I don't understand myself. I can happily let mantis of any shape or size use me as a climbing frame, but remove the spikes, and add two more legs and I'd rather set it on fire than get close enough to have it crawling on me. Unless I'm ghillied, sniping, and not being spotted. Usually too focused on the "kill" to notice, though.
You have nasty spiders in Namibia. I only saw the legs of a trapdoor spider in all the time I spent there though so I can't really comment, it still looked nasty. (My dad has a story about a trucker who he met in SA who had been bitten by a spider in his cab. Aparently half he leg was eaten away by necrosis.)
Eugh, necrosis is nasty stuff. Especially how quickly it can occur, and the number of insects/animals cable of causing it. Makes me ever so glad that our climate doesn't suit most of 'em.
i already murdered two lastnight, one was the biggest ****ing thing ive ever seen, took 2 flushes to get rid of it!
ya...we do. Some of them are big and ultimately harmless, others small and vicious. And most of them (the exception I make is pretty much for Daddy Longlegs) are plain frikken disturbing. If the missus isn't around to save them (and me), out comes the doedorant and the lighter...
Can't say I like spiders that much. Not scared of them, but not a big fan. Luckily I don't get them in the house that often, but we do get a heck of a lot of them around my house as we live next to fields. On a side note, aren't we supposed to swallow around a dozen spiders over our lifetime whilst sleeping?
Yeah, something like that. But I don't care about that, I sleep like the dead, so IMO it's the silly insects fault >.>
Yeah Hornets are pretty awesome. They make such a fantastic noise, you know it's one of them from quite far away. I also like wasps, I bring many back from the brink with some honey/jam/ham + water and send them on their way. Downside is they think I'm awesome and try and move in with me :/ As for the spider bites, well it was a spider we technically shouldn't have in this country, but we do in some places though they don't last the winters (that last winter should've wiped out a lot of 'intruders'). Luckily ours don't tend to be as bad as in America, even our Hobo spiders allegedly don't get as toxic as they can in the US. I didn't feel the bite at the time, though I was quite drunk which may have helped. I felt something tickle my back and freaked out, got the gangly brown spider out of my clothes and thought nothing more of it apart from mild peril and creepyness. Over the next few days I felt awful. Really, really ill. I had constant headaches, hot flushes, kept being sick, ached like mad. Just generally felt disgusting. Then my arm was itching and I saw these 3 circles of manky skin like ulcers on my arm/shoulder, about the size of pencil erasers. First thought was "I have skin cancer!". Took myself off to the pharmacist as they could take a look straight away and the Dr couldn't for a few days. That's when she said they looked more like nasty insect/spider type bites and it clicked. Though she was shocked it had happened in Reading and not some foreign land! I now have 3 permanent almost circular scars where the flesh died and went manky. Joy...
I hate spiders.. im not scared of they i just dont like em.. saw a huge one the other night looked like a mix of a daddy longlegs and a general house spider.. the long legs as it was huge but general spider due to its body shape.. needless to say it ended up outside.. / dead.. other than that my room desptie being a attic conversion only gets house spiders now and then but its very rare.. they prefer the attic all around me thank god but downstairs we've had to fill in cracks around the skirting (sp?) boards as spiders hide in em..
I can only see little spiders in this thread, and you are all pussies The last time I was a little scared from a spider, I was just a teenager, and the spider was an average big one, about the size of my hand/about 1.5x the size of a cd, so naturally I picked up a stick and tried to annoy him His web was that tough, it broke my stick when i tried to tear it, and the spider was just looking at me, as if to say "was that your best shot?" I GTFO of there ASAP
I did that last year. The main difference being I was 38 at the time. I'd found a wasp nest in the back garden and had no idea if it was in use, so some one suggested I throw a stone and if I see a wasp that I run. me being me I decided that half a house brick was better than a stone. I throw it, missed and then saw the biggest wasp I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE flying towards me at what seemed like mach 3 lol so I took off like a bat out of hell down the garden only to see the GF locking the backdoor and waving at me from inside. The bloody wasp stung me right in the back of the head, I was most not impressed with the wasp or the GF.
Eh you live in Australia. Going through one day there without seeing a large scary critter is probably unheard of. However, 4-5 inches for a spider is pretty darn big and if they were any bigger my wife would force us to move.
Nah, around my I only ever see little things like those in this thread or even smaller, all the way down to these super cute ~5mm wide jumping spiders! Those guys are awesome, i like to play with them They can impressively jump a few cm high or so and about 10cm long! But in some other areas down under, such as undeveloped areas or national parks, it wouldn't take long to spot a big one.
It's not the size that creeps me out really. It's the legs and how fast it moves! I'm actually not that scared of tarantulas, generic house spiders are the worst though. They make me feel so creeped out. Just looking at one makes my back itch. Those little zebra/jumping spiders are indeed awesome! I live in the attic so there's always loads on the roof and they're so cute. If you walk up to them they'll turn around to look you in the eye. I often have a little chat with them... Haha! Well if your flat is anywhere near North Gate House/The Rising Sun/Forbury gardens - maybe it did!
