Hi all,arachnophobe seeking advice here!

[Mandy James]

Hi,hope its ok introducing myself here?

As the title says I am terribly arachnophobic and well,basically I've had enough. After my atrocious behaviour last weekend I've decided I need to do something about it as its affecting my kids too,and I really don't want them being scared.....I ran from a house spider only to return to the room and run off again over a spiders leg in a cobweb!
Joined here hoping for some advice as I'm planning on going the BTS show,and if I'm not too freaked out maybe getting a g.pulchra or g.rosea sling,if there are any. I held an adult g.rosea 3 years ago in the hope it would help my phobia but it didn't help at all. My maybe crazy idea is that if I got a sling it'll help as they are similar in size to what you may get in the house.
I've done some reading up and know they are not a creature for handling etc due to how delicate they are,and I know mortality is higher in slings but I know an adult T wouldn't help.
Currently on the exotic side I have 14 snakes of various species,2 skinks and a millipede. I've had stick insects and GALS in the past too,so I've some experience of animals that require heat/humidity and live food etc.....just not any I'm scared of.
It probably sounds stupid but I've been looking at photo upon photo of tarantulas over the last week trying to desensitize myself and I can now quite calmly look at the underside of a T on my phone. I couldn't have even done that at one point!

Any help or info would be gratefully received,even if its to tell me its a bad idea. Also is there any really good care sheets on g.pulchra and g.rosea that you'd recommend? Sorry for all the waffling,just trying to give as much info as possible as I'm desperate to beat this.

[Paul Arnold]

Hmmm,unusual post. I strongly advise against owning any kind of spider full stop until your phobia has been professionally cured.Think that the animal would need feeding and maintaining, how would you be able to do this when terrified of it? . It would be great if you could overcome your fear and perhaps enjoy keeping Tarantulas but until that day comes please please dont go out and buy one..for yours and the spiders sake

[Christian Elowsky]

Many enthusiastic hobbyists were once phobic as well. There is a similar thread on ATS currently, you can view it without joining the site as well.

http://www.atshq.org/boards/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28481&p=206444

You might be helped by the book on the topic as well:

http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU-000272073/The-Legacy-of-Annie-Rose.aspx

There was a similar book not too long ago which came out internationally as well, I just can not recall the details. Keep after it. Learned fears can be unlearned.

Christian

[Stephen jordan]

Hmmm,unusual post. I strongly advise against owning any kind of spider full stop until your phobia has been professionally cured.Think that the animal would need feeding and maintaining, how would you be able to do this when terrified of it? . It would be great if you could overcome your fear and perhaps enjoy keeping Tarantulas but until that day comes please please dont go out and buy one..for yours and the spiders sake

Professionally cured? I can kind of understand why you said such a thing but as Christian also stated there are many of us here that were once arachnophobes. For me the only way of getting over my fear was to buy one and care for it and not a quack in sight! Study its behaviour and then realise that they are no threat to us at all. Just don't start with an old world spider, I don't think you could go wrong Mandy with a G pulchra!

Mandy, I would look for the Tarantula keepers guide and read it! Plenty of useful info in there and I would also start slowly to get around your fear! when you see a spider you may have to scream at yourself inside not to freak out but just stay still and watch it instead of throwing a wobbler! Do you have friends that own T's, If so I would start there...If not then I would make some and visit them and see their collections and then you can make your own mind up in your own time whilst getting all the exposure you need to spiders at youre own pace. Most of all, Good luck...Welcome to the forum and if successful I'd start clearing out plenty of space as once you have one spider it won't stop there.

[Leon Lane]

Have you considered attending a session like this?

http://bugsnstuff.com/arachnophobia.html

Workshops like Guy's give you experiences that you can never get from reading all the books in the world. Just a thought!

[Ray Hale]

Hi mandy, come to the BTS Exhibition and we will help you out. Paul is quite right though that you shouldnt consider a spider until you are comfortable with them. I am sure we can help you. As Christian says many of us were arachnophobic way back.

Ray Hale
BTS

[Mandy James]

Hi,and sorry for my late response,and thanks for the advice/links I will check them out.

Believe me I wouldn't dream of owning a T if I didn't think I could meet its needs and care for it in the best way. This is why its taken me 3 years from holding a T to get to this point,I've been thinking of it all that time but its only now I feel ready.
My phobia is a hell of a lot worse with the spiders you might find running around the home. For example,I wouldn't hold a house spider but I've held an adult T on approx 5 occasions.
I went to a family fun day held by a local college yesterday in the hope to see or handle a T again. There was only reps out for handling,but I did get to go round the invert room. While there I saw me first juvenile T's (b.smithi) and I was shocked to find I felt no fear at all,in fact I thought they were cute!
My worry had been that young T's would look too much like normal spiders and that was the thing that had been putting me off getting one. Obviously I was wrong as they were beautiful (can't quite believe I'm saying this!)

[James Box]

i think you're well on the way to conquering your phobia already! i congratulate you for your bravery...i don't even WANT to confront my dislike of fungus and slugs LOL

to be fair, many people that love T's are still scared of the house spiders that leg it across the floor. i've always found them a bit sudden (ie, they made me jump lol), but maybe if you just remember those ones are almost always males...they are looking for love, not you! they've got to be quick in case a female doesn't like them.

[Mandy James]

Thankyou. It has taken me 30 something years to get to this point though! I like slugs lol

Yep,I've noticed the majority of house spiders are wandering males. I like that way of thinking about them though,be quick or be dead!
I watched a video of some slings feeding on the facebook group last night,not knowing what to expect. All I can say is wow! I was totally amazed by their speed,thought some of my snakes had a fast strike till I saw that video. I'm finding them more fascinating the more I see.