Phobias

[Tom Forman]

Breeding roaches I've had the odd one crawl up my arm while changing something in their tank. I don't mind them in their tank at all but them crawling my arm is not a feeling I particularly enjoy.

Otherwise the only animal I woul say I dislike is a turkey. They look like the elephant men of the bird world.

[Stuart Common]

Oh and I cannot sleep if I know there is a moth in my room!!

100% with you there, especially if its a large moth, don't like them outside either, they fly at you and attack you! (they will eat you up you know )

Same for butterflies esp. the tortoiseshell ones, not so bad outside though.

Tom, you better keep away with your hawk moths hehe

[Colin D Wilson]

(they will eat you up you know )

Only if you don't finish all your vegetables young man

[mary walters]

Well,.......I breed the things and they still scare me to death, I HATE spiders. If the big ones get near me it's a screaming match I'm afraid, although, my sig on arachnophiles shows me with Freddy, the only spider I could handle, and then had to psych myself up to it.

Soooo, keeping spids don't cure everybody....

[matthew spooner]

woodlice for me.....I hate them. What is the point.

handy when kept with the Ts though.

i feel a little embarrased to admit this, no body laugh. Money spiders, i hate the little b*s*a*d*. what is the point to them. they just crowl on your skin, often to small to see, then just when you think its gone, BAM!! it lowers itself down infront of your eyes hanging from your fringe. death to the money spider lol

[James Box]

i think botflies are the worst! one of my friends came back from Brazil with two in his arm!
unfortunately he didn't get to keep any for the album cover to our CD

i've seen bullet ants for sale LOL!

[Oli Dodds]

i've seen bullet ants for sale LOL!

Where James, I want some.

[Richard Shah]

i think botflies are the worst! one of my friends came back from Brazil with two in his arm!
unfortunately he didn't get to keep any for the album cover to our CD

i've seen bullet ants for sale LOL!

He lost his arms or he didn't get to keep the bluebottles?
And, where did you see those??!!

Where James, I want some.

Rahh... you serious?
I would not risk having them; way too crazy for me!!!
It's wicked, owning dangerous animals, but, besides a Shark (tbh I'd have a Basking shark), an Albino Python (do they really count?) and a Lynx (this definitely does!), I don't think I could keep one!!

[Oli Dodds]

Albino Python (do they really count?)

I dont think the python being albino has anything to do with how dangerous it is Richard lol
There has been some controvesy over this recently, but some spids such as pokies and selenocosmia can be catagorised as dangerous, as can a large python

[Richard Shah]

I dont think the python being albino has anything to do with how dangerous it is Richard lol
There has been some controvesy over this recently, but some spids such as pokies and selenocosmia can be catagorised as dangerous, as can a large python

But... it could... Lol, nah joking (although seriously, it may. I don't think we, as humans, have carried out enough research to see what ticks in their minds). I was just specifying I want an Albino one!

Pokies are dangerous if they attack, to everyone, but mainly their bite is not fatal, except to specific groups of people, depending on their ages/body stability, although I have no idea about Selenocosmia.
That info is just sourced from whatI've read, including from you!
Pythons hold little threat I believe, but the threat is still there. I guess you can say this for a lot animals; namely dogs and yes, even cats!

Thanks Oli.

[Oli Dodds]

If your very old or very young certain spid bites could prove fatal, but there have been no 'official' fatalities from a tarantula bite (although im very sure a child was bitten on the head and died) but how many people actually report things like this in some of the countries such as africa, india etc?
Albino is just a colour varient, it doesnt make the snake any more or less dangerous... an amel corn isnt more likely to bite you then a snow corn etc etc...

[Nicola Dolby]

Anyone remember Colin Wilson's comments about a week ago concerning a specific discussion thread on tarantula venom?
The baby story was about a child crawling in a back garden, getting a bite on the backside from a H. schmidti and dying. This is utter rubbish, and a story set up by locals to demonise the animal who is affectionately known by those people in that region on the Vietnam/China border as the "cow killer". The reason for this name is that the spider likes to sit on the entrance to its burrow, especially early in the morning, and when an oxen goes past and treads near the spider it becomes scared and bites. Haplopelma venom is leathal to oxen so the inevitable happens. This makes the spids rather unpopular with the farmers of that region who spread stories like the baby one out of pure malice. Although H. schmidti venom can make you ill for a couple of days and being neurotoxic it is sensible to keep them away from young children and OAP's, they do NOT kill people as far as all current evidence shows.

Phew, glad I got that off my chest!

[Richard Shah]

If your very old or very young certain spid bites could prove fatal, but there have been no 'official' fatalities from a tarantula bite (although im very sure a child was bitten on the head and died) but how many people actually report things like this in some of the countries such as africa, india etc?
Albino is just a colour varient, it doesnt make the snake any more or less dangerous... an amel corn isnt more likely to bite you then a snow corn etc etc...

Yes; I'm sure there were many killings from tarantulas that went unreported, over the hundreds and maybe thousands of years, but we all know that a bite resulting in death is quite rare.
I've always thought about Albino just being a variation in colour, but we can relate this to humans and say "Yes, there are no differences". However, is it not possible that it is different with animals, or this snake in particular?
I wouldn't have thought so, as observations have obviously been made, but, is there not a slight chance that there is a difference?
And, I'm not asking if one is more dangerous than another, but other differences in general. For example, living conditions?
Oh and just another question, if anybody knows the answer to this (cuz I have no idea if this applies to the Burmese Python):
Albino humans have to stay out of bright sunlight, without protection. They also have other things they have to avoid, I think? Any way, does this apply to the Albino Burmese Python?

Anyone remember Colin Wilson's comments about a week ago concerning a specific discussion thread on tarantula venom?
The baby story was about a child crawling in a back garden, getting a bite on the backside from a H. schmidti and dying. This is utter rubbish, and a story set up by locals to demonise the animal who is affectionately known by those people in that region on the Vietnam/China border as the "cow killer". The reason for this name is that the spider likes to sit on the entrance to its burrow, especially early in the morning, and when an oxen goes past and treads near the spider it becomes scared and bites. Haplopelma venom is leathal to oxen so the inevitable happens. This makes the spids rather unpopular with the farmers of that region who spread stories like the baby one out of pure malice. Although H. schmidti venom can make you ill for a couple of days and being neurotoxic it is sensible to keep them away from young children and OAP's, they do NOT kill people as far as all current evidence shows.

Phew, glad I got that off my chest!

Nice explaination; that's strange, in regards to the oxen. I thought if it would take down a form of cattle, like Oxens, then it would definitely be able to take down humans. Obviously not.

Thanks Nicola, and thanks Oli.

[Nicola Dolby]

Hi Richard,
this is something everyone, including myself, has got wrong in the past I think. Its not the size of animal that counts but the way the enzymes in the venom react with the victim's body. For example a bite from a male A. robustus (Sydney funel web) would kill a healthy adult human without treatment inside 3 days, yet if one bit your pet dog or cat all you'd get is a yelp and a squashed spider. On the other hand if the spider were a Selenocosmia (now called Phlogius) the human might be ill for a day or two and feel ropy for a couple more, wheras the dog or cat would be dead in at the most a minute or two. Thats the way it works, biochemical interaction. Hope this helps.

[Kate Arbon]

I used to be really arachnophobic, until I got my 3rd tarantula. Now at the worst there are some spiders I don't like, but I will tolerate them being around unlike before, and most spiders don't bother me. As for other bugs, I pretty much love them all, I have a big thing for invertebrates in general. I guess the ones that freak me out are hornets and horseflies, things like that. But basically anything that is creepy and crawly is ok in my book