# Is There an Arthropod You DO NOT Like?



## kmsgameboy (Jul 11, 2011)

Most people have a hard time believing that with my deep love for insects that I am horribly scared of spiders. I know that most of them are totaly harmless and that the few spiders in America that can bite people _still_ arent a huge danger but still they make my skin crawl! (There is a story to why I have this fear.) Are there any arthropods that you dont like or fear?


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## Ryan.M (Jul 11, 2011)

I was terrified of bees, wasps, and some spiders when I was a kid but I've grown out of all of it, especially spiders.

I visited a bee farm when I was a teenager and was so amazed at bees, that I just couldn't be scared of them anymore. After handling some bees and seeing that they are actually really nice and docile when not threatened it amazed me that I was even scared of them at all as a kid.

For your spider phobia, (if you're looking to lose or lower your fear) I'd recommend handling some slow moving house spiders just to get an idea of how it feels (maybe even start with a harvestmen!  ). I think you'll (like me) eventually realize all spiders behave in quite the same way if you handle them nice and slowly. I've never, ever been bitten by a spider while handling one. They're actually really beautiful animals, and I have specifically gone out of my way to handle every spider I come across (or attempt to, some move ridiculously fast and want nothing to do with me  ). Handling them has definitely removed my fear of spiders from when I was a kid. The only spiders I haven't handled have been tarantulas because I've never really had the opportunity. I am currently waiting until the new year, when one of my terrified roommates moves out to get my first tarantula as a pet!  

Cheers!!


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## crucis (Jul 11, 2011)

They might not mean any harm, but carpenter bees and hornets never fail to send me diving for cover. They fly like they weigh a kilogram each!

I also haven't quite gotten over palm-sized, FAST spiders (like the Huntsman)... Oh and i don't appreciate (big) roaches dashing about my house &lt;_&lt; 

Sigh I must say that I have no respect for those people who squish whatever irks or intimidates them (or squish just because they like squishing). If I'm afraid of something, I revere it even more. If it irks me, I catch it and throw it somewhere it won't bother me OR (my favourite!) drop it in and watch it get stalked grabbed and eaten


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## Malti (Jul 11, 2011)

roaches...the _Blattella germanica_ to be prcise, the fact that here they're found in the sewers makes me go  

would love a domino cockroach or a hissing cockroach as a per though (my bday is the end of this month  )


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## ismart (Jul 11, 2011)

I cant stand mosquitoes, ticks, and bitting flies. They can keep there sickness, and diease with them. I hate them! :angry:


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## patrickfraser (Jul 11, 2011)

OK. One of the ugliest and it makes me cringe...The Jerusalem cricket or sometimes called a potato bug. I would only touch one to feed one of my mantids. They're hideous and awkward.


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## Malti (Jul 11, 2011)

patrickfraser said:


> OK. One of the ugliest and it makes me cringe...The Jerusalem cricket or sometimes called a potato bug. I would only touch one to feed one of my mantids. They're hideous and awkward.


one man's food is one man's poison....


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 11, 2011)

When Will Rogers said, "I never met an arthropod I didn't like," he had obviously never had to remove an engorged dog tick.


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## Idolofreak (Jul 11, 2011)

I'm scared of wasps and centipedes, but that's about it.


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## kmsgameboy (Jul 11, 2011)

I actually used to play with spiders when I was a kid so I know what its like to handle a spider. The problem is when I was a young teen I had a spider lay eggs behind my bed. I was laying down one night when I found a bunch of crab spiders in my bed. Ever since that spiders have made my skin crawl.


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## angelofdeathzz (Jul 11, 2011)

Huntsman taste like chicken(Yummy) and potato bugs(Jerusalem cricket's) if microwaved for 5-6 seconds just before they pop, are also very good. :chef: 

Now fruit flies are scary, as it takes so many to get full, I end up with something that looks like a moving beard on my face. :no:


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## kitkat39 (Jul 11, 2011)

I used to be horrified of roaches (probably due to a childhood incident) and I'm still arachnophobic. Even though I find the spiders that I am keeping right now beautiful, just watching them haul ash on their web towards my hand when something is caught in their web totally creeps me out. They are completely different animals when they are on their webs compared to when are just walking around off of it. Kind of reminds me of a normal human crawling around vs someone crawling around while bent backwards on fast forward, like in a scene from "The Exorcist".

I've gotten over the fear of roaches due to just keeping so many and playing with them while under the influence of alcohol. The spiders, I am warming myself up and playing with smaller ones, although I leave the huge Nephila and Argiopes alone.

Things I absolutely HATE are MOSQUITOES! Those things always seem to bite me everywhere I go even if I have no skin exposed. The first 2 weeks in Southeast Asia are always horror stories for me.


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## kmsgameboy (Jul 12, 2011)

Ok kitkat you have officialy made my skin crawl with the image of "spider people".


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## psyconiko (Jul 12, 2011)

I do not really like crabs(I am not talking about the land or sea crab...).


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## Peter Clausen (Jul 12, 2011)

Oh yeah, I didn't need that exorcist reference. That's creepy. Phil's quote is funny, as usual. I'm sure there are an average of 3 or so spider egg cases in each of our bedrooms (though not easy to find in strips of molding or beds pulled away from the wall every year or two). Worse things in spiders lurk our closets, or so my children tell me (it's by no coincidence that they may be uniquely correct, in the case of my home  ).

I've made progress in the last stronghold of personal pet bug fear in the last few years--giant centipedes. I have no desire to hold one, but at least I'm not afraid to lift the lids on the containers. More than any tarantulas, their speed and the size of their fangs are very intimidating. Pterinochilus and Haplopelma tarantulas, especially H. schmidti, also demand my respect though my reaction to their aggression is a far cry from phobic. I once had an H. schmidti that was so pissy it would flop on its back, rear its fangs, kill its food but not eat it. It eventually starved to death. It's an unlikely story, but completely true.

I too am a magnet for mosquitoes and fleas. People with dogs or especially cats often don't consider themselves to have a flea problem in their home until I visit. I have a slightly higher than normal allergy to the bites. They swell up larger on me and drive me nuts, seeming almost to be conneccted so that if I scratch one they all begin to itch in unison. I know everybody feels this way to an extent, but I'm the guy people like to stand next to when the swarm comes because I seem to have a target on my back that draws them directly in.

The best way to overcome a fear of any bug is to create a beautiful home for it and keep it as a pet for a year or so. It's very difficult to maintain hatred or fear when you are constantly exposed to something living and responsible for its care. We're a biased group, but I suspect there is no mantis hobbyist that would not come to enjoy having any of the aforementioned examples as a pet, in time. Fear would melt away. As many of you have probably experienced, much of society is either afraid of mantises or wants nothing to do with them, even knowing how much we enjoy them.


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## Rick (Jul 12, 2011)

I'm not afraid of any of them but I am not really interested in any insects other than mantids. Well, I do find cicadas neat and a few others but not to the point of wanting to keep any of them like mantids.


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## Malti (Jul 12, 2011)

PhilinYuma said:


> When Will Rogers said, "I never met an arthropod I didn't like," he had obviously never had to remove an engorged dog tick.


on the web there was a vid of a tick being removed from a dog's  :helpsmilie: :helpsmilie: :helpsmilie:


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## more_rayne (Jul 12, 2011)

Giant squishy caterpillars, and large grasshoppers.


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## Zeebweeny (Jul 12, 2011)

I've never had any problems with them, but I don't think many people are big fans of Pthirus sp.


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## Peter Clausen (Jul 12, 2011)

I looked up Pthirus, and yes, lice get no votes from me! It's not that same kind of fear that I think of in considering this topic, but who is going to sit calmly in a chair upon learning the previous occupant had lice!


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## Malti (Jul 12, 2011)

Lice are boring cause they're too small...


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## kmsgameboy (Jul 12, 2011)

Nikkko said:


> I do not really like crabs(I am not talking about the land or sea crab...).


 I dont think I know anyone who is a fan of _those_ crabs and if by chance there IS someone out there that love em I do not want to see their collection!


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## kmsgameboy (Jul 12, 2011)

Oh and to all of who have said you should try keeping a spider (or other creature you fear) as a pet I do have a couple "pet" house spiders that I let hang out in my home (one in my bathroom and another by my back door). While I dont exactly take care of these spiders I dont believe in needless killing of any living creature either so I leave them be. I COULD gently move them outside but they dont bother me. Now if I should find one _on_ me it would be another story...everyone would get to see my awesome ninja skills as I run around screaming like a little girl! :lol:


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## lancaster1313 (Jul 13, 2011)

I can't stand mosquitos, ticks, fleas, biting flies, or anything that will naturally feed on me and pass disease. &lt;_&lt; I will gladly kill those pests.

I am getting over my fear of spiders by keeping some local ones that I find. It is working very well!  

I used to freak out when I walked into a spiders web. The freaking included gasping, flailing around, shaking out my hair, and disrobing no matter where I was. :blink: :lol: Lately, after keeping and caring for some spiders, I have walked into a few webs without freaking out. I will just carefully inspect myself for the next possible pet, ( if it is an orbweaver, I will find a place for it somewhere in my yard and feed it). B)


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## kitkat39 (Jul 13, 2011)

likebugs said:


> I can't stand mosquitos, ticks, fleas, biting flies, or anything that will naturally feed on me and pass disease. &lt;_&lt; I will gladly kill those pests.
> 
> I am getting over my fear of spiders by keeping some local ones that I find. It is working very well!
> 
> *I used to freak out when I walked into a spiders web. The freaking included gasping, flailing around, shaking out my hair, and disrobing no matter where I was.* :blink: :lol: Lately, after keeping and caring for some spiders, I have walked into a few webs without freaking out. I will just carefully inspect myself for the next possible pet, ( if it is an orbweaver, I will find a place for it somewhere in my yard and feed it). B)


Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Doesn't sound too different from what I used to do


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## Malti (Jul 13, 2011)

likebugs said:


> I used to freak out when I walked into a spiders web. The freaking included gasping, flailing around, shaking out my hair, and disrobing no matter where I was.





kitkat39 said:


> Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Doesn't sound too different from what I used to do


with the difference that if a woman disrobes no one will complain, but they'd call you a perv :lol:


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## AmandaLynn (Jul 19, 2011)

patrickfraser said:


> OK. One of the ugliest and it makes me cringe...The Jerusalem cricket or sometimes called a potato bug. I would only touch one to feed one of my mantids. They're hideous and awkward.


It's cute!


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## AmandaLynn (Jul 19, 2011)

I don't usually find myself comfortable around spiders, especially if I know they are venomous. If they are venomous they get squished, otherwise I live along side them peacefully  .


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## kmsgameboy (Jul 23, 2011)

Pretty much all spiders are venomous, being able to pierce the skin with there fangs however is another matter.


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 23, 2011)

centipedes, absolutely worst, maggots used to be, but as some have mentioned, have some u have to care for and it changes you, and ticks, really I must tell Jesus about the idea to have these insects and what was He thinking?


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## AmandaLynn (Jul 23, 2011)

kmsgameboy said:


> Pretty much all spiders are venomous, being able to pierce the skin with there fangs however is another matter.


Yeah, I know they're all venomous, but I mean, dangerous or not to _me_.

Ticks are bad to. I used to live in Santa Cruz, CA. and would pick ticks daily off of my dog. They gave me nightmares. Literally, there are two things I have nightmares about and they are ticks and tsunamis.


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## Merc (Jul 24, 2011)

Wasps... I still have violent (and possibly hysterical) aversions to wasps for no reason that I can remember. Bees are okay as long as they remain a suitable distance from me.

I'm fine with spiders. I don't know if I would have one as a pet, but I do let them just kind of hang out in the house if they so please. When I was in college and living in a dorm, I removed one spider from one of my friends' rooms and was from there on out the official dorm spider remover. :lol: Girls I had never even met or talked to would come to my room at all hours and ask me to remove a spider for them.  They were usually big female garden orb weavers of some kind I guess, never really took the time to identify them, and I'd usually cup 'em and put them outside. Beautiful creatures. Maybe I will have a pet spider one day.  I think jumping spiders are ADORABLE.

I also have a huge problem with people who smash things just to smash them. One of my friends is scared of spiders and she smashes them on sight no matter where they are. Yes, I understand her fear in a way, and sure, kill them if they're in your house, but why does one need to kill something that's outside, minding it's own business, and better yet, killing the more annoying bugs? :huh: That's the one I don't understand. I don't even kill wasps if they're outside and I'm just as afraid of them as she is of spiders. /rant, just a small annoyance.


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## gadunka888 (Jul 25, 2011)

Jerusalem Crickets are cute. I got bitten by a centipede in the web of skin between my fingers but i still like them. I get kind of nervous when i am with a hornet in an enclosed space like a room.


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## Jwonni (Aug 4, 2011)

I have a very strong (and yes irrational) fear of spiders, pretty much any larger than a pin head. I cannot remove them and put them outside because i cant touch them they have to be exterminated from a distance with a long stick or wait until someone that can touch them comes round. (although putting them outside you just know they are gonna turn around and come right back in)


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## zonbonzovi (Aug 4, 2011)

Mrs. Z &amp; I caught the "discount" ferry from Italy to Greece a few years back after taking the wrong bus to the wrong port. On a budget, we holed up in what they call airline seating for the overnight trip. Not looking forward to back pain after a couple weeks of hosteling, I slept on the floor next to the life jackets. In the early morning, the lights came on for an announcement and I noticed what I thought were large lice crawling about me and my backpack, some attached to my skin. "Are these lice? They're huge!", I said with disgust. The Malaysian couple we'd made acquaintance with chuckled at me while calmly inspecting their luggage and pinching blood engorged bugs with a napkin. "These are bed bugs," he grinned nonchalantly, "and back home they get 3x this size."

The little chompers were living and breeding magnificently in the life jacket storage area, undisturbed &amp; fed well by the constant barrage of passengers between Bari &amp; Patra. We recently discussed going to Malaysia(she's forgotten this episode, I think) on a future trip, so if you know my wife...please refrain from reminding her of the gargantuan BED BUGS that live there  

P.S. we continued to find these for weeks afterward. They especially enjoyed hiding in the spine of an Irvine Welsh novel.


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## MandellaMandy123 (Aug 14, 2011)

I'm not really afraid of any insects, but I hate poisonous spiders...


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## PhilinYuma (Aug 14, 2011)

zonbonzovi said:


> Mrs. Z &amp; I caught the "discount" ferry from Italy to Greece a few years back after taking the wrong bus to the wrong port. On a budget, we holed up in what they call airline seating for the overnight trip. Not looking forward to back pain after a couple weeks of hosteling, I slept on the floor next to the life jackets. In the early morning, the lights came on for an announcement and I noticed what I thought were large lice crawling about me and my backpack, some attached to my skin. "Are these lice? They're huge!", I said with disgust. The Malaysian couple we'd made acquaintance with chuckled at me while calmly inspecting their luggage and pinching blood engorged bugs with a napkin. "These are bed bugs," he grinned nonchalantly, "and back home they get 3x this size."
> 
> The little chompers were living and breeding magnificently in the life jacket storage area, undisturbed &amp; fed well by the constant barrage of passengers between Bari &amp; Patra. We recently discussed going to Malaysia(she's forgotten this episode, I think) on a future trip, so if you know my wife...please refrain from reminding her of the gargantuan BED BUGS that live there
> 
> *P.S. we continued to find these for weeks afterward. They especially enjoyed hiding in the spine of an Irvine Welsh novel.*


Let me guess! Was it _Filth_? But come to think of it, that was tapeworm, wasn't it?


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 16, 2011)

i sorta like the cricket........ but put a caterpillar or grasshopper near me and i will squish them in a heart beat... i have a few stories that have caused this......


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## patrickfraser (Aug 16, 2011)

ShieldMantid1997 said:


> i sorta like the cricket........ but put a caterpillar or grasshopper near me and i will squish them in a heart beat... i have a few stories that have caused this......


What did a caterpillar ever do to you?

Just thought this would be a chance to show this.


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## zonbonzovi (Aug 18, 2011)

PhilinYuma said:


> Let me guess! Was it _Filth_? But come to think of it, that was tapeworm, wasn't it?


Haha! Yes, actually it was...and Bruce's internal pet was a tapeworm. Great book if you have the stomach for it  .


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## mykey14 (Aug 31, 2011)

I'd have to say bees, wasps and spiders. When I was 10 a bee stung me then another and another and I freaked out! Last year I went to throw something away at a outdoor garbage can and I discovered what happens when a nest of wasps gets mad ( it was sooo painful). When I was little (I think I was 9?) I was hiking with my family through the woods when I walked into a large web belonging to a very large and hungry looking banana spider(Nephila clavipes) and her babys. So that pretty much expains all of my bug related fears and why I wanted a large praying mantis.


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## minard734 (Sep 15, 2011)

Smoky brown roaches... I've had them fly onto my mouth before... :devil:


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## Findarato (Sep 15, 2011)

I don't like louse flies. They are really ugly and nasty guys. (additional to flies, ticks and lice already mentioned in this thread).

Otherwise I like insects and spiders when they stay where they should be. well I would not let them run over my face or my food. D)


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## patrickfraser (Sep 15, 2011)

I dislike the ants that raided my fly factory last night. :angry:


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## minard734 (Sep 24, 2011)

Ants eat my specimens that are in the process of drying before being displayed  .


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