one on the side of the fridge at 2:30am, I had actually logged off from UM and was getting ready for bed when it caught my eye.....I was petrified, because I have small kids I knew I had to kill it, I couldn't risk any of the kids running into it the next morning.....

And so the battle till death begins......First I had to spray it to get it away from the back of the fridge, which it conveniently crawled to once it spotted me, then I was trying to bash it with my soft slipper once I got it on the floor.....All this while I'm screaming on the phone to my husband (he's a musician, works late)......It was a sight to behold......Finally, when I thought I killed it, it flipped over from his back on to his feet and tries to make a run for it......I gave it a final and deadly blow and that was it, VICTORY.......

The worst part is trying to pick it up with tissue paper and walk all the way to the bathroom and flush it down the toilet, if it had wriggled at all, I know I would have dropped it and then what???????

Good for you Mum, my wife and daughter won't even go near spiders hehe. I usually have to capture the spider and "relocate" it outside I prefer not to kill them as they perform a service in my opinion. My wife came running out of the shower, half covered in soap, and the other half in a towel screaming at me to get the spider. Then she gets mad at me because I found the whole thing very funny.

According to Bear Grylls, in the survival condition this spider is edible and good source of protein. lol

I'm not scared of 'normal' sized ones and I can kill them easily but Huntsman's are a different story......No sireee, you won't find me trying to catch one alive..... I've killed redbacks in my laundry room and even funnel webs but not these giants of the spider world......

Good thing I don't live in Aussie-land. I'd hate for a girlfriend witness me running, shrieking, screaming like a child, from a fairly minuscule arthropod.

Running away from it is the easy part, having to kill it , a different story......For me at least anyway....

That's the only thing I hate about summer : BUGS.........