# What animal scares the crap out of you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908 "2001-10-02T04:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/41 "2001-10-02T21:38:11Z")
You know it’s funny, because although I can’t say any animal scares the shit out of me, one does intimidate me. And it’s not one you’d expect. Unlike **Guinastasia** I love snakes. All things scaly or slimy really. Lizards, snakes, frogs, salamanders etc. And I’ve bitten so many times, by some many critters, I scarcely notice any more unless it’s _really_ bad. Heck I got tagged in the eyeball once by a pissy rat snake ( long story ) - Bled like a stuck pig and turned half my sclera a deep red-black for a week ( the wags at work started referring to me as ‘snake-eyes’ 😛 ). That didn’t freak me out at all. But for some reason Tokay Geckos just intimidate the crap out of me 😃 . I get nervous if I have to mess with them. Gotta be that they about the most pugnacious looking ( and acting ) critter I’ve ever run across. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Saitou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Saitou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saitou)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/42 "2001-10-02T23:02:01Z")
Don’t consider myself squeamish either… Crustaceans and Invertebrates, make me queasy unlike anything else. I just run like the wind by those displays in musea and zoo’s. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/43 "2001-10-02T23:30:02Z")
Alligators. Any inscet larger than my little finger. **AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!** :eek: :eek: [sup]Now I won’t be able to sleep tonight.[/sup] ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/44 "2001-10-03T00:03:52Z")
There’s only one animal that I fear like that…Junebugs. ---
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/45 "2001-10-03T09:32:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Broken Doll \* > \*\*Tigers and lions. Any large cat that can chase me and eat me. I often have nightmares where I’m trying to escape from a hungry tiger. > > Spiders. Pretty average, but they scare the crap out of me. \*\* _ **cougarfang** stalks up behind **Broken Doll** _ _pounce_ **RRRAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRRRR!!!** _whack_ _whimper whimper_ c’mon, **BDoll** , can’tcha take a joke? _ **cougarfang** looks desperately for a way out as **Broken Doll** starts whacking the crap out of me_ _ **cougarfang** runs for it, tail 'tween legs and whimpering_ _whimper whimper_ ---
**Author:** ![Raving\_Nude\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cab0a1/32.png) [@Raving\_Nude\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raving_Nude_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/46 "2001-10-04T05:27:45Z")
Mountain Lion. I live out in the country and seeing one cross my private road gave me nightmares for a long time. Seeing one in the zoo isn’t scary, you know it’s not going to have the chance to get you. Seeing one where you go walking at night and realizing what those tracks in the dirt a hundered feet from the house are made by is terrifying. You start to wonder how close you have walked to it, and not known it was there. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/47 "2001-10-04T06:11:42Z")
Irrationally, since I know they’re not that much of a danger to me, I find octopi revolting (unless they’re part of a nice Greek salad). They’re squishy, they can get into tiny places, and they’re reasonably intelligent, for an animal anyway. Apart from that, my cat. I know he’s just waiting for me to die in my sleep, so he can eat me. I can see it in his beady little eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/48 "2001-10-04T06:55:51Z")
Ladybugs. 'cause they’re up to something. ---
**Author:** ![Broken\_Doll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Broken\_Doll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broken_Doll)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/49 "2001-10-04T09:38:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cougarfang \* > _ **cougarfang** stalks up behind **Broken Doll** _ > _pounce_ > **RRRAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRRRR!!!** > > _whack_ > > _whimper whimper_ c’mon, **BDoll** , can’tcha take a joke? _ **cougarfang** looks desperately for a way out as **Broken Doll** starts whacking the crap out of me_ > > _ **cougarfang** runs for it, tail 'tween legs and whimpering_ > > _whimper whimper_ \*\* One word: AAAIIIEEEEEEE! GET AWAYGETAWAYGETAWAAYYY! [okay, so that’s…3 kinda-words.] ---
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/50 "2001-10-04T09:58:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Raving Nude Hermit \* > \*\*Mountain Lion. I live out in the country and seeing one cross my private road gave me nightmares for a long time. Seeing one in the zoo isn’t scary, you know it’s not going to have the chance to get you. Seeing one where you go walking at night and realizing what those tracks in the dirt a hundered feet from the house are made by is terrifying. You start to wonder how close you have walked to it, and not known it was there. \*\* heyyyyyyy, isn’t mountain lion another name for cougar? hmmmm… that makes two on my hit list… anyone else? 😃 yow, i’m goin’, i’m goin’! _d&r_ ---
**Author:** ![Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/51 "2001-10-04T16:23:27Z")
I’m not really the squeamish type, and I’m what most would call an animal lover, so there’s not -much- that can frighten me… except… I’ve been arachnophobic longer than I can remember. And I also get jumpy when I’m around dogs that I’m unfamiliar with. (I witnessed a dog attack at a young age, and can’t seem to get over it, which is otherwise pretty odd since I absolutely adore dogs.) There is one animal which absolutely terrifies me to no end for it’s sheer evilness. I beg all of you to research the Camel Spider that **TheNerd** mentioned. I also provide this link, which is a first-hand account of a soldier’s experience with them while on duty. [Fear it.](http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/3201/camel.html) ---
**Author:** ![pakrat22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@pakrat22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pakrat22)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/52 "2001-10-04T22:48:53Z")
Rattlesnakes and Gila monsters. Don’t like poisonous critters at all. And they show up constantly in my backyard. (Don’t care for scorpions either, but that’s a bug, not an animal.) ---
**Author:** ![Ikujinashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ikujinashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ikujinashi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/53 "2001-10-05T01:33:55Z")
Chalk up another vote for grizzly bears. Great to watch from a distance but just too unbeleivably powerful. One of my few unpleasant dreams involves an enraged grizzly tearing through any obstacle to get me. Fortunately I haven’t run into any yet in TX. ---
**Author:** ![shell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@shell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shell)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/54 "2001-10-05T01:57:56Z")
I’ll second the June bugs since it’s doubtfull I’ll encounter anything more exotic. Oh, and Jack Nicholson. For some weird reason that guy scares the liver out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/55 "2001-10-05T03:21:37Z")
Skunks ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908/56 "2001-10-05T22:42:54Z")
Moose. I always forget how big they are. I"m 6 foot, so it’s not often I have to look up at an animal. This time of year I’m fishing in lot of creek bottoms. Wandering through dense brush, fishing and not paying attention to anything but the water (That noise? Must be the dog.) I’ve walked within five feet of a resting bull before I realized it. Had to do a little float into a log pile a few years back when I got on the wrong side of a cow/calf pair and wanted to be non-threatening. Even skied up over a hill and met a moose head on one-time. Always been lucky, but Monday when I’m fishing, I’ll be getting the heebie-jeebies a couple of times an hour. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-scares-the-crap-out-of-you/84908.md?page=2)