Is There an Arthropod You DO NOT Like?

[kmsgameboy]

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?

 

[Ryan.M]

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!!

 

[crucis]

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 <_<

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

 

[Malti]

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 )

 

[ismart]

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

 

[patrickfraser]

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.

 

[Malti]

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....

 

[PhilinYuma]

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

 

[Idolofreak]

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

 

[kmsgameboy]

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.

 

[angelofdeathzz]

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:

 

[kitkat39]

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.

 

[kmsgameboy]

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

 

[psyconiko]

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

 

[Peter Clausen]

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.

 

[Rick]

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.

 

[Malti]

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:

 

[more_rayne]

Giant squishy caterpillars, and large grasshoppers.

 

[Zeebweeny]

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