So I'm just going to have to get over my arachnophobia, aren't I? :(

In My Humble Opinion
61

This is so true! I once took both hands off the steering wheel while exiting a freeway at 50 mph to simultaneously grab for a magazine and roll the window all the way down because a GIANT grasshopper had flown in the car and landed on my shoulder. Luckily I was able to swat it off me and out the window before I ran off the road.

My actions were totally reflexive; I did not make a conscious decision to risk killing myself in a car accident over a grasshopper. All I remember is being eyeball to eyeball with that thing and thinking, “GET IT OFF ME NOW”.

I was going to post a picture of these Texas grasshoppers (about 3"-4") but it was making me nauseous to look at them. :frowning:

62

Yeah, NOW.

63

Stephen King (yeah, it WOULD be him) postulated something in one of his stories once: how many traffic deaths are the result of Joe Motorist tooling down the road, minding his own business, breaking no traffic laws, when here comes Billy Bob Spider on his thread, lowering himself down from the visor, right into Joe’s line of sight, saying Hey, Joe, how’s it going today? ::Jesus Christ, SQUEAAAL, Crash, BOOM:: Billy Bob brushes himself off, says Well, if THAT’S the way you feel! and exits the vehicle to begin life in a new location. Later, State Troopers, while investigating, can’t figure out what the hell went wrong.

Going for a drive today?

64

I know this pain. I once made an unwise, reflexive decision on the freeway when a giant bug flew into my car. After regaining composure and sanity, I pulled over and had my passenger help me out with it. Wouldn’t that have been awful? If we got into accidents and caused injury because of an f-ing bug. I really wish I could help it.

65

I once abandoned my car at a friend’s house because this huge (like, 2" across), super fast spider zoomed into it while I had the door open, and then disappeared in the interior. I drove their car home and they bombed the car with some toxin for me. Horrors.

Edit: you think Chicago spiders are bad? Try Okinawa.

66

I don’t actually have acrophobia…but I do find that weird sensation overpowering when near the edge of a high place. My mind keeps “offering” the option of jumping over the side. It’s like a little voice saying, “Nothing stopping you… Just two steps to the left… My, that’s a really low safety railing… You could climb right over it…”

For me, it’s not exactly an urge, but a constant little hyper-awareness of the possibility. I can’t not think about it.

I’ve heard this spoken of by many people who wouldn’t really say they’re acrophobic, but it makes them not like being in high places, because their minds won’t stop making that helpful little suggestion.

Poe alludes to this in his essay “Imp of the Perverse.” It seems to be pretty widespread.

For people who are actually acrophobic, this tendency of the mind must surely make it much, much worse!

ETA: I knew a very nice elderly lady who was sinking slowly into Alzheimer’s dementia, and she had a total terror that, some day, she would take off her clothes and walk down the street naked. What haunted her was how tenuous the mental defenses are against doing such a thing. It takes next to zero effort to unbutton the blouse, unsnap the bra, drop the skirt, and shuck the undies. The “thought of the thought” was terribly disturbing to her, and she couldn’t stop obsessing over it.

67

There IS a difference between “go ahead and two-step over the edge,” and, “I can’t NOT fall off; there goes my balance,” isn’t there?

And “Shuck the Undies” would be a great name for a rock band.

68

MeanOldLady, please don’t get mad at me for asking, but is what you have actual peppermint essential oil from the health food store or peppermint scented oil from a candle shop or peppermint extract from the grocery store? Neither of the last 2 will work. The first one usually works. It also works against ants.

Someone else mentioned EFT, and I just wanted to toss in a big support for that. It sounds weird, and it looks even weirder, but it works REALLY well and very quickly. It cured me about 15 years ago of a lifelong horror of those big flying roaches in about 3 minutes. Seriously. Three minutes and it was over. I don’t see them very often these days, but now, instead of running and screeching at the top of my voice, I just grab a shoe and pound at 'em til they’re dead and then shwoop 'em up with the vacuum. The EFT creator, Gary Craig, has it all free on his website emofree.com.

69

Thanks for seconding EFT. While my background is in NLP and hypnotherapy, EFT is one of the main tools in my toolbox when dealing with fears and phobias. And I absolutely love that Gary Craig made it available for free.

70

When I bought my house in Maine, it had quite a few spiders in it. One was so large that I could hear it walk across the wooden floor (or thought I could). I immediately called an exterminator who sprayed specifically for spiders and was spider-free for a good year or so. If they spray around the windows (like mine did) it keeps them from coming in. In an amusing aside, it was a woman owned and staffed company. One always thinks of women being more afraid of spiders than men but these women were fierce!

Oh, and I have no plans to overcome my phobia by repeated exposure. That way lies madness.

71

Why would I get mad at you for asking a question? :slight_smile:

I went to essential oils section at GNC and got some peppermint essence. It wasn’t scented mist or whatever. And these spiders didn’t give a single damn about it.

72

Hey so whatever happened to that rat problem you had? Maybe you can sic the rats on the spiders (or the other way around). Or import some new critter to eat them both, like Chinese needle snakes or a special type of gorilla that eats snakes

73

The bolded part happened to me in the shower once. I squealed, but then I realized it was Juletane, my bathroom spider. She had been hanging out in the corner above the showerhead, but that day she decided she was going to crawl over to the back of the shower and slide down her thread right in front of me.

I let her live. She did good at killing the bugs I didn’t want. But I did yell at her.

74

Spiders are curious critters, in my experience. They will almost always come over to have a squiz at you to see what you’re up to. I guess it’s hard to ignore you with those 8 eyes to look all about. They’re pretty funny when they think they’re being sneaky.

My late husband used to tell me about the Huntsman spiders in Australia where he lived for 20+ years before coming to the States, and their predilection for hiding behind car visors. I guess they’re harmless, but they’re large and scary-looking. Many’s the car wreck in Aus where they may be considered as an explanation for the cause. I finally saw one in Cairns. Pretty cool looking, but I wouldn’t want one to drop in my lap while I was driving.

Catamount, I have pet bathroom spiders, too. :slight_smile: I’m glad you let Juletane live!

I can hardly believe how terrified I used to be of these fascinating creatures, but I was… so I do understand the OP’s dilemma.

75

Yep. That is precisely what I’m talking about.

I don’t know if I’m really phobic about heights - I’m perfectly fine with airplanes, enclosed elevators, observation towers where the barrier is higher than my waist, even roller coasters; but if it’s an unprotected edge, or the barrier is low enough that I could easily get over it, I’m terrified.

Years ago I visited the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland (which are magnificent, for the record). There are no barriers; tourists can walk out onto a rock ledge - a wet rock ledge, mind you - and look down several hundred feet into the Atlantic. The ledge is nice and wide, probably twelve to twenty feet in breadth; but it took me a while to work up the courage to go out onto it. And I could only get near the edge by laying on my belly. (The woman in the photo is either suicidal or delusional, and clearly not of sound mind.)

76

^ That IS beautiful, but holy frijoles, you just know the moment I step out onto that ledge, the cave dwarves living underneath will tip it into the sea, giggling maniacally as I scream the whole way down.

77

I have a little Dirt Devil canister vac, since I have hardwood floors I don’t need some superpowered upright. It’s just a little canister with a handle and wheels, and then the flexible hose with an extendable metal stick. It can do the floors with a floor attachment, and then there’s a little brush and a corner attachment. I got this little guy specifically to vacuum under the baseboards, behind radiators, get the blinds, and reach my 9.5’ ceilings and ceiling fans. Works a treat. You don’t need some “high powered” doohickey.

Especially since you’re getting some DE, and assuming you have a canister vac - extend the stick part as far as it will go to give you the most space between yourself and the 'piders. Once you’re done sucking up all the 'piders and webs and stuff, put a little of the DE on the floor and suck that up, too. It will dehydrate any that survived the trip into the vacuum bag. I do the deed and then let it sit until the next morning to make sure the DE does its job, that way I don’t have to be paranoid that some monster spider survived and is waiting for me to open the vacuum to pull the bag out and leap onto my face.

I live at the Loyola stop. I’m thinking you might not be too far from me. I’m busy all this weekend, but am free next Thursday and Sunday if you still need help. Mind, I’ll be making faces and making noises of disgust - I’m just this far from phobic - but I can get it done! Or at least loan you my vacuum.

78

Have they run you out of your place all together by now??

Wanted to give you a little update - since today I started a spray first, vacuum later with the many invaders on my deck and outside kitchen windows. I found a spray at Jewel that’s “natural” and has peppermint oil as the first ingredient. This stuff: http://www.ecosmart.com/products/wasp-hornet-killer.htm. It says wasp and hornet killer, but has instructions for spiders, too.

I started spraying and THEY RAN, THEY LEAPED, THEY BASE JUMPED, THEY RAPPELLED. I emptied the can between three windows, about 5 feet of deck railing, and around the back door. Pretty sure the distant squealing noises were coming from me as they evacuated, but got it done. Tomorrow, I vacuum all that webbing and caught bug debris.

79

Hi Mean OldLady.

I have been exactly where you are now. It is not fun. I am now the other way - I adore them. It is MUCH more fun. It did take a bit of work, but all can be done from the comfort of your own spider infested home.

Thanks, blondebear. I am amazed that you remember me. I saw the thread! My favourite topic.

I wouldn’t go near any therapy which had spiders walking on me - I was so afraid of they pressure me to do that, I wouldn’t go to a therapist. I still avoid any physical contact, but otherwise, I am totally obsessed by the little critters and simply adore having them inside. A decade or so ago, I was so irrationally scared of them I couldn’t touch pictures in books, let alone cope with them in the house.

You have the solution already there if you have little spiders on the OTHER side of the window. A few people have talked about naming spiders. The secret is to turn them into individuals and then learn about their behaviour (Australian spelling!).

Once you learn that their behaviour is predictable, they become far less scary, but it takes time.

Name a few of the little spiders on the other side of the window, especially if they are in webs. Then start watching them from inside. A strong torch helps, even during day light. You will start to recognise patterns in their behaviour. I ended up quite upset, much to my surprise, when a bird came and ate my little spiders once I’d got to know them. Once you can go outside near them with your torch, you’ll find they dash back into retreats. Spiders will never come for you. Don’t listen to people who say otherwise. Your experience will teach you how much they avoid you.

See if you can get a field guide or book about spiders in your area and try and identify them. Anything which has you looking at them as individual living creatures and thinking about them in ways which aren’t about being scared. I found photographing them really good.

I wasn’t scared of being bitten or of dying, so knowing that they wouldn’t kill me didn’t make any difference to my fear. The scariest for me, and the people I interviewed for the book, were the spiders which moved unpredictably - especially the huntsman, or rain spiders. It was simply not knowing where they were.

The best to watch are daddy-long-legs (spiders in Australia) - they are cellar spiders in the US. The ones on webs. The females have rounder bodies and hold their egg sacs in their jaws. These are large enough to see with the naked eye with a strong torch. The males will approach the web and twang it at the female. That’s how they communicate - both being close to blind. They’ll twang away for ages, cohabit for weeks and then you can watch the egg sac grow and hatch. The babies stay around for weeks. You’ll hardly notice them in normal light but with a good torch, it is all on show for you.

One day, having watched spiders for about six months, and the fear was dropping, I watched a spider spin an orb web from start to finish. Live, in my garden. That was it. I was hooked. I got to know her well over the summer and watched her often. I have been obsessed by the darlings ever since.

I could waffle on about this for ever. But I think I should stop now!

80

Heh, I am not too far from you; maybe 4 or 5 Red Line stops south.

I more or less what you sugested this weekend. I opened some of the windows where spiders were living and vacuumed them up, followed by a generous heaping of DE in case any of them were tough guys capable of surviving the trip into the bag. Sadly, since DE is a powder, I can’t really sprinkle my screens with it, and lining the windows with them will just result in it blowing everywhere, but I did line my floors with it and bought some Shoo Fly Screen and Surface Spray, which I believe has worked. I don’t know, maybe it’s total bullshit, but I’ve been monitoring my windows and haven’t seen a spider where I sprayed it since. This is exactly the opposite of what happened when I doused the place with peppermint essence. The spiders came back almost immediately. I couldn’t believe how little they cared about the scent. Hell, I think they liked it. I know I did, which was the saving grace of wasting $9 on it.

There are still some windows I haven’t dared to open because the spiders are in weird places that are hard to get with the vacuum, and I am just too afraid to try it unless I completely have the upper hand. I had a visitor over on Sunday eve who offered to clear them out, but it was night and I was too afraid that it’d be dark and he’d miss the little ones. There are so many, and they’re small enough to sashay right through the screen. Very easy to miss when it’s dark out, even with the lights on inside. He of course thought I was out of my mind. “So you live with this hot-ass bedroom, your a/c window unit is on the floor, and you won’t open the window… because of spiders.” “Yes.”

Hi lynne! :slight_smile:

Thanks for your post. Your solution seems a lot more doable and a lot less terrifying than letting spiders touch me, which is so very, deeply unsettling to me. I supposed getting used to them from the inside could help me see them as what they are, harmless spiders that want nothing to do with me. I know this in my brain, but fear makes me behave rather stupidly. I can ease myself into getting used to them from a distance.

What I’d like to do, right this second, is simply get right of them. But getting used to them is a much better long term solution and will save me much grief over the rest of my life!