# Husband refuses to remove spider. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617 "2009-05-16T05:52:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/41 "2009-05-18T18:08:47Z")
There aren’t any venomous spiders in Western Europe. Quit worrying. There _are_ scorpions. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/42 "2009-05-18T18:22:41Z")
You wouldn’t think my husband’s a wimp by looking at him. Sturdy guy, bearded, tattooed, ex-trucker, ex-cop, Viet Nam vet, rides a Harley, etc. But when there’s a bird (or “something”) skittering in the woodstove or a bat circling the ceiling fan or a big spider in the bathtub, where is he? In the next room, waiting for me to deal with it. Good thing he likes to cook. ---
**Author:** ![lemac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@lemac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lemac)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/43 "2009-05-18T18:30:31Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > I’m also terrified of spiders. Terr-i-freaking-fied. Yes, there’s no rational reason for it. Tell that to my reptilian brain that’s huddled over in the corner, freaking right the hell out. I always thought the reptilian brain would make us want to _eat_ spiders instead of panicking 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/44 "2009-05-18T18:33:21Z")
Aww, no anti-[Arachne](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachne) _[Lysistrata](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata)?_ Back to the old drawing board. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/45 "2009-05-18T19:25:09Z")
nit-pick. Post coital, you aren’t bone tired, you are boned tired. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/46 "2009-05-18T21:20:27Z")
I read through this entire thread expecting that someone would hypothesize the obvious: the cats took care of your spider problem for you while you were sleeping. This is their way of showing love. ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/47 "2009-05-18T21:46:09Z")
Well if the spider got that big, just imagine all of things he’s “cleaned up” for you. Let him stay, he’s paying his rent in pest control. …I say this partially in jest, as a recovering arachnophobe I can also understand the desire to want to break out the hairspray and a lighter on the little eight legged beast, but I still say let him stay. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/48 "2009-05-18T22:59:46Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > nit-pick. Post coital, you aren’t bone tired, you are boned tired. _snerk_ ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/49 "2009-05-18T23:09:13Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Over here in Holland, sex is something you do it you both feel like it. It is not a power thing, on either side. For Dutch men, sex seems is far less charged with emotion, (other then closeness). It seems less charged for them. Less needed, actually. > A Dutch woman trying to make sex a challenge for her husband would not even be understood. Her husband would assume that she herself would indicate when she felt like sex again, and patiently wait while she comes 'round in her own time. I kind of wished I lived there. I \*hate \* the stereotype that sex is only something women give out as a reward for good behaviour or withold in the case of bad behaviour. First of all it infantilises men, which is kinda creepy - either that or it makes women look like golddiggers. (“Diamonds. She’ll pretty much have to.”-_Family Guy_) Second of all it perpetuates the stereotype that for women sex is just something they passively endure-god forbid they like it. Anyway. Point. Phobias aren’t rational. I also hate it when people cannot grasp this. I really am disgusted by pigeons, and yes I do know they’re harmless. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/50 "2009-05-19T05:58:40Z")
> [@alexandra](#): > > I \*hate \* the stereotype that sex is only something women give out as a reward for good behaviour or withold in the case of bad behaviour. To be fair, I think that even in the USA it’s just that - a stereotype, something to joke about. But I do think that the whole masculine-feminine culture thing is real, but that it shows itselves in averages. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/51 "2009-05-19T13:52:32Z")
In our house, my large 6’2", 260 lbs former outside linebacker hubby is scared of spiders. I take care of them. No biggie. I do however hate _moths_. They are just so fluttery and can get caught in my hair. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/52 "2009-05-19T13:58:12Z")
My husband says he’s a friend of the arachnid; however, I think he just finds my spider-freakout to be amusing. Rather than getting into the KILL IT! argument, I just spray it with hairspray and watch it slowly harden. Yeah…it’s good. Real good. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/53 "2009-05-19T14:05:44Z")
Heh, you people would absolutely love my family’s cottage. Ever heard of “Dock Spiders”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/54 "2009-05-19T14:07:53Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh, you people would absolutely love my family’s cottage. Ever heard of “Dock Spiders”? 😃 I’ve seen those little rat bastids. They love docks and boats and all things nautical. Oh shit…they’re just fuckin’ evil. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/55 "2009-05-19T14:13:12Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I’ve seen those little rat bastids. They love docks and boats and all things nautical. Oh shit…they’re just fuckin’ evil. They love hiding in cracks between wood boards and logs. Which is what our cottage’s outhouse is made of. The result is that it is a nest of the things. Going to the toilet is more … interesting when it is in the middle of dozens of your favourite friends - particularly at night, when it is impossible to see what is lurking down the hole. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/56 "2009-05-19T14:20:59Z")
I get that phobias aren’t rational, but I really don’t understand why you can’t just vacuum it yourself. What difference does it make whether you vacuum it (from a nice safe distance) or your husband stomps on it? Either way it was “killed on your account” and will haunt your dreams. And it _certainly_ must be preferable to leaving it roaming the house, once it becomes clear that the husband’s not gonna be helping. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/57 "2009-05-19T14:35:43Z")
> [@Gustav](#): > > I get that phobias aren’t rational, but I really don’t understand why you can’t just vacuum it yourself. What difference does it make whether you vacuum it (from a nice safe distance) or your husband stomps on it? Either way it was “killed on your account” and will haunt your dreams. And it _certainly_ must be preferable to leaving it roaming the house, once it becomes clear that the husband’s not gonna be helping. But do they actually die? Or do they recover in the dust and find their way out of the vacuum with killin’ on their mind? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/58 "2009-05-19T14:38:54Z")
If you vacuum up a spider, it lurks awhile in the vacuum bag and then crawls back out the tube, intent on finding YOU. If you try to stomp a spider, it will run towards you when you lift your foot, causing you to hop and fall so it can jump on your face. I haven’t actually seen these things happen, but it just stands to reason. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/59 "2009-05-19T15:40:52Z")
Exactly. Now see, here’s someone who understands. Besides, how angry would YOU be if you were flushed, hairsprayed or otherwise put to a gruesome death? More then a little miffed, I guess. And an angry spider is a spider with a mission, so, twice as scary. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617/60 "2009-05-19T16:25:23Z")
> [@Gustav](#): > > I get that phobias aren’t rational, No, it doesn’t seem that you do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husband-refuses-to-remove-spider/496617.md?page=4)