Scared of spiders but not crane flies?

[Southern_Gentleman]

I've grown up around spiders and I wouldn't say I have a fear of them but I have no great love for them either. I do however have a bit of a soft spot for Huntsmans. They're harmless to humans and very active and they'll quickly clean out any insects they find in your house. They also don't build webs.

I'm glad you posted a picture of a Crane Fly, I'd never heard of such a thing before.

I dealt with those when I lived in Orlando. They are scary beyond belief and fast. A hotel I worked at was infested with them.

 

[Southern_Gentleman]

I hate spiders beyond belief. I can deal with snakes and have even had to extricate some from my home, but a spider is almost enough for me to burn the place down. I once rented a place that was infested with Brown Recluse spiders. It was a miracle I was never bitten, because I killed at least 75 in the year I lived in that apartment:

 

[Misty Avich]

I hate spiders beyond belief. I can deal with snakes and have even had to extricate some from my home, but a spider is almost enough for me to burn the place down. I once rented a place that was infested with Brown Recluse spiders. It was a miracle I was never bitten, because I killed at least 75 in the year I lived in that apartment:

View attachment 124717

Ugh, those are ugly and terrifying.

 

[Southern_Gentleman]

Ugh, those are ugly and terrifying.

And very dangerous. They rank up there with the Black Widow spider. My boss was bitten by one and he required emergency treatment and several surgeries by a plastic surgeon to repair the damage, as the bite causes necrosis. You can tell the Brown Recluse by the violin shape in it's head.

This one was rather large and an excellent example. It was caught in my downstairs bathroom. I closed the door and never used it again.

 

[Misty Avich]

Any spiders are frightening to me, even ones that aren't dangerous.

 

[Outdated]

I dealt with those when I lived in Orlando. They are scary beyond belief and fast. A hotel I worked at was infested with them.

Most Aussies love their Huntsmans, if you have one in your home then you have no dangerous spiders, of which we have quite a few species. You're right about them being fast, and very active too. One day I had one run up me and launch itself from my shoulder to catch a large wasp hovering near me.

Ours are quite territorial though, it's very rare to see more than one in a home.

 

[Southern_Gentleman]

Most Aussies love their Huntsmans, if you have one in your home then you have no dangerous spiders, of which we have quite a few species. You're right about them being fast, and very active too. One day I had one run up me and launch itself from my shoulder to catch a large wasp hovering near me.

Ours are quite territorial though, it's very rare to see more than one in a home.

View attachment 124751

Everything is Australia is dangerous.

Seriously, that looks like the ones that had infested the hotel I worked at. A previous tech had left a PTAC out of a wall and they moved in. My first encounter was with one about that size. It jumped off a valance, onto my knee, and then onto the wall where it ran to another location. The housekeepers heard me scream three floors up. At that point I was ready to burn the building down.

I've heard they're harmless, just scary looking. Still, if a spider that size got in my house I'd sign over the deed and move out.

 

[Outdated]

I've heard they're harmless, just scary looking.

My sister got bitten by one when we were kids, it didn't hurt but it gave her an itchy red rash near the bite that lasted for about an hour.

 

[Southern_Gentleman]

My sister got bitten by one when we were kids, it didn't hurt but it gave her an itchy red rash near the bite that lasted for about an hour.

Nope, no how, no way. I would have gone to the barn and used the chainsaw to cut off whatever was bitten and then set fire to the barn just to be safe.

 

[Outdated]

We used to like playing with them. In South Australia we have what we call a House Spider, a relative of the Funnel Web that looks the same, makes the same webs, but isn't poisonous. As young boys we liked scaring people with them, if you hold your hand in a loose fist the spider will stay in your hand rather than venturing out.

I had one in my hand in a classroom one day, the teacher saw the way I was holding my hand and asked me what I had in my hand. I told her she didn't want to know and she said "Show me!" so I did. Cudos to the lady, she went white as a ghost but she took the spider from my hand and put it outside and then told me "Leave the bloody things alone!".

 

[Toirtis]

Like a lot of people I have an irrational fear of spiders. But for some reason I have never been afraid of crane flies. This is a crane fly.

Spoiler: example

View attachment 115854

Like spiders, crane flies have long legs and look very much like spiders, and I heard that many arachnophobics are equally afraid of crane flies too. But I'm not at all. I can pick them up and they don't give me the heebie-jeebies like spiders do.
I even used to collect as many crane flies as I could and take them to my bedroom, and just happily slept in a room full of crane flies hovering around me.

How come I'm not afraid of these little fellas? Is it because they fly? Maybe the wings kind of dissolve my spider phobia? Or maybe because they only have 6 legs and not 8 so they glide rather than scuttle or cling? It's very strange how loving I am of crane flies but how fearful I am of spiders.

Anyone else?

Well, crane flies have no mouth parts, but spiders do, and are, almost without exclusion, venomous predators?

 

[Misty Avich]

The most ugliest and scariest spiders are actually the least harmful in the UK, but the less harmful they are the more terrified I am. This ugly creature is apparently harmless but is absolutely, utterly terrifying to me.