big freaking spider

[John Koch-Northrup]

...in our basement. Had to be a wolf spider. It's still alive in our dyson vacuum. Bad year for spiders!

[åpne sinn]

That's the creepy part...when you know they're still alive inside the vacuum. Makes changing the bag a very disturbing experience.

[John Koch-Northrup]

We have a little portable vacuum with a clear plastic bin - so we could see it moving around in there (with the 5 or 6 littler spiders we'd sucked up.) Eek. I believe it's either dead now due to being covered in dust or saving it's energy for a prison break when we're asleep.

We're saving it for our Orkin (bug control) guy who is scheduled for Wednesday. He said when he was here two months ago that this was going to be a really, really bad year for spiders... so far - he's right.

[Jacy]

Spiders... *full body shiver*

I was a certified arachnaephobe until my divorce. I had to learn how to defend myself against those spawns of Satan at that time.

I lived in South Georgia, then. One night, I was sitting on my couch watching (if I remember correctly) the news about the little girl who fell into the well in Midland, Texas (a little foreshadowing, perhaps) when I felt like I was being watched. I turned around and saw, on the wall across the living room, a spider that was about the size of my hand.

My ex-husband had given me a pistol when we separated (I like to think it was for protection, but he may have been hoping that I'd shoot myself with it) and, for a moment, I actually considered going and getting it with the intent of dispatching said spider. After all, a hole in the wall can be fixed with relative ease. Unfortunately, living in the city limits, discharging a firearm was verboten so I got the broom instead. I beat the thing into submission, took it outside, and shook it off into the grass. It unlimbered itself, and ambled away.

Big damn spider.

Then there was the one that "treed" me on the hood of my car when I actually heard it walking across the carport floor...

Okay, I may not sleep tonight...

[åpne sinn]

That's the funniest damn thing I ever read. You got 'treed'....

[John Koch-Northrup]

It was really more of a "hooded" - but that doesn't really sound right... "treed" is much better.

I'll admit - we watched that spider in our vaccuum for a long time to ensure it couldnt' escape! I totally relate to fear of spiders.

The biggest I've ever seen was a big wolf spider - very hairy - wow... it was much bigger than the one I started this thread with - same house - but many years ago. And the one over the weekend I could see clearly from up a flight of stairs with it sitting on the basement floor.

[John Koch-Northrup]

Continuing with that thought... my co-worker is getting his masters degree - and he has a "hooding" ceremony to attend.

Back to the spiders... it's confirmed the beast in our basement was a wolf spider. Our Orkin guy said it was a healthy sized one and that it wasn't living there - it had just snuck into our house at some point recently.

[John Koch-Northrup]

Semi-related... have you seen this series of photos of a garden spider I took a few years back?

http://atmoworks.ning.com/photo/photo/show?id=2078313%3APhoto%3A644

[Jacy]

From the Texas A&M AgriLife website:

"One of the most spectacular spider events in Texas occurs for a few weeks each summer when male tarantulas actively wander apparently seeking females. This phenomenon is not well understood and may be related to migration more than mating."

I have a friend who actually witnessed this. She was driving between Abilene and San Angelo when she saw something that looked like a shadow moving across the highway. It wasn't until she was in the middle of it that she realized that it was thousands of tarantulas.

Had I learned of this before moving to Texas, I might have reconsidered...

[Jacy]

Yes, I did. And if I saw one like it again, I'd climb to the top of the nearest large object and stay there... :)

[John Koch-Northrup]

I've seen a herd of cows blocking the road... but never tarantulas... I don't know what I'd do... if I realized before I got to the shadow - I'd turn around. If I realized in the middle of it - nervous breakdown!

[åpne sinn]

Sweet jesus! That's a mutha!

[Seren]

Not afraid of spiders....as yet.....but many years ago I was working in a forest in North Wales. I was weeding around some trees that had been planted earlier that year when a sudden sound had me freeze and goosebumps appear - I had to think really hard to remind myself that we don't have rattle snakes in the UK....carried on working and the same thing happened a couple of more times and on each one I experienced a complete body freeze, subconscious and ancient response to the sound. Eventually worked out it was being caused by my billhook catching brambles that were growing about 20 foot long and through a small patch of blubells which had got to the point of having dried seedcases full of loose seeds. I'll never forget the experience - sort of beyond fear.

However I am afraid of avalanches - used to watch the Savage Planet series on TV and loved the volcanoes,earthquakes, hurricanes etc but the first sight of snow moving in the programme caused my stomache to turn and my palms sweat - deliberatley never learnt to ski so never get the bad luck to be in one.....

A friend of mine went into one of those buildings built in a way to create optical illusions - such as people appearing to grow or shrink as they walk across the room. It freaked her out so much she ran back out and nearly broke the turnstile on the way. The bit that really upset her was she said she would have willingly stood on a babies head to get out (her actual words)....