aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Please can anyone try to reassure my partner about the spiders in Auss. We're off to the gold coast next April time, and my partner just keeps worrying about spiders. Is it really that bad or what? She really needs a bit of encouragement on this one, thanks.

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Don't worry, after you have encounted the man eating crocodiles, the deadly
snakes, the great white sharks, and the killer jellyfish,
Spiders will be the least of your fears. :scared: :scared:

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Thanks for the reply wombat but I don't think I'll be relaying your reassuring reply to the Mrs!!! Somethings telling this wasn't the type of reply she was hoping for!!!

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Don't tell the Mrs, but if you do a search on spiders, there are some amazing pictures on previous threads...and as Trevglass has just posted, she also needs to beware of flying snakes ..... and drop-bears :rolleyes:

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

I sypathise with your wife , a lot of us arachnophobes worry about this, we're in Brisbane and in 8 months I've seen about 5 spiders, only 1 of these was in the house! I am fairly obsessional about spraying, but it does seem to work.
The other thing is that you get desensitised fairly quickly, I dont ever think about spiders now.

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

I've been aracnophobic for most of my life and I've practically been living among spiders every Summer since I was born, since I come from Sardinia and I used to spend Summers at my grand-parents' house in the country.

Maybe I'm just masochistic, but regardless of spiders, I love Sardinia, and regardless of spiders, I've decided to move to Australia :D !

Of course, I'm planning to reduce my possible close encounters with the spider kind to the minimum, therefore I figure I'll live in a flat/apartment/unit, where I hope spiders won't take the bother to visit ;) !

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Hi there. I must admit to being terrified of spiders too. However, myself and my Husband did recently spend 3 weeks over in Oz, travelling around and it was only the fact that I searched every nook and cranny, that I saw any spiders at all, and they were in trees or on plants outside, and they were not any of the harmful ones that I have read about. When we do eventually get out there, I am sure that I will still be checking everywhere and tapping my shoes out, though, just to be on the safe side! Guess it's something you have to be aware of, but I wouldn't let it stop us moving out there (til I encounter a biggy one!!!!! :scared: ha ha).

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

you forgot wayward motorists...they kill more people in a day in Oz than are killed by spiders in a whole year, maybe even 5 years! :eek:

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

I sometimes wonder if these arachnophobes are for real. I mean diagnosed aracnophobes, or just 'I don't care much for spiders'. There must be thousands in Aus and they do OK. I have seen 2 spiders in my house(s) in almost 1 year - both on contiguous days as autumn set in. Funny thing is, if a spider is found, I'm pushing to the front of the queue to see it.

I don't care much for steak and kidney pie, but I will sit next to someone eating it.

She'll be OK. Watch out for sunburn, hoons and cars as Paw says.

BM

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Drop Bears, Hav'nt heard that one for years :D :D :D

PJ

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Hi Badge!

Just a thought but I dont like spiders either, dont know why but I just dont like em!! :scared:

I take your point about you not liking steak and kidney pie, just one thing though......................

Steak and kidney pie doesnt have 8 legs and run very fast!!!!!!!! :scared:

BTW I know I am going to have to 'get over it' and I will.....in time!! ;)

Regards, Cheeky!! :D

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

There is 20 million people here that survive these killer spiders.... :zzz:

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Actually no ones been killed by a spider bite in Australia since the 1950's,
while Bee stings kill 2 people a year. l have live in OZ for 31 years and have been bitten or stung by Bees twice but never biten by a spider.
Most of the spiders you come across are'nt venomous, even if on the freak chance you were bitten by a venomous spider, their venom is designed to kill other insects and is unlikely to kill a human.

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

hi everyone, this is elksa,s partner,Sharon. would like to thank u for making me feel a bit more at ease about these little buggers, (well most of you anyway!!!!) I guess I'm goona have to try and get over this one, as nothing will stop me from joining the girls drinking club!

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

I did my annual surface spray on/under the garden furniture this weekend and when I'd finished I found 2 huge redbacks, one under the pool slide and one under the barbecue.

There were less this year though, probably because of last years surface spray. Last year, you should have seen the redbacks under the outside furniture and the kids chairs and table - loads of them!

Basically you are going to get spiders in Australia, some can harm you, some might even kill you (funnel web) but few people get bitten.

Your partner could try hypnosis, that cured my fear of flying or you could move to NZ.

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Huntsmen and most spiders are not to be feared. . All homes that I have been in Brisbane have had Huntsmen during the summer months . But I've never picked one up by the bare hand . They generally run away from my hand if I put my hand next to them.

Over the weekend, I decided to try and get one to run onto my hand to hold it . We have a large one on the wall in the laundry. So, I basically put my hand right next to it and tried to pick it up .. he runs away.. I decide to do it again while hubby is standing next to me saying " you idiot" , you're the type to get necrosis from a bite "( I have some contact allergies , like certain grasses can annoy me , mozzie, bites , ants etc etc) .. I had necrosis on my leg a few years back from a fishing accident which I was hospitalised for a month , two ops to cut out the dead tissue, and skin graft . Anyway my answer was.. all it is going to do, is just make me a tiny bit ill at the worst.. ie sick, and painful bite. No worries , he ain't going to kill me. I think they are beautiful creatures.

Anyway this huntsmen I provoked, and was trying to pick up. he kept moving out of my way, I could not get him to basically stay there, and I could not get him on my hand no matter how hard I tried.

Wolf spiders.. heaps of them where we live . These are a b*gger to catch, fast moving. I always pick these up to chuck outside by the glass method. These spiders again are non aggressive, not the ones we have here with us anyway, they stay out of my way. I only chuck these out because these are linked to necrosis, and apparently I have read can kill animals ( such as a large Labrador).

Red backs.. they usually are not a prob at all, they usually are in their messy webs. I kill these.- the only spider that I kill, because of where they tend to be.

I can't understand people who don't have spiders in Brisbane. Are these same people who don't see them living in a built up suburb area? Because every home I've been in there are plenty of them about.

I'll get a huntsman to walk on my hand if it kills me one of these days ( which he won't). :D.

Spiders are nothing to be scared of.. you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. Most bites occur by putting your hand etc on one, they bite humans in defence ( funnel web excluded from this).

It depends where you will be living when it comes to a lot of spiders.. live next to bush, and you get lots of them coming inside. Live in a built up area , and spray your chemicals , and you just get the odd one or two. Redbacks are everywhere. They now think they were introduced many years ago ( widow) coming in by the ships , and developed over time into the red back. Aborigines never drew pictures of them, or stories of them , that's why some scientists think it is a new species.

It's not spiders you need to fear. Personally speaking I'm more afraid of guns and nutters , and the police who are armed etc etc - ie nutters who carry a killing machine

cheers

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

In 8 months we have had 1 baby huntsman in the house which we left alone and he went away. We have loads of daddy long legs but I was used to them from the UK and have been told if you have them they keep the nasty spiders away. Hence they get left alone too.

Other than that I hardly see any. A few when gardening but nothing more than the size of a house spider in the UK. I wear gardening gloves just in case I come into contact with one.

Jo

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Cant understand the worry about spiders, nobodies died of a spider bite in decades! Your more likely to die in the bath! true 277 australians drowned last year, most at the beach but some in the bath.

:eek: :D

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

:D Could you be a bit more positive please Miss Ceri you know we dont have nutters here :D

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

ok , I's be more worried about the very nice sane people who shoot for fun.:D

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

You mean the Victorian Police force? :)

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

What a lot of you non arachnophobic people dont seem to understand, is that its not necessarily whether or not a spider is poisonous or not that's scary. What it is is the eight furry wobbly legs, the 8 eyes, the nasty way they have of being where you least expect them to be, the fact that you can't predict what they're going to do next, and if you take your eyes off them for a second they vanish to god knows where! Its like people who are terrified of mice! They're harmless - but its just the concept of the creature. Personally I couldnt care if it was a redback or a daddy long legs - I'm terrified of them all the same.

The only thing I can say to maybe put your missus' mind at ease is that as much of an arachnophobe as I am, seeing these spiders often (which I have - living near the bush) and seeing how blase everyone else is around them, has numbed me a bit. I dont find them as scary as I did in the UK.

All the horror stories you hear make it sound a lot worse than it really is, and once you get here you will find yourself getting braver and braver around them, and you'll be really proud of yourself.

Does this help any?

W, :D

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

....and for those occasions that you do come across one, these are great www.spidercatcher.com.au

I ought to be on commission for the amount of times I've posted that on here but they work, for spiders,cockroaches or any other crawly horrid things!

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Can anyone suggest a really good book on insects including spiders, I've been searching for a decent one as I'm a nervous wreck not knowing what will bite me. I've got a huge daddy long legs under the kitchen work top, but he's having fun eating the other bugs in the house so there he will stay.
Jenny :)

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

"What it is is the eight furry wobbly legs, the 8 eyes, the nasty way they have of being where you least expect them to be, the fact that you can't predict what they're going to do next, and if you take your eyes off them for a second they vanish to god knows where!"

Exactly, Wanderlust!!! And the way those daddy long legs move!!! Nasty little bouncing things! :scared:
You know, I even manage to tolerate them... as long as they are microscopical and. do. NOT. move!!!

Jenny: brilliant! I think I'll get myself one of those, if/when I get Downunder! :D

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Hi I agree with Wanderlust if you have a fear of spiders it is not just the biting ones it is spiders in general. I have a real fear of spiders, probably more so in the UK than here.

Here is a few tips that may help. I also had hypnotherapy which didn't get rid of the fear, but took the edge off the fear - in other words I didn't head for high ground screaming everytime I saw one that was larger than a pin head. I can tollerate them, as for picking one up and putting it outside - even with a glass, is still one step too far.

Now Australia is far better equiped for those of us who fear spiders. They have really great sprays - firstly there are those that stop them coming in the first place and if you keep up with that it is really good, not had anything bigger in the house larger than a bottle top. The second is that they have an instant kill spray which I always have handy - inside and out. So should I see one I can blast it without any fear of it not dieing and running away.

We have been in Brisbane since Feb this year and seen two red backs, well my husband found them, both of which were in the rental property which had not been occupied for a while and one was in the letter box (outside) and the other in the rear door of the garage which didn't look like it had been opened it years. Again with a few sprays all were gone.

Please do not worry it is a great place and spiders can be delt with. Get yourself a can of Mortene and go to war!!!

Hope this helps
Jo

www.gristinternational.com

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

Thanks everyone for the brill advice and kinda putting my mind at rest.

I will get a killer can

My husband can use the humane trap thingy!!! Have already bookmarked the website for when I actually get to Oz!

Has anyone heard of things you plug in that emit a high pitched noise and stop spiders coming in the house? My husband keeps assuring me there are such things but I think he is lying to get me to go to Brisbane.

I am not scared about being killed by a spider I just don't like their quick movements and the idea of them being in my shoes/ bed/ visor mirror in the car etc. Think I will book one of those spider phobia sessions in an Australian zoo where you actually handle them to get over your fear.

Lynn :cool:

Re: aracnaphobia :scared:
 

[QUOTE=lynnlovessun]Thanks everyone for the brill advice and kinda putting my mind at rest.

I will get a killer can

My husband can use the humane trap thingy!!! Have already bookmarked the website for when I actually get to Oz!

Has anyone heard of things you plug in that emit a high pitched noise and stop spiders coming in the house? My husband keeps assuring me there are such things but I think he is lying to get me to go to Brisbane.

I have a plug in thing for mice and rats from the UK, havn't seen one for insects though.
Jenny