Tarantulas cure arachnophobia (in my house anyway)

[Phil Rea]

Last night, I was reading the BTS Journal in the living room, when I heard a shout from our bedroom requesting my assistance. I thought my luck was in , but alas no.

I went to investigate, and on our bed walking around on a tissue, was a juvenile house spider Tegenaria domestica, and my Mrs. totally calm and sitting up. She'd woken up, seen movement on her pillow, quietly directed the spider onto a tissue and called me to vacate it from the room.

This is absolutely remarkable, as she used to be a complete arachnophobe, and her normal reaction would have been to throw the pillow to the floor (preferably across the room), jump out of the bed, and start screaming her head off

Since we've had the Curly Hair, and now a Chile Rose, she says that she sees spiders (oh all right then, arachnids ) in a different light, and they just don't scare her anymore. It's an amazing transformation in such a short time. Remarkable really.

[jordan lynch (king7)]

so the question now is.............what are you getting for your next T

[Phil Rea]

so the question now is.............what are you getting for your next T

Haven't decided yet, but the good news is that now she can't object

[Mike Shaw]

Hi Phil,I keep 4 T's(for the mo).Upto 2 years ago I was completely petrified of spiders.I kept scorpions but couldn't deal with spiders weird huh.Anyway i wanted to buy a new scorpion but the pet shop had sold out,however they did have a juvenile female chile rose.so for some strange reason I bought her.Over next few months I became totally hooked on T's.I now keep 2 quite fast and aggresive species now with no probs.In fact it's turned into a passion.It's a shame we can't promote this a bit more and stop the urban myth of T's.Anyway enough rambling.Well done to the Mrs.
Cheers Mike.

[Phil Rea]

Hi Phil,I keep 4 T's(for the mo).Upto 2 years ago I was completely petrified of spiders.I kept scorpions but couldn't deal with spiders weird huh.Anyway i wanted to buy a new scorpion but the pet shop had sold out,however they did have a juvenile female chile rose.so for some strange reason I bought her.Over next few months I became totally hooked on T's.I now keep 2 quite fast and aggresive species now with no probs.In fact it's turned into a passion.It's a shame we can't promote this a bit more and stop the urban myth of T's.Anyway enough rambling.Well done to the Mrs.
Cheers Mike.

Thanks for the reply Mike

It's strange isn't it how collecting T.s is such a compelling thing. I had to get another, literally within a week of getting the first

Unless something really amazing comes up, I'm trying to stick with these two until I can be sure I'm looking after them properly (so far so good, I'm glad to say!).

I'm proud of her, as she was really terrified of spiders. I moved the chile rose the other day, as she was hanging on to the edge to the tank and didn't seem to like her substrate (which I've now changed to a mixture of sterilised peat and vermiculite and she seems much better) and she actually bought herself to hold the container I'd temporarily put the T. in whilst I was sorting out the tank. I was stunned

I think I've created a monster

[Mike Shaw]

Hi phil,thats the same substrate I use for My chile(she like's it really dry)but I do have a deep water dish for her.
Here's a pic of my Chile.

I think we'll have to nickname you FrankensteinLOL
Good luck with your G.Rosea.
P.S. Another good resource site is www.giantspiders.com

Cheers Mike.

[Phil Rea]

Hi phil,thats the same substrate I use for My chile(she like's it really dry)but I do have a deep water dish for her.
Here's a pic of my Chile.

I think we'll have to nickname you FrankensteinLOL
Good luck with your G.Rosea.
P.S. Another good resource site is www.giantspiders.com

Cheers Mike.

Nice T. Mike, and thanks for the good luck

Looks like she's really going for those Rennies

Frankenstein's not bad. I've been called much worse!

Cheers,

Phil.

[jonshepherd]

Hi Phil,I keep 4 T's(for the mo).Upto 2 years ago I was completely petrified of spiders. ...they did have a juvenile female chile rose.so for some strange reason I bought her.Over next few months I became totally hooked on T's.I now keep 2 quite fast and aggresive species now with no probs.In fact it's turned into a passion.It's a shame we can't promote this a bit more and stop the urban myth of T's.Anyway enough rambling.Well done to the Mrs.
Cheers Mike.

I know I'm bringing an old post back from the dead, but... I've always been interested in spiders / tarantulas but strangley I'm an arachnophobe I really would like a tarantula but when it comes to cleaning and removing things from the tank I want to be confident, even in the event of an escape.

I have read about this course at London zoo but this seems a bit extravegent.... Maybe I should just by a Chillie Rose and get used to it

Has anybody else done this?

[Neil Ashby]

Well mate , my missus will handle a tarantula but when she spots a house spider legging it across the floor she freaks out and screams the house down

[mary walters]

Jon, I have had T's for years and am still scared of them, I can deal with a spiderling and thats it.

[Mike_Strick]

We wouldn't have the 25 T's we have now if it wasn't for the London Zoo Friendly Spider course. I've kept inverts all my life, but my girlfriend was desperately arachnophobic when we met. After she went on the course, her fear turned to fascination and we got our first T and of course it snowballed from there. She is completely happy handling all our inverts now (except crickets), and helps other over their fears when we do visits with them.

My theory is that Ts don't actually exhibit most of the behaviour or characteristics that arachnophobes fear. Yet in the mind of an arachnophobe, they expect that their worst fear is in embodied in a large, hairy spider. Once over their initial reaction, they find that the T is not appearing unexpectedly from behind the sofa or scuttling about and that they are not actually as afraid as they expected to be. The knowledge that they have overcome their fear of their perceived worst nightmare is a huge step in removing the phobia altogether. Additionally, the opportunity to examine a spider in the detail afforded by a T's size makes them less of a mystery and helps to overcome the fear of the unknown. The act of meeting a spider 'face to face' also helps to personalise them, making them seem less threatening.

[Nicola Dolby]

Question is Phil, what tarantula are you going to buy her for Christmas for being so brilliant and overcoming her arachnophobia????

[Sonny Howdle]

I have kept T's since I was 5 and my mum freaks out at some of them.
My mum hates spider webs and house and garden spiders but she always helps me clean out and feed my tarantulas. I am scared of crickets but i like locusts
The BTS do not ecuridge handling of T's for there and your own safty.

[Mark Pajak]

Ok this is slightly on a tangent but..... for the last six months at work I have been sitting next to the most orthodox spider hater I have ever met and I can honestly say that I am developing... an irrational fear of Spider haters

Aracnophobia-phobia

Oh dear, I think its consuming my life. Even with one in the room I am immediately uncomfortable, I mean - they are so unpredictable. Just the slightest spiderish reference sends them running around, arms and legs flayling uncontrollably. Its terrifying!

[Nicola Dolby]

I know, ther should be a spray for them or something, like fly spray!