How to overcome the fear of spiders?

Question

I recently decided to overcome my fear of spiders. I've been watching garden spiders making webs, and i was really intruiged.

I fed them flies (by sticking them in their webs) and i watched them packing in the flies in silky stuff, then sucking out the fly. Spiders have become interesting.

After some days i found a garden spider (small one) in the house, i took it. It had been running all over my hand and making webs (another interesting thing they can do; they shoot silky stuff hoping it'll get stuck somewhere, then they climb it and then they make a whole web in just 20 seconds, amazing beasties they are!) I eventually put it in a tree. (whree the other gspiders live aswell) Later that day i stood eye in eye with a huge spider. I feared it and with alot of effort i finally killed it. But i want to take it up too and give it a home in the garden, but i just can't do it! I'm scared! I think it will bite! I seen wounds created by a brown recluse spider! EEK!How to overcome this fear?

Answer 1

Here is a website that offers tips to overcome fear of spiders -

http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-the-Fear...

Whatever is written is theoretical, you will personally have to practice the steps in overcoming the fear.

How to handle them -

Removing Spiders

You can remove a spider from inside your house by putting a jar over it. Then slip a piece of paper under the jar so that the opening is sealed, pick up the jar, and take the spider outside.

http://www.pesticide.org/spiders.html

Also learn to ID them, here -

http://www.spideridentification.org/

http://www.usq.edu.au/spider/index.htm

http://www.arachnology.be/pages/Identifi...

Answer 2

Believe it or not, I used to be arachnophobic.  I heard some interesting facts on spiders, and wanted to learn more.. and more.. and more!  Soon, after looking at many many pictures, after starting to photograph them, and after keeping a little tarantula as a pet, the fear is gone.  Now I love them!

Garden spiders are amazing.  Especially the Argiopes because they are big, their webs are huge, they are colorful, and they put these "zig zags" in webs called stabilimenta.  The exact use is not known, but it is believed to be made so that birds can see the webs and avoid crashing into them.

Also, when overcomming your fear, killing them doesn't sound like a step forward at all.  In fact, it sounds like a step backwards.  If you want to move a spider from in your house to out, you can use the cup and a piece of paper method.  You can actually herd the spider into the cup with the paper, since most spiders are practically blind and will run right into it.  Once in the cup, close it off with the paper and you can move it at your leisure where ever you want.

Eventually you will get a good idea on the different kinds of spiders and how to read their body motion.  This will let you know if the spider is in the mood to tolerate being handled or may turn bitey.  If it looks like the spider is nervous or trying ot escape, it could turn bitey when cornered.  If it is just sitting there with you next to it, then your chances of avoiding a bite are good.  You can pick up a spider by putting your hand in front of it, slowly, and gently nudge it's abdomen.  It may wander on your hand and sit, but it could also take off running.  One good thing to remember is that in most cases, the spider will give a threat display before trying to bite.  Here is a picture of me holding a mother wolf spider, you can see her many spiderlings on her back;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27070905@N0...

Also, different spiders have different dispositions.  Grass spiders are very skittish while wolf spiders are a lot more docile.  Also, 99% of all spider bites do not require medical attention, and only a very few spiders *can* give bites that require medical attention.  I, personally, am a bit skeptical on all those nasty brown recluse bite pictures, because I know that many other ailments can cause such wounds, and even doctors get confused.

Ultimately, the best way to fight fear is to understand.  Read about spiders in wikipedia, bugguide.net, or get some field identification guide books at your local book store.  Photographing spiders will help too, and you might even make a hobby out of it.  After photographing, you can go to bugguide.net and try to identify it.  Try to get the scientific name of the species.

Answer 3

eat one...ALIVE!

Answer 4

I have acrophobia - fear of heights.  It's much reduced now, because for five years i worked for a company on the 4th floor.  It's like an indoor mall, with huge open areas, 4 stories high.

Now get this: the railings are made of glass!  You couldn't design something to trigger acrophobia better if you tried.  And the escalators are apparently unsupported in the middle!

At first, i couldn't get within ten feet of the rails.  But eventually, i was able to lean on them.

Give it time.

You may be afraid of it, but why kill it?  You outmass any spider by factors of thousands.

As a rule, i don't aggravate wasps, but that's because i know they'll sting.  But that doesn't mean i go around killing them.

I've got some really cool spiders in my basement.  Should i expose them to radiation, and let one bite me?  Then either i'd get super powers like Spider-Man (tm), or die of cancer.  Is it worth the risk?