So...I hate spiders. Well, hate isn't really the right word, more like fear. They creep me out, a lot. But I don't like to kill them! I just really really don't like when they are near me and I don't realize it and all of a sudden I'm an inch away from touching one or something horrible like that.
I'm also convinced I have an abnormal number of traumatizing spider encounters (but I'm not sure if they are what cause my fear of spiders or just karmic justice). Here's a good one: when I'd first moved into my old apartment I was going to bed one night and as soon as I turned the light off I felt something hit my arm and I knew, I just knew it was a spider. And guess what? It was a giant black spider. I slept with the light on that night.
Then there was the time I was unrolling a sock and felt something kind of damp in my hand. I threw whatever it was on the ground and leaned down to inspect what looked like a piece of black lint. That was until it unfurled it's 8 terrifying legs and crawled away.
It's mostly the big hunting spiders that bother me. Tiny ones and daddy long legs (which aren't technically spiders I believe) don't really bother me. But there is an exception: specifically the time I was watching television in the dark only to have a black spot obscure my vision. When I put a hand to my face to brush the spot away I realized it was a daddy long legs...crawling across my eye. It was so light I couldn't tell it was there.
So here is the latest incident: I was fiddling with something in my apartment (and by apartment I mean my parent's basement) when I noticed something black a few inches from my hand. Thanks to our handy bug catcher thingy I captured it:
It's playing dead but trust me, it's not.
Here you can see it's horrendous fangs and stripey legs. I hate when they have stripey legs.
This is the best shot I could get of him before we released him outside. I'm sure though that by now he's found his way back to the basement and is lying in wait for me somewhere even more terrifying like my sock drawer.
And if anyone recognizes this spider and just happens to know that he's poisonous...please don't tell me, I'll only be further traumatized.
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oh my goodness!!! i'm feeling all creepy just reading about it!!
ReplyDeleteI went looking at spider identification sites to see if I could find it, but it just gave me the heebie jeebies looking at all the creepy things. You should stick a dime in there with the next one for scale!
ReplyDeleteGood idea. This guy was definitely bigger then a dime. It gives me the heebie jeebies too.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a wolf spider. We get them around here occassionally. They can get pretty big, but they aren't poisonous. Not that their lack of poison keeps me from completely freaking out everytime I see one! We also LOVE LOVE LOVE our Bug Vac. My son got it for his birthday a few years ago, and it is one of our most prized possessions!
ReplyDeleteJust found your awesome blog today. We don't know each other, but I already feel like you are a kindred spirit, as I share your distaste for spiders. Now, I'm gonna share with you a very scary and disgusting spider story...
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, I was a single gal living alone in an apartment. This was back in the early 90s in the days of the "hair scrunchy". One evening, I was settling in to watch the tv for the night. I removed my then-favorite scrunchy, which was so well-worn that it had a couple of loose threads on it, and put it around my wrist. I turned out the lights and sat down with a nice glass of Diet Coke. As I was about to have a sip of my DC, I felt something tickling my wrist. "I have to get rid of this old threadbare scrunchy with its dangling threads." Took a swig of my DC and then... GAH! SOMETHING WAS MOVING IN MY MOUTH! I spit it into the glass and went for the lights! OMG! It was a spider similar to that in your photo. I proceeded to brush my teeth and tongue 6 or 7 times. I, too, slept with the light on that night. No more drinking in the dark for me! SHUDDER!