Spiders....you know the creepy crawly critters....

[randude101]

I love the predator nature of the spider.

I know the Praying Mantis is not a spider, but it is one of my all time favorites insects. They eat other bugs, and are ferocious eaters. In some places they are kept as pets in bamboo cages and used to keep other bugs away. Indeed I have purchased cacoons with thousands of mantis that I would release in my outdoor garden.

 

[Marywanna]

I also keep an eye out for Praying Mantis,they are great for my flower garden.It's only spiders that scare me,and I don't know why.But it is a real phobia with me,and I wish I could get rid of it.

 

[BurmeseDragon]

Having a phobia is either being sure or just very unsure, well being sure of being unsure. Given the right environment we all should have fear, without concern we would be in trouble. Fear blocks a lot of freedom, maybe it's just that some things are not worth the experience to someone who is not going to get gratification.

 

[One Love]

not scared of spiders or snakes one bit. grew up in the woods with all the lovely (and not so lovely) critters. i love them all. as is with any "phobia" a little conditioning via exposure to the feared item is usually all it takes to overcome.

i forget what scientist did the experiment (might have been BF Skinner as he did a lot of work on conditioning) with the baby and the bunny rabbit. he basically conditioned the child to have an extreme reaction of fear when exposed to a big fluffy white rabbit. he later re-conditioned the child to lose the fear of rabbits by short periods of positive exposure. Like a previous poster stated they are getting over their fear of spiders slowly by catching and releasing them outside. (short positive experiences with the negative stigma)

now, one of my professors (been out of college for a while so its been a few years) suggested that we are hard wired to get the jittery response to snakes and spiders through our DNA. As in the past 1,000's of years of evolution the brain may have associated certain toxins with the shape of the creature and created a sort of blanket affect for everything that looks similar to the poisonous creature. interesting stuff at any rate....

 

[ka0tik_kreati0n]

I have a black widow tattooed on my leg. I dont go all nuts when I see one.

 

[FallenBuddha]

i have a theory on this, now mind you i am off my head on some nice blockhead, but it goes something like this. the word arachnid, which is the scientific term for the spider family, comes from ancient greek mythology.

Arachne was a girl who was a great weaver and bragged that she could even weave better than Athena, yeah the goddess of wisdom and victory is also the goddess of handi-crafts (not martha stewart), so Athena shows up disguised as an old lady and warns Arachne to quit disrespecting the Gods, Arachne demands a weaving contest the old lady drops her disguise. Athena weaves a tapestry depicting the victory over Poseiden, Arachne depicts 21 acts of infidelity among the Gods, but disguised as animals. Athena concedes the weaving to be flawless, but is outraged at the subject matter, and destroys Arachnes looms and hits Arachne upside the head knocking sense into her finally. in shame Arachne hangs herself, Athena out of mercy loosened the rope and turned it into the web, and Arachne into a spider.

so i believe and take it with as many shakers of salt as you like, that women are afraid of spiders because they still fear Athena. or maybe i am of my head. you decide. as for myself i feel spideys eat all kinds of nasty flying buggies i cant stand so i like them, i look at them as free organic pest control. plus the webs can be really cool to look at when really baked.

peace -fb

 

[Chunkybuddha]

i have a theory on this, now mind you i am off my head on some nice blockhead, but it goes something like this. the word arachnid, which is the scientific term for the spider family, comes from ancient greek mythology.

Arachne was a girl who was a great weaver and bragged that she could even weave better than Athena, yeah the goddess of wisdom and victory is also the goddess of handi-crafts (not martha stewart), so Athena shows up disguised as an old lady and warns Arachne to quit disrespecting the Gods, Arachne demands a weaving contest the old lady drops her disguise. Athena weaves a tapestry depicting the victory over Poseiden, Arachne depicts 21 acts of infidelity among the Gods, but disguised as animals. Athena concedes the weaving to be flawless, but is outraged at the subject matter, and destroys Arachnes looms and hits Arachne upside the head knocking sense into her finally. in shame Arachne hangs herself, Athena out of mercy loosened the rope and turned it into the web, and Arachne into a spider.

so i believe and take it with as many shakers of salt as you like, that women are afraid of spiders because they still fear Athena. or maybe i am of my head. you decide. as for myself i feel spideys eat all kinds of nasty flying buggies i cant stand so i like them, i look at them as free organic pest control. plus the webs can be really cool to look at when really baked.

peace -fb

Ha great post Buddha. I love Mythology.

Indeed I have purchased cacoons with thousands of mantis that I would release in my outdoor garden.

Waaaay too cool. Are you for real ? That would be a great picture to have a bunch of mantis over some bud shots.

 

[randude101]

You know I had some photo, don't anymore.


Mantis are cool. I bought that cacoon thing from a garden shop. You can probably get them online if you can't find them locally.

 

[NoSaint]

...I don't like mosquito's and sand flys because they can suck your blood and give you a nasty bite ....or even a sickness (malaria, dengue fever)....but Spiders?

.....like OP says they trap and eat mossies and germ carrying flys....so to me they are a good thing to have around....


...What exactly is this weird aversion that mainly women have towards spiders?......why?

I hate spiders. Don't scream like a girl when i see one, but if one is on me I'm getting it off in a hurry. Creepy things they are.

What really scares me about spiders are the brown recluse. My friend has a dent in his inner thigh the size of a softball, well, the radius of one anyway. Its nasty. Got bit down south then came up north. Dr didnt know what was going on why his skin was being "eaten" away and black and nasty. My buddy told him what it was but he didnt believe him. Finally ended up having to cut it all out.

Nasty evil things they are. Look up brown recluse spider bites on google sometime

 

[CANNACO-OP]

we love em, except for the ones that eat small children and livestock.

we got on that we left, he made a little web at the end of our aero unit, in the dark 4" pvc chamber, right at the end were it goes into our drain line.

i see in his web he catches those things that fly around (maybe fungas gnat), this spider is very ghost white (prob cuz he in dark) but have also seen others in the grow rooms with bugs in webs

 

[JJScorpio]

My wife absolutely freaks when it comes to spiders. I've heard her freaking out and when she showed it to me I needed a magnifying glass to tell it was a spider, lol.....

 

[zomg1]

i've had this big spider in my garage all summer, whenever i go smoke out in there i blow a lil bit his way.. i like grabbing other bug's i find and throwing them in his web, they are fascinating to watch

 

[swampy_nz]

You know I had some photo, don't anymore.


Mantis are cool. I bought that cacoon thing from a garden shop. You can probably get them online if you can't find them locally.

this is one i caught munching on a bumblebee.

 

[randude101]

Good Shot Swamp. Mantis are cool.

 

[N. Accumbens]

Spiders are a very kool addition to anyone's garden!
My personal guard spider...

 

[CANNACO-OP]

Spider pics

Spider pics

Spider in aero root chamber.

nice lookin fella

 

[ka0tik_kreati0n]

sick.

 

[hazedandinfused]

well i have a wolf spider infestation throughout my basement, ive tried fighting back with sprays, and while it works somewhat ive given up the fight now and let them in, they are poisonus but they alsmot never bite me, i kill many on sight sometimes up to 5 a day or in a single location!!! man its a pain


im surprised i havent heard this one in this thread
"average human eats 2-3 spiders per year while they sleep"
anyone confirm or deny this common myth?

 

[swampy_nz]

im surprised i havent heard this one in this thread
"average human eats 2-3 spiders per year while they sleep"
anyone confirm or deny this common myth?

I REALLY didnt need to know that.

 

[geopolitical]

I got nailed by a massive baboon spider in africa a few years ago, Having something larger than my hand feeling like it's trying to pierce my leg through was an experience. I can't really see the thing with the smaller spiders though.