Honestly how bad are spiders

[Leave a Whisper]

I think in my area the only venomous spider is the black widow.

I don't really mind spiders, as long as I don't get a repeat of a couple years ago: I was brushing my teeth in the dark and  felt what I thought was a hair on my tongue. I put my finger in my mouth to get it and felt something crawl on my finger. When I withdrew my finger there was a spider perched on it. It must have been on my toothbrush.

 

[ladybastilla]

Spiders are fascinating to research, but I don't think I'd want to meet one in real life. I'd be fine if it was chilling in the corner, but if it jumped on me we'd have problems.

[Attercop]

Please check out buggirl on tumblr. I can't think of a single person who has done more than her towards dispelling harmful myths and just generally educating the masses on how wonderful spiders are.

[daffodil101]

I don't mind spiders too much but it depends on what kind.  Garden spiders are welcome as long as they don't spin a web that I then walk into and get a spider on my face. I quite like daddy long-legs in the house as they don't look at all scary, I will leave them in peace with their webs most of the time- they eat my most feared type, poisonous redbacks.  If I see a redback, I will prettymuch leave the property and never come back at least until the pest control gets it.

The other main type we get here are huntsmen.  They're really hairy and look quite freaky, but are more scared of people than we are of them.  I mean, if one's on the wall above my bed, I'll chase it out, but as long as they keep a safe distance I'm cool.

Cockroaches, on the other hand... *pours gas, burns down house*

[Baby Sugarberry]

The best way to not be scared of pretty much anything is to have exposure to said thing in a safe, controlled manner.  Spiders (and most insects) are scary because they aren't around much, move fast and are quite odd looking to mammalian sensibilities.  Spiders are A-OK in my books but I still do not enjoy SURPRISE! spiders.  Or really surprise anything, especially if it's touching me unexpectedly. 

I keep a bunch of small plastic containers with snap lids around the house for safely relocating any undesirable housemates of the crawly variety back to the great outdoors.  Learning more about 'em and getting to look at them in a situation where they can't skitter away helps make spiders more interesting and less frightening.

[ponyqueen]

I used to have these cute neighbor girls that would come over to my house (5 and 6 years old). When they saw spiders (or any bugs) they would scream and try to kill it (learned that nonsense straight from their mother). When I saw a spider or other bug, I would go out of my way to be animated and interested in it-

"COOL! Girls, come over here! Did you see this bug? It's awesome! Wow... look at how it's made this web between these pony legs. That is so awesome. Man, spiders are so cool. You wanna help me get this little guy back outside?"

It really bugged me (hehe) when they would kill bugs that were already outside. Der! The bug is already out in nature!! If they can't belong there, where can they be safe!?!?!?!

[Skeen]

I killed a black widow in the entryway of my office this morning, and a couple on Aadra's front porch a few weeks ago.  They're so numerous around here. 

[EnaRocketQueen]

I like spiders, I wasn't even scared of them when I was younger. Slugs and snails though, are a different matter!

[Leave a Whisper]

I lied Tak. Spiders want to suck your brains out through your eyeballs to fuel their dark sorcery.

[Tak]

All this talk of spiders and last night I accidentally walked through a web. I couldn't find the spider after. Apparently it was on my head as I now have a spider bite at the base of my skull. 
 

Post Merge: August 31, 2016, 08:05:44 AM

My life. It's irony personified. 

[melodys_angel]

Spiders do not belong in my sleeping quarters.

If they stay away from my sight in other areas of the home and are not poisonous, let them be and take care of the unwanted bugs.  But in the bedroom?  Heck no.

I get that spiders are beneficial but ive had too many...unsavory encounters to tolerate them.

[Tak]

The screens on our Windows open so it's pretty easy to get them outside. I've only seen little ones in the house. I went through a web on our covered patio. Oops!

[LadyMoondancer]

BTW, I live in an apartment building that has a bunch garbage bins outside, and the spiders like to build their webs between the garbage cans because of the flies.  So every Friday (garbage day) I go out and move the spiders from the garbage cans into the adjacent garden to make sure they don't get squished or fall into the garbage truck.  My way of saying "thanks for eating flies".

[Duenia]

On my kitchen windowsill I have a couple spider webs with spiders that hang out there. I leave those ones alone, it all depends on location. They eat the fruit flies nesting in my drain so I'm okay with those ones, at least now. When I moved in I lost count of how many spiders I killed (there were a ton the first month). I ended up getting used to it over the course of 2 years though. So there are certain safe spaces now.

One likes to keep building it's web in my sink and that one terrifies me. It builds quickly and suddenly there's this huge thing. He came back a few times but hasn't lately.

I try to catch most of them with a glass and cardboard to put outside on my balcony. But some really are just no.

We have wolf spiders or something like that (they look like it and according to a coworker that's what they are so I'll go with it) in the basement. They come up once in awhile and I feel like I'm going to die and the cats go after them. I'm not quite brave enough to release one of those so it gets flushed.

Most of the time the scare is really just the surprise of suddenly hey there's something there!

House centipedes do the same thing except no web. They eat the bugs and the spiders. I try very hard not to kill those too but they really are super creepy. So much worse than spiders.

[Sparkle Pony]

I like spiders!  I often catch and release them, even big ones like wolf spiders.  I would squish anything poisonous like a brown recluse or a black widow, but beyond that they help with pests so I like em!  Maybe you could show your daughter some cute pictures or videos of spiders?  Jumping spiders are awfully darn cute and fuzzy looking I think.