Current and recovering arachnophobes

[Pythonipus]

Howdy everyone. I was wondering if anyone here, or someone you know, has had arachnophobia and if they would like to share their experience?

Pre-apology for the long post. I can be long winded sometimes.

Intro:
I've had a pretty bad case of arachnophobia for most of my life. Anytime I would find a spider near me I would lock up and my heart rate would skyrocket. Imagine the scene from Jurassic Park (spoilers) where the T Rex breaks out and Dr. Grant and Dr. Malcom just stare out at the carnage and add Gennaro's sudden trip to the bathroom then sprinkle a smidge of Pennywise from Stephen King's IT. Terrifying. I started having a mild version of that response when just seeing them on TV or in games, and I knew I had to do something about it before it got worse and took over my life.

Possible cause:
I think mine is a combination of some bad experiences as a child and general heebie-jeebies from bugs due to a suburban upbringing.
Major experience #1: One morning while in day care before school, we found a large spider in the cafeteria. I was already wary of spiders by this point, but it was more of a "just leave them alone" feeling than a "Nuke it from orbit." feeling. Of course our adult didn't feel quite the same way, and a swat of a broom later all was back to normal....until a million tiny spiders burst from it and coated the floor. Of course with age comes the knowledge that this was just a wolf spider with babies, but at the time it was as if the gates of hell had opened in front of me.
Major experience #2: While going to a family reunion as a kid I was bitten by a spider and had an unusual reaction to it. I generally felt awful and was running a fever, but on my knee was an approximately 1 in tall by 1/2 in round grey boil-like bubble. My parents called a doctor and they said it was likely a brown recluse bite (after seeing what those can look like, I'm not so sure). It was accidentally popped when I was sleeping but came back after about half a day or so. No real lasting effects that I notice nowadays (I'm pretty rickety for a young guy ) but I do double check all clothes and shoes for spiders before putting them on now.

How are you dealing with it?:
After watching days worth of youtube videos and lurking here, I took the plunge and purchased a couple Phiduppus regius. Take your fears head on and what not. So far it has been going ok, except the female ate the male. But they mated at least once and I think he was trying his luck again when she got fed up with him. (I had them communally in a 2 1/2 gallon tank converted to be vertical with plenty of hiding spots and some D. hydei to hopefully keep them full.) I'm still nervous when I have to open the enclosure, but I'm able to come within inches of it and still have control of my faculties. Progress!

"Fun" stories:
With the benefit of hindsight, some terrifying experiences can be funny.
I nearly flew out of the passenger side of my truck when I found a spider hanging from the driver side window I had just rolled down to get some nice summer air. Luckily I was still in my driveway and I was able to keep the bugger outside as I rolled my window up and calmed down.
On a return trip to college, about 2 miles into a 400 mile drive, a spider decided to drop down from my visor and say hello. I managed to stay reasonably calm, but I was white-knuckling it the whole way. I nearly had to ask a stranger to get it out when I stopped for gas.

Thank you for reading my novelette. I hope by doing this we can help other arachnophobes begin the road to recovery.

 

[PanzoN88]

Howdy everyone. I was wondering if anyone here, or someone you know, has had arachnophobia and if they would like to share their experience?

Pre-apology for the long post. I can be long winded sometimes.

Intro:
I've had a pretty bad case of arachnophobia for most of my life. Anytime I would find a spider near me I would lock up and my heart rate would skyrocket. Imagine the scene from Jurassic Park (spoilers) where the T Rex breaks out and Dr. Grant and Dr. Malcom just stare out at the carnage and add Gennaro's sudden trip to the bathroom then sprinkle a smidge of Pennywise from Stephen King's IT. Terrifying. I started having a mild version of that response when just seeing them on TV or in games, and I knew I had to do something about it before it got worse and took over my life.

Possible cause:
I think mine is a combination of some bad experiences as a child and general heebie-jeebies from bugs due to a suburban upbringing.
Major experience #1: One morning while in day care before school, we found a large spider in the cafeteria. I was already wary of spiders by this point, but it was more of a "just leave them alone" feeling than a "Nuke it from orbit." feeling. Of course our adult didn't feel quite the same way, and a swat of a broom later all was back to normal....until a million tiny spiders burst from it and coated the floor. Of course with age comes the knowledge that this was just a wolf spider with babies, but at the time it was as if the gates of hell had opened in front of me.
Major experience #2: While going to a family reunion as a kid I was bitten by a spider and had an unusual reaction to it. I generally felt awful and was running a fever, but on my knee was an approximately 1 in tall by 1/2 in round grey boil-like bubble. My parents called a doctor and they said it was likely a brown recluse bite (after seeing what those can look like, I'm not so sure). It was accidentally popped when I was sleeping but came back after about half a day or so. No real lasting effects that I notice nowadays (I'm pretty rickety for a young guy ) but I do double check all clothes and shoes for spiders before putting them on now.

How are you dealing with it?:
After watching days worth of youtube videos and lurking here, I took the plunge and purchased a couple Phiduppus regius. Take your fears head on and what not. So far it has been going ok, except the female ate the male. But they mated at least once and I think he was trying his luck again when she got fed up with him. (I had them communally in a 2 1/2 gallon tank converted to be vertical with plenty of hiding spots and some D. hydei to hopefully keep them full.) I'm still nervous when I have to open the enclosure, but I'm able to come within inches of it and still have control of my faculties. Progress!

"Fun" stories:
With the benefit of hindsight, some terrifying experiences can be funny.
I nearly flew out of the passenger side of my truck when I found a spider hanging from the driver side window I had just rolled down to get some nice summer air. Luckily I was still in my driveway and I was able to keep the bugger outside as I rolled my window up and calmed down.
On a return trip to college, about 2 miles into a 400 mile drive, a spider decided to drop down from my visor and say hello. I managed to stay reasonably calm, but I was white-knuckling it the whole way. I nearly had to ask a stranger to get it out when I stopped for gas.

Thank you for reading my novelette. I hope by doing this we can help other arachnophobes begin the road to recovery.

It would take to long to go through my story, but yes i used to have the phobia, bought a tarantula from snother member, to get over the fear and fast forward 4-5 years later and i am at 23 tarantulas (seven more to come in a month). That is the very short synopsis of my story.

 

[miss moxie]

I was terrified of spiders. When I saw one I was too scared to even smash it because I didn't want to get close to it. If one got onto my skin I would panic even after it was flung off of me. My mother was terrified of spiders too, gave me the impression from a very young age that all spiders just wanted to bite you and envenomate you and when you got bit it would be agony and many spider-bites would outright kill you.

Then my half-brother got a tarantula and when I visited he asked me if I wanted to hold it. I couldn't get punked out by my younger brother, you know? I could tell by his tone he asked me because he expected me to say no. So I said yes, and even though I was petrified I held her. Feeling her gentle, feather-soft feet, watching her place her spinnerets against my skin and leave webbing behind...it was all so mesmerizing to me.

I had my first T not a month later, G. porteri, and I was able to confirm she was female when she molted for me a year after that. I've still got her, and currently I have almost 70 tarantulas. I no longer feel fear or discomfort when I see spiders, just curiosity and interest. It's great not to feel such terror anymore, very freeing.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

A few years ago I used to be petrified of the Sydney funnel webs that appeared in pools and when mature males went out in search of females but ende up in the house, I don't know why but spiders in general started to grow on me and now I love them

Edit: Your stories are way more interesting than mine

 

[JoP]

@Pythonipus, sounds like you need to start considering getting yourself a T. I've never personally struggled with arachnophobia, but quite a few of my friends who do have nevertheless been captivated by watching my tiny slings grow over time. For some reason, Ts seem to be a lot less intimidating once you've seen the tiny slings they start out as. Just a suggestion: if you're open to the idea of getting a larger arachnid as a pet, getting a gentler species of T (like a B. albo) as a sling and nurturing it yourself to adulthood could be a really healthy way to continue confronting and overcoming your phobia. You might be surprised how attached you get to the little thing, and the experience of caring for it and observing it as it grows is really fascinating, even for people who aren't naturally spider-lovers. Plus Ts are surprisingly low-maintenance pets anyway, so that's a perk. But honestly, some of the docile, gentler species of T seem to be spiders' best ambassadors to arachnophobes, because they're just naturally endearing and really cool to observe. And as fuzzy little babies, they're pretty stinkin' cute, even if you don't usually think spiders are (see below for reference).

 

[EulersK]

A short story.

I was getting myself ready in the morning, heading off to class. I was about 21 years, and when I got into the shower I was welcomed by a wolf spider. A large one. I couldn't shower and I subsequently missed class because of it. After that incident, I went out and bought a pet tarantula that day in order to get over my fear. "Ruby" was her name, sold as a G. rosea but was in fact a G porteri. From Petsmart. Of course I ended up with the lot; aquarium, sand, heat mat, thermometer... you name it. I was set straight here on these forums, and I've been hooked on bugs since.

As a side, I've still got Ruby these years later. She's the nastiest rosie you'll meet, and she's easily my favorite spider.

 

[dord]

A short story.

I was getting myself ready in the morning, heading off to class. I was about 21 years, and when I got into the shower I was welcomed by a wolf spider. A large one. I couldn't shower and I subsequently missed class because of it. After that incident, I went out and bought a pet tarantula that day in order to get over my fear. "Ruby" was her name, sold as a G. rosea but was in fact a G porteri. From Petsmart. Of course I ended up with the lot; aquarium, sand, heat mat, thermometer... you name it. I was set straight here on these forums, and I've been hooked on bugs since.

As a side, I've still got Ruby these years later. She's the nastiest rosie you'll meet, and she's easily my favorite spider.

Not to derail the thread, but is rosea the red form and porteri the pink and grey forms?

 

[CyclingSam]

I was at my parent’s house. I dropped something on the floor and it appeared to roll under a nightstand. I reached under to grab it. Something stuck to my hand. I ripped my hand out from under the stand and attached to me was a sticky bug trap covered in spiders. I let out a yelp and took off running down the hall, violently shaking my hand. At this time I owned 23Ts HaHa... I am still scared of the unexpected spider.

 

[Tomoran]

I was scared of spiders (and many bugs) ever since I can remember. My mother is VERY arachnophobic, so I'm sure I was probably influenced by her fears. While growing up, we had a small farm, which made for constant exposure to creepy crawlies, and I used to get made fun of for screaming and running every time I spotted a spider. We also had a staircase that led down to our basement and garage that was infested with daddy long legs. I used to have to use this staircase daily as we kept feed (and a few animals) down there, and to say I was terrified of it would be an understatement. Despite being scared of them, I was also totally fascinated by them. I would never let my mom kill them when she found one, and my brother an I would cup them and put them outside or in the basement. I saw my first tarantula, an adult B. hamorii, when I was about 6 at a pet store my dad brought me to, and I was completely obsessed with it. Despite the size, I found it to be beautiful and much less scary than the true spiders I was used to seeing. Over the years, I begged my mom to let me get a tarantula, but she wasn't having it.

When Billie (my wife) and I first moved out together, I picked up a young adult G. porteri from local marine who had quite the exotics collection (and apparently, a venomous snake loose somewhere in his home). My hope was to help get over my fear of spiders by getting used to and eventually handling this one. Remember, this was back in the '90s and I didn't know any better. I kept her for several years before I decided that it was time to make my big move and try to hold her. Unfortunately, when I went to prod her into my hand, she had a feeding response and latched onto the brush. And I, being totally shocked by the violent response, passed out. Yup, no joke. I woke up, slowly realized what had happened, and closed her container. Then I went downstairs to tell Billie so she could make fun of me.

Anyway, it took me several more years to get over my fear, and that was after I got heavy into the hobby and began working more closely with these animals daily. The incident with the G. porteri did NOT help my cause. I now have no issues with tarantulas or true spiders whatsoever.

 

[Spidery spoo]

Never had a problem with tarantulas but I used to get creeped out by the sudden spider scuttling across the carpet.
Ever since I got my first t everything that I found frightening became interesting and now its a nice occasion in which I get to feel like sir David Attenborough himself as I hold a piece of paper out the window.