Ancient fear of Arachnids.....

[Hamadryad]

I was reading the post from Charlie in which he had a bad reaction to holding a scorpion and it brought to mind something I read about Arachnophobia not too long ago...it seems that it has been hypothesized that the Human animal has a pre-programmed fear of the very shape ( ! ) of a spider or scorpion and that in many people (unfortunate souls...) it elicits an instinctive gut level panic reaction when confronted with a spider for instance...a deep primeval fear stemming from millions of years ago when there were probably many more types of spiders and scorpions existant and they were lethally venomous as well..I find this to be fascinating because you have weirdos like me that have loved spiders since they were kids...when I was about 5 years old I had a huge collection of true spiders in glass jars ( about 50 of them!!) on our kitchen table...my mother actually used to help me catch them - following me into garages and other spooky places in my mad quest for a new spider.I had no idea at the time that there was any such thing as a "Tarantula" or I would have certainly lost my young mind in joy..and my mother did not bring it up either...heeheehee..anyhow...I think there must be some neurological circuitry missing in us spider lovers...we are somewhat oddly different from the masses of humanity.....


:? The Evil Spider Hunter

 

[arachnopunks]

You have a good point. I was thinking about that the other day and the fact that I have been bitten by more ants and mosquitos than spiders. I honestly cannot remember a single time that I was bitten by a spider where I actually saw the spider bite me. Then you start to think of all the diseases that mosquitos can spread and it seems crazy that most people just shoo away a mosquito but shreek at the mention of a spider. It really doesn't make sense.


-Jill

 

[Chris]

I can almost prove this theory wrong... I find that most of these phobias are taught and not natural.

I often show my collection to kids and rarely do they ever show any fear whatsoever to any of my snakes, spiders and scorps. They are actually quite intrigued and fascinated by them!

People who are already in their teens or adulthood, however, are a much different story! Almost 100% of the people I mention tarantulas to cringe at the very thought of them.

This is why I always try and do my best to support youth education to nip these fears in the bud! I am a sucker for kids' eyes showing amazement at seeing a tarantula or a cool looking reptile.

 

[Ultimate Instar]

I'd have to agree with Chris. We see a lot of children at our office and I show them my tarantulas quite frequently. Young girls (about 5-7 years) do not have any fear. Young boys will occasionally have some fear. Generally speaking, as people get older, they develop more phobias. There are always exceptions, of course. On thursday afternoon, a nine-year-old boy is coming to see some of my collection that I am bringing from home. He's a very bright kid; when he was five years old, he said "I want to be an entomologist when I grow up."

I think that tarantula-keeping is a sign of high intelligence and rational behavior. (I might be a teeny, tiny bit biased ) But consider this, we're not afraid of a harmless animal because we've researched the subject thoroughly and we know how to take care of them properly. We do not live our lives based on irrational phobias and misinformation. Didn't Volker von Wirth have a signature line that went something like: "The only relationship you can have with a tarantula is a deeply intellectual one"? I'm doing this from memory so this quote is not exact.

Karen N.

 

[danread]

"Young girls do not have any fear." Isn't that a bit of a sweeping statement? I'n my experience it is usually much more likely to be a girl that is scared of spiders than a boy, although there are many exceptions to the rule. Whether this is due to social conditioning or some other factor i don't know.

 

[Hamadryad]

Well, I could be wrong I guess...

I was just relating a hypothesis that I had read a while back...whether it is true or not I could not really say...it just sounded interesting as I have read about people that are really scared silly of spiders...I read about people that actually can be paralyzed with fear at the very sight of a spider...they will freeze and be unable to move! pretty wild...the only time I ever froze at the sight of a spider was once when I was out in the California desert at this airport called California City and me and a friend of mine opened up a hangar that had been sealed for years...it was dark,hot and gloomy inside and when my eyes adjusted to the dark I could see that there were huge stunning webs all over the inside of the hangar with ENORMOUS Southern Black Widows poised in the middle of the webs...there must have been hundreds of them..huge glossy black Widows with the classic hourglass...I froze for about 30 seconds in shock and then I just marveled at the sight...all these deadly spiders all around me...it was quite an experience..never seen anything like it !!!!!

The Evil Spider Hunter

 

[Chris]

This is a funny statistic of the most common phobias:

In first place... snakes

second... spiders

third... death


lmao more people fear spiders than death itself!! Makes no sense to a logical mind like mine

 

[Jono_mad]

i think that the phobia is taught. my mum is terrified of all spiders, even really small ones. my brother as a result has been scared of spiders all of his life and is only now getting less afraid of them as i've shown him that they aren't scary. my dad likes spiders and is not afraid of them at all. as a result i have no fear towards spiders at all, i love 'em! in fact i don't have any fears so i guess i'm lucky.
Jono

 

[Henry Kane]

Yeah, Kugellager joined my family and I at the Butterfly Pavillion (my youngest son's first time there ) last weekend and when we went to see the Tarantulas one of the staff was holding a G. rosea for the people to see and hold if they like. The first thing my son did was reach out for it...probably with the full intention of grabbing it to put in his mouth. LOL! We didn't let him touch it of course (hairs n' all that stuff) but he sure was fascinated by it. Not an ounce of reserve whatsoever.

Atrax

 

[Tranz]

Originally posted by Spider Hunter
:it seems that it has been hypothesized that the Human animal has a pre-programmed fear of the very shape ( ! ) of a spider ...I think there must be some neurological circuitry missing in us spider lovers...we are somewhat oddly different from the masses of humanity.....


:? The Evil Spider Hunter

There's a belief that extreme love and extreme hate are similar. Sometimes you only have to tweak revulsion in a few places to turn it into attraction.

 

[Arachniphile]

There's a belief that extreme love and extreme hate are similar. Sometimes you only have to tweak revulsion in a few places to turn it into attraction.

Yeap... Just ask my wife... lmao...

 

[Lost_Tarantula]

Originally posted by Chris
This is a funny statistic of the most common phobias:

In first place... snakes

second... spiders

third... death


lmao more people fear spiders than death itself!! Makes no sense to a logical mind like mine

If I am not mistaken, public speaking is the most common phobia.

 

[najig21]

CHRIS FROM CANADA WRITES:
I can almost prove this theory wrong... I find that most of these phobias are taught and not natural.

I often show my collection to kids and rarely do they ever show any fear whatsoever to any of my snakes, spiders and scorps. They are actually quite intrigued and fascinated by them!

People who are already in their teens or adulthood, however, are a much different story! Almost 100% of the people I mention tarantulas to cringe at the very thought of them.

This is why I always try and do my best to support youth education to nip these fears in the bud! I am a sucker for kids' eyes showing amazement at seeing a tarantula or a cool looking reptile.

CHRIS FROM CALIFORNIA WRITES:
Amen, man. I decided to make a video of me trying to sell my emperor on the street (it's rather funny, actually). Every single person I talked to was like "Eww. Get it away from me" (add that teenage diva voice to it, it makes it even better). Now I am 16, so this doesn't seem as strange as it would be if I was older. The one family I went to with a bunch of kids or something at a birthday party, they were all fascinated. The parents didn't think this was all that great, but I basically gave them a little seminar. My mother hates all of my pets, and this trait is going into my 5 year old sister. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother, but I CAN'T STAND IT when she teaches her that spiders are bad, and all of them will kill you. At least she lets me save them when they're in the bathtub or something. I find that you have to lure someone into the whole situation to let them have an interest in it. Girls, for example. I told a girl once that I had a pet spider. That relationship didn't last long. But my other girlfriend came to my house and saw the spiders. She doesn't hate spiders, but she doesn't like them. Anywho, she was completely fascinated with all of it. She now likes spiders (but doesn't collect them). Moving on:

DANREAD WRITES:
"Young girls do not have any fear." Isn't that a bit of a sweeping statement? I'n my experience it is usually much more likely to be a girl that is scared of spiders than a boy, although there are many exceptions to the rule. Whether this is due to social conditioning or some other factor i don't know.

CHRIS FROM CALIFORNIA WRITES:
This is true in my experience, too. However, that message was posted by a Karen, who I'm going to strongly assume is a female. Now, pretend you're a little girl, and some guy walks up to you with a spider. You freak out. Why? Well (a) because it's a spider, and (b) because it's a man that's holding it, it's a man that's showing it to you, and men are seen as the kind of people who like everything dangerous. This not always true. Because spiders really aren't dangerous. But imagine if a woman walked up to you and showed you a spider. You would be kind of curious because if this woman can handle it, and she's a woman, so she must be rational (I'm not sure if this is how kids think, but it sure as hell is how my little sister thinks), then maybe it's safe to go near it and learn about it. Does anyone agree with me? It's hard to put it into words, but it's just a motherly feeling you get from a woman. So if she has a spider, it must be safe. It's not even a motherly feeling, really. It's just that maybe boys will feel safer with a man with a spider, and girls will feel safer with a woman with a spider.

 

[phobia 1]

you all have a good point

I am an adult and both my brother and I have aracnaphobia bad.My boyfriend has a avicularia versicolor but I have to take care of it because he's a trucker. I have overcome my fear of her but not any others. However I don't hold her or anything like that because I'm allergic to her, but I do feed and water her cage. she is the only one that I will go near. I have come to like her and think of her as a pet but she is the only one. I will run from any other spider I see.I know she can't get out of her cage so I don't worry about her as much.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Young girls (about 5-7 years) do not have any fear.

i can attest to this. when living with my parents, my 3 year old sister showed nothing but intrigue at my collection. typical curiosity of youth you might say, except she could walk in that room, tell you the common name of most of them, and tell you whether they were mean or not, had "itchy hairs" or not, and even referred to my T. blondi as just that, T.blondi. now im living with my gf, who has 2 daughters ages 3 and 5. both come home after school and the first thing they say is "can we see the spiders?" i havent even been here a week, and last night while tending to the T.blondis cage, the t raised up her abdomen, and the oldest said "careful shes going to get you with hairs." just shows how much more opened minded children are, as well as how much more willing they are to learn. my mom and some friends i attempted to educate still classify all my t's and scorps as evil. (with the exception of bridget of course )

 

[Nemesis]

Anyone listening to Paul Harvey today Re: Sean Connery and the spider scene from Dr. No? Apparently he has arachnophobia, and they had to make a mechanical spider for the scene with the T in the hotel room. They auctioned it off at Christies today for close to $4,000.

Kelly O
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