# why are most people afraid of tarantulas ?



## NevularScorpion (Mar 5, 2008)

i was just wondering why most people are afraid of them? have you guys ever thought about a reason for this ?


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## halfwaynowhere (Mar 5, 2008)

its sort of an irrational fear. I used to be severely arachnophobic, like, 3 months ago, lol. With all the hype from sci-fi films and everything, people just see them as scary and dangerous.


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## ShadowBlade (Mar 5, 2008)

They're large hairy things with eight legs, lots of eyes, and rather large fangs that _hurt_, as well as inject venom. Not to mention the fact that most movies and media portray them as aggressive, and deadly.

-Sean


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## Rhapsody (Mar 5, 2008)

My boyfriend didn't even wanna look at the pics I took of Pandora when I told him about her. I asked him a similar question as you have posted and his reply was that he didn't like spiders in general because he was afraid of the small ones that can climb on you, bite, and kill you in your sleep with their venom. I can't comprehend something that small having enough venom in them to take down a full grown human, but Ray is arachnophobic and doesn't like to be near spiders, Ts, or anything wiht 8 legs. He physically twitches at the mention of spiders. I think for most people it's a case of not understanfing them and having a fear of what they do not know and they're just too afraid or lazy to find out the facts. People do this not only with fears of spiders, but even similar fears that are expressed towards humans as well.

Reactions: Like 1


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## arachnidgirl (Mar 5, 2008)

because they do not understand them.  What we do not understand, we tend to fear  .


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## NevularScorpion (Mar 5, 2008)

arachnidgirl said:


> because they do not understand them.  What we do not understand, we tend to fear  .


good point


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## Rick McJimsey (Mar 5, 2008)

halfwaynowhere said:


> its sort of an irrational fear. I used to be severely arachnophobic, like, 3 months ago, lol. With all the hype from sci-fi films and everything, people just see them as scary and dangerous.


lol, same here
i just recently discovered how amazing spiders are


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## ShadowBlade (Mar 5, 2008)

arachnidgirl said:


> because they do not understand them.  What we do not understand, we tend to fear  .


While thats certainly true of some people, its kinda hard to put it in those terms, because in general its smarter to avoid dangerous things. (I understand a gun, but I still avoid having them pointed at me). 

Many people have a deep-rooted fear of tarantulas which stems from a natural tendency to avoid things that harmed our ancestors, they can't help it.

-Sean


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## arachnidgirl (Mar 5, 2008)

Genei Ryodan said:


> good point


Thanks.

I had an incident with my 10 year old neice.  Her mother hates spiders, so naturally so does she.  She came over to my house for her birthday and she saw me playing with my G. Rosea sling.  She freaked out.  I explained to her that it was not hurting me, just walking around.  She got curious and came for a closer look, but still scared.  I finally got her to want to hold it.  She held my 1.5 - 2" sling.  She was still nervous, but I told her not to be scared because it will not harm her.  After she gave it back, I sat at the computer and made her a certificate saying that she held a Tarantula  .
Her mom was disgusted, but i felt i did a good thing because now she has a tiny bit of understanding and is a little less frightened of them.
The certificate also has photos of her holding it so that it is proof...

Reactions: Like 1


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## K1j1m (Mar 5, 2008)

Most people are afraid of things they don't understand.


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## Mushroom Spore (Mar 5, 2008)

K1j1m said:


> Most people are afraid of things they don't understand.


More like we're wired to fear things that pose a danger to our health. Venomous snakes kill people to this day; if we weren't mostly wired to go WOAH BACK UP on seeing a snake headed for us, that'd happen a lot more then wouldn't it. There are venomous spiders in the world, same thing. Scorpions too, whatever. Even if it can't kill, it can HURT or cause serious problems for a while, and that's not good for surviving against the other competitors out there.

Instinct isn't like a smart computer, though. It doesn't automatically care about "oh well this spider isn't venomous like the ones I'm worried about, I won't pressure this human into panic to get away from it." 

*Nature doesn't care about fluff and understanding. Nature cares about each species doing its mad best to keep itself alive, and if that means people smack more spiders than necessary, well then nature doesn't really care. * Besides, spiders have hundreds or thousands of babies at a time, and the tendency for larger creatures to kill them probably has something to do with needing to be like that. They breed large-scale, larger creatures have instinct telling them not to just sit there like a dummy and get bit, and the two balance out in the end.

Now not everybody's arachnophobic, and some of us get over bits and pieces of the instinctive wiring through owning and caring for tarantulas. But that's individuals for you. But you know what? I still shake like mad when it looks like a spider might be about to take a walk on me, it just happens. If we were still living in jungles, I'd also be more likely to react without thinking and avoid or kill something venomous before something bad happens. That's nature for you. Cheers. 

EDIT: wow I'm tired and half-coherent. Ah well.


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## Fayt (Mar 5, 2008)

I think that alot of people don't understand them but, some people like my brother who lives in the same room as me and my spiders and is famliar with them and how they really are, does not mind my T's(except the "speedy" ones ) but hates members of the smaller spider family's.


Other people just think they are "Disgusting" and "Gross" and won't even get closer than 10 feet away. These kinds of people are pretty easy to convince to come closer in my experiances.

Then their is the none understanding types, who are reluctant, but will act interested and are receptive to information.


But like was already said, alot of people are afraid of what they don't understand, this is true with things other than spiders.


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## Fayt (Mar 5, 2008)

Mushroom Spore said:


> More like we're wired to fear things that pose a danger to our health. Venomous snakes kill people to this day; if we weren't mostly wired to go WOAH BACK UP on seeing a snake headed for us, that'd happen a lot more then wouldn't it. There are venomous spiders in the world, same thing. Scorpions too, whatever. Even if it can't kill, it can HURT or cause serious problems for a while, and that's not good for surviving against the other competitors out there.
> 
> Instinct isn't like a smart computer, though. It doesn't automatically care about "oh well this spider isn't venomous like the ones I'm worried about, I won't pressure this human into panic to get away from it."
> 
> ...



Well said indeed:clap:


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## Le Wasp (Mar 5, 2008)

It seems arachnophobia is half instinct.  Kids that haven't yet been taught to fear spiders show no fear of them...  But it is an easy fear to pick up.  All it takes to instill the fear of death of spiders is a parent seeming a bit squeemish about creepy-crawlies.  

I used to do a lot of outreaches for schools, where we would bring bugs, tarantulas and such to show the kids.  I found that the younger the kids, the more likely they would be ok with holding the tarantula.  As they pick up behaviors, they learn to avoid the things.  I guess spiders are something our ancestors feared for good reason, so it's something that's easy to pass on to children if a tribe is in a region with nasty spiders.

The main thing I heard from people that were afraid to hold the spiders (mainly the parents) was that there was something about the way they moved that freaked them out.  Nothing quite moves like a spider does.  I guess that freaks us out.


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## aracnochicken (Mar 5, 2008)

I can understand people being afraid of them . Up until a few months ago if you put even the smallest spider on my you were dead, the spider was dead and I was going to be in pain for hours from beating the crap out of myself to get it off . But with that being said I have always liked them (just from far).To me it was just the creep effect and not being able to see its mouth . now i have 3 with 3 being shipped to me and getting a mm Haitian Brown this weekend . my rosea is about 6" and my B. smithi is about 3" , I'll hold my smithi but the rosea is just to big and still scares the crap out of me but I'm working up to her. Not to mention shes mental . She attacks my paintbrush so I don't think i'll be holding her any time soon if at all . Now hights ? forget about it , never getting me more the 10 feet of the ground .


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## kyrga (Mar 5, 2008)

I have a guy friend who claims that when he tells girls about his pets, a lot are very interested to hear about his scorp, but freak out when he mentions his T. I would have thought it'd be the other way around, since Ts are at least furry looking. He said they say that scorps have a definite front and back, where as Ts are all legs, and have the appearance of being able to run at you from any side.


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## sick4x4 (Mar 5, 2008)

i think its because we as humans have preinstalled neuron receptors to be afraid of them...as hobbyist we overcame this with our appreciation of them.. but for most people, they are not in contact with them enough to really overcome it like we are.....remember the first time a T jumped on your arm unexpectedly? i dont know about you but i jumped, now its second nature to p/u and hold my T's.....


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## Cocoa-Jin (Mar 5, 2008)

From what I can tell, its the "alien" body structure.  Its so foreign compared to what we are "accustom" to that it just invokes an irrational fear.  The movements, the many appendages, etc(I think this was all said before).

My wife was the same way, I am the same way with respect to those "camel spiders" ...whew those things erk me(but Im getting better).  I try to have people focus on the colors, the interesting and somewhat "intelligent" behavior, etc, etc.  I try to tell people to see them has small, cute, furry, eight legged hamsters...that eat meat .


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## Tuwin (Mar 5, 2008)

I don't think most people can understand it. I still have a slight fear of Tarantulas. I think you should have some fear, in the way of respect for the creature.

I have a pathological fear of dogs and i cannot explain it. Anytime i see a dog my muscles freeze up and I start to sweat. They scare the living crap out of me and for no good reason really...

its just something people have


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## The Bear (Mar 5, 2008)

I think there are many things that cause arachnophobia and fear in people. I have a friend who is soo afraid of spiders he can't even look at a picture of one. If Im on this site and he knows it he leaves the room. Its that bad and the biggest factor for him is his parents are both just as afraid of spiders as he is and probably there parents and so on. Its funny though because he isn't afraid of daddy long legs:?  When we were young very young he came over and I tought him they can't bite people even though they look scary and since then he picks them up all the time. 

What it comes down to is overcoming your fear. If your afraid of dogs then get a dog or play with a friends dog. If your afraid of heights then safely go up to a high place and just hang out there for a while. You will realize that its safe and not so bad. I always liked spiders and holding smaller ones but big T's scared me even after I had some so I went out and bought a big rosey and started letting her crawl on me first I shook so bad but eventually got over it.


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## Pulk (Mar 5, 2008)

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=898
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=3517
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=7027
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=30866
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=31074
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=38880
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=76034
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=95663


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## robbie (Mar 5, 2008)

well when i tell my students that I have around 20 T's they all ways shriek in horror. The next thing they ask is aren't you afraid that one will get out and bite you and kill you?

I think they are simply afraid because they are not educated about them.  Once people become informed and get a little hands on experience they tend to not be so afraid of them.  Knowledge is truly power!


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## Mushroom Spore (Mar 6, 2008)

The Bear said:


> If your afraid of dogs then get a dog


This is nitpicking, but that's actually a really bad idea. You cannot possibly properly train a dog or give it a proper home if you're afraid of it, dogs are social animals and need interaction and a bond with their owners and will not understand the fear responses they keep getting from the person. In fact, that will probably just confuse the dog into doing something that will scare the human even more.

It's not like owning a tarantula where an arachnophobe can keep one in a critter keeper that's only opened to toss in crickets or clean water now and then, and the tarantula will never know or care that a)there's a human around and b)the human's afraid of it.


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## citizen_smithi (Mar 6, 2008)

Mushroom Spore said:


> This is nitpicking, but that's actually a really bad idea. You cannot possibly properly train a dog or give it a proper home if you're afraid of it, dogs are social animals and need interaction and a bond with their owners and will not understand the fear responses they keep getting from the person. In fact, that will probably just confuse the dog into doing something that will scare the human even more.
> 
> It's not like owning a tarantula where an arachnophobe can keep one in a critter keeper that's only opened to toss in crickets or clean water now and then, and the tarantula will never know or care that a)there's a human around and b)the human's afraid of it.


I totally agree - dogs are such intelligent and sensitive creatures, and in my experience they get a little anxious themselves when they feel feared for no reason as it is disconcerting for them. They are used to being the dominated one when it comes to humans and when they are suddenly in the reverse position they start to adopt some odd behaviour, especially certain breeds.

With the fear of Tarantulas I still understand it even though I don't fully possess it. I felt really hot and my heart was racing when urging my Smithi into a transfer container when I got her as my first - I knew it wasn't fear a such, but more a nervous wonderment! :worship: 

These Alien looking creature from tales of yore and creepy adventure movies, suddenly in your bedroom at your request! Even as an enthusiastic hobbyist, we all at some point still think to ourselves "this is insane!" in the best sense possible of course! But my point is even those of us who are captivated by Tarantulas still have the underlying human instinctive fear of them, but we not only understand the creature through learning about them, we have come to understand our fear, however underlying it may be in the individual, also through learning about them.

Guaranteed - the majority of people who fear Tarantula know as much about them as I do about quantum physics!

Respect to the T's - look at the power they have over us, good and bad! They are like cunning wizards, waiting for us to behave as they wish, I mean come on! They managed to get us to let them live in our nice warm homes with food guarunteed and no predators present, and STILL managed to keep the majority of us in  fear of them!

Geniuses the lot of them


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