Boyfie notices a spider

Now the funnelweb spider we found in the loo one day *was* something
to worry about, but they don't look very special.
Hmm. I saw a TV show about a guy who got bitten by a funnel web, and
I'm not sure exactly what happened to make this possible,

Sitting on a toilet, at a guess - they like pools of water and where else
are they going to find one indoors?

but he was the first
person to be treated with an antivenom, and he made a full recovery. Since
then, I hear, Australia has antivenom available for anyone who is bitten
by a funnel web. Can someone confirm this? Yowie?

Seems right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austral...nel-web_spider

During the "dramatization" of this guy's ordeal, the spider was shown
walking around on the floor in his house (the story was true, but the
events were recreated using actors, including a spider "actor"). It was
*huge*, about the size of a tarantula. I don't know how he missed it.

The Wikipedia page says their range of sizes extends to larger ones
than I thought, so maybe the film-makers didn't exaggerate that much.
It doesn't take a big one to ruin your whole day, though.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 http://www.campin.me.uk Twitter: JackCampin

I want to see a spider but have discovered the World's best bug
repellant (by expensive accident) since I got a macro lens (great for
photographing spiders and insects) I haven't seen even a common
housefly!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"Lesley" wrote in message
...
I want to see a spider but have discovered the World's best bug
repellant (by expensive accident) since I got a macro lens (great for
photographing spiders and insects) I haven't seen even a common
housefly!

Lesley

g
I can do any insects, beetles, moths, I like them all, but big spiders give
me the horrors. All spiders did once, but I braved up and now it's only the
biggies.
It took me a while to get a big girl spider who had set up a web behind my
spice jars, outside. She looked at me every day when I wanted to use my
spices.
I finally got brave, got her in a towel so as not to harm her and put her
outside. Yes, she is a house spider, but this house doesn't want her.
She was a girl, because those thingies that poke out in front, have
swellings on for the boy spiders, it's their testicles, and she didn't have
those.
I just cannot tolerate big spiders. They frighten me, I have no idea why.

Tweed

**** the **** up bitch

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to ---

"MLB" wrote in message
...
On 05/08/2012 11:42 AM, Christina Websell wrote:
running across my carpet. He gets into kill mode and chases it but it
disappears under my computer desk.
Next day it appears on the wall, too far up for him to get it. He
watches
it disappearing into the folds of my curtains and knows he just has to
wait
until it comes out.
I have a horror of big spiders, and this was a big one.

Boyfie puts his foot on them and eats them, given the chance.
Tweed



If a spider is poisonous, I suppose it could harm an animal too. Keep a
spray bottle (of anything) handy , The spray will momentarily disable the
critter until you can dispatch it to insect bridge. I hate bugs of any
kind. Hairspray will work too. Best wishes. MLB

Just can't do it. I think I have Buddhist tendencies.
Tweed

Christina Websell wrote:

I can do any insects, beetles, moths, I like them all, but big spiders give
me the horrors. All spiders did once, but I braved up and now it's only the
biggies.
It took me a while to get a big girl spider who had set up a web behind my
spice jars, outside. She looked at me every day when I wanted to use my
spices.
I finally got brave, got her in a towel so as not to harm her and put her
outside. Yes, she is a house spider, but this house doesn't want her.
She was a girl, because those thingies that poke out in front, have
swellings on for the boy spiders, it's their testicles, and she didn't have
those.

Wow, you can sex a spider. That's impressive, even if it's a big one!

I just cannot tolerate big spiders. They frighten me, I have no idea why.

It's probably part of human nature. (And probably animal nature.) It's
pretty common to have a snake phobia, too - I'm sure animals evolved that
fear because snakes can be deadly. A lot of spiders can be pretty deadly,
so maybe it became useful to have a fear of them.

That said, many people aren't afraid of either snakes or spiders. I'm not
afraid of snakes at all. Well, if I were hiking in the wilderness and I
came across an unknown snake coiled up in my path, I'd be a little nervous
about it. But that's not a phobia, it's rational caution, since the snake
could be venomous. That's just having a respect for nature. But if I knew
a snake wasn't venomous (or otherwise dangerous, such as a constrictor),
I wouldn't be afraid to handle it. In fact, I have, and I really like them.

Can't say I feel the same way about spiders, though, even when I know they're
harmless. They just give me the creepy crawlies. If I saw a huge swarm of
very large spiders in the back yard, like Jack saw in Sydney, I think I'd
be traumatized for life.

--
Joyce

May the great galactic kitten always purr you to sleep.

"Bastette" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

I can do any insects, beetles, moths, I like them all, but big spiders
give
me the horrors. All spiders did once, but I braved up and now it's only
the
biggies.
It took me a while to get a big girl spider who had set up a web behind
my
spice jars, outside. She looked at me every day when I wanted to use
my
spices.
I finally got brave, got her in a towel so as not to harm her and put
her
outside. Yes, she is a house spider, but this house doesn't want her.
She was a girl, because those thingies that poke out in front, have
swellings on for the boy spiders, it's their testicles, and she didn't
have
those.

Wow, you can sex a spider. That's impressive, even if it's a big one!

I am interested in a scientific way despite the fact that big spiders seem
to alert every muscle in my body that I am very scared.

I just cannot tolerate big spiders. They frighten me, I have no idea
why.

It's probably part of human nature. (And probably animal nature.) It's
pretty common to have a snake phobia, too - I'm sure animals evolved that
fear because snakes can be deadly. A lot of spiders can be pretty deadly,
so maybe it became useful to have a fear of them.

That said, many people aren't afraid of either snakes or spiders. I'm not
afraid of snakes at all. Well, if I were hiking in the wilderness and I
came across an unknown snake coiled up in my path, I'd be a little nervous
about it. But that's not a phobia, it's rational caution, since the snake
could be venomous. That's just having a respect for nature. But if I knew
a snake wasn't venomous (or otherwise dangerous, such as a constrictor),
I wouldn't be afraid to handle it. In fact, I have, and I really like
them.

Can't say I feel the same way about spiders, though, even when I know
they're
harmless. They just give me the creepy crawlies. If I saw a huge swarm of
very large spiders in the back yard, like Jack saw in Sydney, I think I'd
be traumatized for life.


I am not scared of snakes either, it's just the big spiders.
I was proud of myself for tackling that huge girl with the little web she
had set up, without any harm to either of us.
She was there for weeks only because I couldn't face my fear. There she was,
every day, crouching in her web and watching me when I washed the dishes.

Tweed



Joyce

May the great galactic kitten always purr you to sleep.

Christina Websell wrote:

I am not scared of snakes either, it's just the big spiders.
I was proud of myself for tackling that huge girl with the little web she
had set up, without any harm to either of us.
She was there for weeks only because I couldn't face my fear. There she was,
every day, crouching in her web and watching me when I washed the dishes.

"Could that be prey? Come closer, and touch my web... why won't it come
over here??"

Now I'm curious, what do you mean by "huge"? I'm thinking that a judgement
about size is relative to whatever a person is used to. Eg, when I lived
in Massachusetts, the spiders I saw there were fairly small - maybe 1/2 inch
(1.27 cm) from one end to the other (including the legs). They were also
fairly pale-colored and not easy to notice. When I first moved to California,
I was a little unnerved by these dark black, highly visible spiders that
were maybe 2 inches across, including the legs. (They might have been a bit
larger, but I didn't exactly get close to them with a ruler. ) So to me,
those spiders were "huge", but I'm sure people in the American Southwest
(Arizona, and other desert states) - not to mention parts of Australia,
South America and Southeast Asia, to name a few - would laugh at that notion.

So, let's get specific here. Approximately what was the length of your
visitor, legs and all?

--
Joyce

I want freedom, the right to self expression, everyone's right to
beautiful radiant things. -- Emma Goldman

On 05/10/2012 03:43 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

I can do any insects, beetles, moths, I like them all, but big spiders
give
me the horrors. All spiders did once, but I braved up and now it's only
the
biggies.
It took me a while to get a big girl spider who had set up a web behind
my
spice jars, outside. She looked at me every day when I wanted to use
my
spices.
I finally got brave, got her in a towel so as not to harm her and put
her
outside. Yes, she is a house spider, but this house doesn't want her.
She was a girl, because those thingies that poke out in front, have
swellings on for the boy spiders, it's their testicles, and she didn't
have
those.

Wow, you can sex a spider. That's impressive, even if it's a big one!

I am interested in a scientific way despite the fact that big spiders seem
to alert every muscle in my body that I am very scared.

I just cannot tolerate big spiders. They frighten me, I have no idea
why.

It's probably part of human nature. (And probably animal nature.) It's
pretty common to have a snake phobia, too - I'm sure animals evolved that
fear because snakes can be deadly. A lot of spiders can be pretty deadly,
so maybe it became useful to have a fear of them.

That said, many people aren't afraid of either snakes or spiders. I'm not
afraid of snakes at all. Well, if I were hiking in the wilderness and I
came across an unknown snake coiled up in my path, I'd be a little nervous
about it. But that's not a phobia, it's rational caution, since the snake
could be venomous. That's just having a respect for nature. But if I knew
a snake wasn't venomous (or otherwise dangerous, such as a constrictor),
I wouldn't be afraid to handle it. In fact, I have, and I really like
them.

Can't say I feel the same way about spiders, though, even when I know
they're
harmless. They just give me the creepy crawlies. If I saw a huge swarm of
very large spiders in the back yard, like Jack saw in Sydney, I think I'd
be traumatized for life.


I am not scared of snakes either, it's just the big spiders.
I was proud of myself for tackling that huge girl with the little web she
had set up, without any harm to either of us.
She was there for weeks only because I couldn't face my fear. There she was,
every day, crouching in her web and watching me when I washed the dishes.

Tweed



Joyce

May the great galactic kitten always purr you to sleep.


When I was a kid, my mother told me that spiders were caused by "evil
thoughts". I had no idea what that meant. LOL/ MLB

MLB wrote:

When I was a kid, my mother told me that spiders were caused by "evil
thoughts". I had no idea what that meant. LOL/ MLB

What a strange thing to say! Even if you didn't know what she meant,
you must have known that it couldn't be good, right?

How does one "cause" a spider, anyway?

--
Joyce

I want freedom, the right to self expression, everyone's right to
beautiful radiant things. -- Emma Goldman