Arachnophobe in the house...

Profkrakatoa · Dec 21, 2007

Do any of you share your space with an arachnophobe? My husband has decided that my T's are really pretty interesting to watch - (After he saw my sling molt he says now he knows where Geiger got the inspiration for his art). They don't seem to bother him as long as they're in their cages. My 14 yr old son however, seems genuinely phobic. I tried to show him a picture of a GBB since I'm considering getting one. I thought that the pretty colors might get his interest. He got freaked out & said it was creepy and left the room. Should I continue to try to get him to see the beauty of the animals or just let him be? (I tend to be really effusive when I find a new interest so it's hard not to share it)

pearson340 · Dec 21, 2007

honestly have you got a T that you can handle my mum is an arachnophobe but she likes them now after she handled my red rump 2" just make sure your there to support him and to take it off him when hes scared

Profkrakatoa · Dec 21, 2007

pearson34 said:
honestly have you got a T that you can handle my mum is an arachnophobe but she likes them now after she handled my red rump 2" just make sure your there to support him and to take it off him when hes scared

He won't even LOOK at them. There is no way in hades he'd even think about handling one. It's funny that in our house, the mom is the one with the "creepy pets".

WyvernsLair · Dec 21, 2007

Teens are not supposed to like what parents like... always has to be the opposite yanno. If you didn't already own and were into spiders and had told him to never bring some creepy spider into the house you can bet he probably would have a room full of them. LOL.

unclechewy · Dec 21, 2007

The problem with a "true" phobia is that there is no logic to it and you cannot talk someone out of their fear. My sister is extremely arachnophobic and will come to my house only if I promise not to take any of my T's out where she can see them. I'd say just let him be and maybe in time he will come around and see the beauty in them.

SuperRad · Dec 21, 2007

Uncle Chewy has it right. No matter what it is, (heights, snakes, bugs, Britney Spears behind the wheel of a car) some one who is a phobe won't tolerate a second of time in its presence.

You're prolly not going to turn him around, but maybe he'd be interested in other inverts you could both enjoy. Millipedes and crabs might be a reasonable start.

Profkrakatoa · Dec 21, 2007

Yeah, you guys are right on all points. It's just wierd because actually my son and I have most every thing in common - alternative rock, scary movies. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely the MOM and not his buddy, but we share most things. I'll just have to let it go. He does however, pull cricket legs for me to feed my sling - he just won't look at the sling! :}

smof · Dec 22, 2007

He might improve as he gets older. I used to be totally arachnophobic at his age. It was only when I was about 18 that I started to rationlise it (I decided I didn't want to be phobic any more) after about 2 years of telling myself not to be scared of spiders I got my first T. It wasn't until I got my 3rd T that I actually stopped being scared of them. It is possible to cure phobias, but if he thinks he's under pressure (like if you try and convince him to hold one when he doesn't want to) it won't work. He just needs to get used to them.

PhilK · Dec 22, 2007

If your son is actually an arachnophobe there is no way you'll get him to change. Phobias are a mental thing.

Drachenjager · Dec 25, 2007

PhilK said:
If your son is actually an arachnophobe there is no way you'll get him to change. Phobias are a mental thing.

he just has to change his mind lol
Phobias are something that CAN be overcome. But you have to want to. When it comes to arachnophobia tho i have no patience, a teen boy that is an arachnophobe, i would be really mean to and call a whimp lol But then again I am not even close to being PC and actually don't care to be. lol

arachnofein909 · Dec 25, 2007

I used to have a phobia of small spiders and wouldn't hold T's but kept one rose hair to look at cuz i kept reptiles and wanted something different. my dad was the one who wanted to hold it which he did with a glove long story short i held it after i didn't think it was going to bite eights years later and i only keep T's and other spiders i know you can overcome your fears.

dantediss · Dec 25, 2007

cant lie i myself am actually afraid of house spiders, dont know what it is but they scare the bejeebus outta me ,, but when it comes to a t its a whole differant ballgame , their just 8 legged teddy bears , some just have chips on their shoulder cough,o.b.t,cough but i love my 4 little critters and the newest addition to the family ,, satan the emperor scorpion ...even with a name like that within 5 minutes of being his new daddy (haha) i was holding him . arachnophobia is just that though a phobia, when your ready to get over it youll get over it . although the more pressure exerted the more the dislike grows ,, try to make an understanding not a diamond

babylon5girl · Dec 26, 2007

I use to have a phobia of spiders then I ended up getting a job in an entomology dept. After months of being scared of the few T's we had in the dept. I was tked into touching one. I LOVED IT. Now I'm in charge of the tarantulas and other extention insects. So maybe he can grow out of the fear. Who knows?

...But i'm still not a fan of house spiders. You're not alone in that archnofein.

unclechewy · Dec 27, 2007

My wife's best friend who is freaked out by spiders was at our house on X-mas Eve and asked to see my T's. I have seven. Although she did not want to hold any of them or see them out of their enclosures, she was very intrigued by them and after she saw them, she has a better understanding of why they are so interesting and fun to collect.

imjim · Dec 27, 2007

Profkrakatoa said:
Do any of you share your space with an arachnophobe? My husband has decided that my T's are really pretty interesting to watch - (After he saw my sling molt he says now he knows where Geiger got the inspiration for his art). They don't seem to bother him as long as they're in their cages. My 14 yr old son however, seems genuinely phobic. I tried to show him a picture of a GBB since I'm considering getting one. I thought that the pretty colors might get his interest. He got freaked out & said it was creepy and left the room. Should I continue to try to get him to see the beauty of the animals or just let him be? (I tend to be really effusive when I find a new interest so it's hard not to share it)

Why not define Phobia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia

-Sarah- · Dec 27, 2007

I don't know, I'd just give him some time

How long has it been since you've kept tarantulas? Maybe the idea of how big spiders can get freaks him out. When I first held a tarantula my heart was pounding (hey, my G. rosea was the biggest spider I'd ever seen!) but it took some time to get used to her. Since you have slings though, he might be more comfortable with them since they are smaller.

Maybe try discussing an interesting tarantula topic with your husband while your son is around? If your son likes science, maybe that might help overcome his fear or phobia. If that doesn't work, just make sure he knows that you know what you're doing

Especially if you keep feisty/venomous ones. That'll help ease his mind. My brother's under the impression that my P. regalis will get loose by miraculously unscrewing its pretzel jar lid, crawl all the way downstairs, push open his bedroom door in the middle of the night and bite him

-Sarah

jen650s · Dec 27, 2007

Arachnophobe in the house

My SO is a 6'5" guy who calls me to come get the spider out of the bathtub

. He won't look at my Ts and can't understand what fascinates me about them. He however, does not object to their presence as long as I make sure all the cages are secure before going to bed each night and has never tried to limit how many I have as long as they are in my office. He does occasionally ask what I see in them and once said that the # of Ts could not exceed the number of motorcycles and therefore he needed to get more motorcycles (note he didn't say fewer Ts) we have 18 motorcycles between us and I have ~40 Ts.

Profkrakatoa · Dec 27, 2007

Sarah_88 said:
I don't know, I'd just give him some time How long has it been since you've kept tarantulas? Maybe the idea of how big spiders can get freaks him out. When I first held a tarantula my heart was pounding (hey, my G. rosea was the biggest spider I'd ever seen!) but it took some time to get used to her. Since you have slings though, he might be more comfortable with them since they are smaller.

Maybe try discussing an interesting tarantula topic with your husband while your son is around? If your son likes science, maybe that might help overcome his fear or phobia. If that doesn't work, just make sure he knows that you know what you're doing Especially if you keep feisty/venomous ones. That'll help ease his mind. My brother's under the impression that my P. regalis will get loose by miraculously unscrewing its pretzel jar lid, crawl all the way downstairs, push open his bedroom door in the middle of the night and bite him

-Sarah

I've quit trying to get him to look at them. Like someone said in another post, the more I push, the harder he'll resist. It's funny because my husband is a computer geek, and I'm a science teacher with a degree in geology, and our son is MR. liberal arts. Very talented writer and actor. He's done community theater and wrote the intro for the school yearbook last year. Recessive genes don't ya know

Someday he'll win an oscar and buy his mom a house with a whole room for her T's.

Drachenjager · Dec 27, 2007

Profkrakatoa said:
I've quit trying to get him to look at them. Like someone said in another post, the more I push, the harder he'll resist. It's funny because my husband is a computer geek, and I'm a science teacher with a degree in geology, and our son is MR. liberal arts. Very talented writer and actor. He's done community theater and wrote the intro for the school yearbook last year. Recessive genes don't ya know Someday he'll win an oscar and buy his mom a house with a whole room for her T's.

Liberal arts sounds like a class Hillary Clinton would teach on politics lol

Profkrakatoa · Dec 27, 2007

Drachenjager said:
Liberal arts sounds like a class Hillary Clinton would teach on politics lol

Nah - he's what my dearly departed dad would have called A sissy boy, and I love him just the way he is

(not sissy in that he doesn't like girls - just in the fact that he doesn't hunt or watch football!

)

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