On July 05 2011 14:37 NukeTheStars wrote: I will offer advice! I've had three tarantulas (one for 5 years and two babies now). I bought my first tarantula to confront my fear of spiders. It worked well. Tarantulas are fascinating. Here are my tips:
1. Learn a little about tarantulas before you handle one. It will help a lot, and I bet you'll find them interesting, too. Just general facts about which species are mean, which are nice, how long they live, molting, etc.
2. Don't handle a spider unless you've learned about it. You don't know if that little spider was poisonous or aggressive or defensive. Most are none of those things, but you need to know for sure if you're letting it crawl on you. A bitey one will just add to your phobia!
3. When you handle the spider, don't pet it. They don't like that. It's not likely to hurt you, but you might end up hurting it. It could freak out and run or fall.
4. Tarantulas are dumb as rocks. If you find yourself going "OMG! Is it thinking about biting me???" just remember what the spider is really thinking, which is "Duuuuuuur! This tree feels weird! I'm gonna crawwwwwllllll... aw, no more tree. Turn around!" The only thing a tarantula knows is how big stuff is by feeling vibrations, so it knows you're not food.
You can also check out my tarantula Nuke At Nights to learn a little about them. I've had quite a few arachnophobes tell me the videos help. This video includes my first tarantula handling!
Not to bad mouth you and sorry if it comes off that way, I believe Number 4 to be wrong. They can differentiate a tree from a person and other insects. Also they use their sight to determine the size of something and whether it's food or not. It uses vibrations to tell when something is nearby.
And to the OP, tarantulas aren't poisonous. They're hunter spiders not trappers. Don't twitch or make sudden movements and you'll be fine. Don't do anything that makes it feel like it has to defend itself.
At least you don't live in Arizona like me. Out here we have these things called "Sun Spiders". They are super fast, super ugly and super territorial. They look like a cross between an Ant, Spider and Scorpion. If you're even in eyesight of them, they charge you. They're poisonous too.
On July 05 2011 14:37 NukeTheStars wrote: I will offer advice! I've had three tarantulas (one for 5 years and two babies now). I bought my first tarantula to confront my fear of spiders. It worked well. Tarantulas are fascinating. Here are my tips:
1. Learn a little about tarantulas before you handle one. It will help a lot, and I bet you'll find them interesting, too. Just general facts about which species are mean, which are nice, how long they live, molting, etc.
2. Don't handle a spider unless you've learned about it. You don't know if that little spider was poisonous or aggressive or defensive. Most are none of those things, but you need to know for sure if you're letting it crawl on you. A bitey one will just add to your phobia!
3. When you handle the spider, don't pet it. They don't like that. It's not likely to hurt you, but you might end up hurting it. It could freak out and run or fall.
4. Tarantulas are dumb as rocks. If you find yourself going "OMG! Is it thinking about biting me???" just remember what the spider is really thinking, which is "Duuuuuuur! This tree feels weird! I'm gonna crawwwwwllllll... aw, no more tree. Turn around!" The only thing a tarantula knows is how big stuff is by feeling vibrations, so it knows you're not food.
You can also check out my tarantula Nuke At Nights to learn a little about them. I've had quite a few arachnophobes tell me the videos help. This video includes my first tarantula handling!
Not to bad mouth you and sorry if it comes off that way, I believe Number 4 to be wrong. They can differentiate a tree from a person and other insects. Also they use their sight to determine the size of something and whether it's food or not. It uses vibrations to tell when something is nearby.
And to the OP, tarantulas aren't poisonous. They're hunter spiders not trappers. Don't twitch or make sudden movements and you'll be fine. Don't do anything that makes it feel like it has to defend itself.
At least you don't live in Arizona like me. Out here we have these things called "Sun Spiders". They are super fast, super ugly and super territorial. They look like a cross between an Ant, Spider and Scorpion. If you're even in eyesight of them, they charge you. They're poisonous too.
That's possibly one of the most terrifying things I've ever heard.. Are they scared of cities, because I've never been warned about them when ever I visited friends in Arizona. Not that I'm disappointed, experiencing that would be harrowing.
On July 05 2011 14:37 NukeTheStars wrote: I will offer advice! I've had three tarantulas (one for 5 years and two babies now). I bought my first tarantula to confront my fear of spiders. It worked well. Tarantulas are fascinating. Here are my tips:
1. Learn a little about tarantulas before you handle one. It will help a lot, and I bet you'll find them interesting, too. Just general facts about which species are mean, which are nice, how long they live, molting, etc.
2. Don't handle a spider unless you've learned about it. You don't know if that little spider was poisonous or aggressive or defensive. Most are none of those things, but you need to know for sure if you're letting it crawl on you. A bitey one will just add to your phobia!
3. When you handle the spider, don't pet it. They don't like that. It's not likely to hurt you, but you might end up hurting it. It could freak out and run or fall.
4. Tarantulas are dumb as rocks. If you find yourself going "OMG! Is it thinking about biting me???" just remember what the spider is really thinking, which is "Duuuuuuur! This tree feels weird! I'm gonna crawwwwwllllll... aw, no more tree. Turn around!" The only thing a tarantula knows is how big stuff is by feeling vibrations, so it knows you're not food.
You can also check out my tarantula Nuke At Nights to learn a little about them. I've had quite a few arachnophobes tell me the videos help. This video includes my first tarantula handling!
Not to bad mouth you and sorry if it comes off that way, I believe Number 4 to be wrong. They can differentiate a tree from a person and other insects. Also they use their sight to determine the size of something and whether it's food or not. It uses vibrations to tell when something is nearby.
And to the OP, tarantulas aren't poisonous. They're hunter spiders not trappers. Don't twitch or make sudden movements and you'll be fine. Don't do anything that makes it feel like it has to defend itself.
At least you don't live in Arizona like me. Out here we have these things called "Sun Spiders". They are super fast, super ugly and super territorial. They look like a cross between an Ant, Spider and Scorpion. If you're even in eyesight of them, they charge you. They're poisonous too.
Camel spider? Seems the venomous claim is a misconception. Afaik they're only capable of a large bite. US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq upload YouTube videos of battles with scorpions. P sweet.
Not to bad mouth you and sorry if it comes off that way, I believe Number 4 to be wrong. They can differentiate a tree from a person and other insects. Also they use their sight to determine the size of something and whether it's food or not. It uses vibrations to tell when something is nearby.
It may be able to have some sense that a person and a tree are different, but that doesn't change the fact that tarantulas are freakin' stupid. They barely even have brains. Plus, the spider quote was just to put his mind at ease during handling. Sounds like you were trying to scare him even more with the sun spider story!
And to the OP, handling the tarantula won't completely make all of your fears go away, but you will probably lose about 1/3 of your trepidation during the process. I could actually feel some of my fear melt away near the end of my first handling! But to reiterate, learning about something is the best way to overcome fear. It will turn any scary, mysterious beast into just an animal.
My friend and I were busy with 2 midterms so I just got around to handling his tarantula yesterday, and I have to say it was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do.
My friend told me not to touch/pet Cougar (it was black with yellow highlights), but rather approach it from the front and letting it crawl onto my hand on its own. I don't know how I was able to somehow keep my composure and not scream/jump out of skin when its hairy legs first touched my hand, it truly, truly terrified me to the core.
After the first 15-20 seconds it wasn't as bad anymore, I just kept thinking to myself that it knows my hand is not food, and that as long as I don't make sudden movements and frighten it, it wouldn't bite me. The whole experience probably lasted 5 minutes but needless to say it felt like an hour, and I didn't realize I had bitten my lips until afterwards when I tasted blood. So I guess in a way, I did get bitten... just happy it wasn't the tarantula ^^
The whole experience was more or less positive, although I still can't say I'm 100% comfortable around spiders. I think I improved from being absolutely revolted by spiders to being able to tolerate them, so I guess it's a start.
On July 05 2011 17:06 AnxiousHippo wrote: I would not recommend getting over it by starting off with handling a tarantula... Start off slow, and use systematic desensitisation. You basically get in a calm mood and the idea of spiders is brought up. While you are calm, you may be shown some pictures of spiders. The idea is that you'll eventually associate the calm mood with spiders and when you actually find a spider you will be okay.
EPT
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