Arachnophobia research

spiderbesideher

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jul 17, 2015
Messages
76
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1533029

Now if I could only get my dear other half to try this :p

What has been your experiences with family/relationships/roommates with your hobby? In my experience most are bewildered, disgusted but somewhat tolerant. I try to remind them I could be out on the town instead of home watching my spiders :D

I do feel like this research supports my experience...when I was younger I had the typical hyped up fear of spiders, but after some research and getting my first, i was hooked!
 

FireSpider

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 2, 2015
Messages
19
That article pretty much exactly describes my experiences with my friends who are/were arachnophobic. Since I refuse to shut up about my spiders, they've been forced (somewhat against their wills, lol) to be educated about what fascinating, cute, harmless things tarantulas really are. In most cases this progresses to curiosity, and then them wanting to look at the spiders, which invariably fail to be nearly as scary as they'd imagined.

None of my immediate family ever minded tarantulas, though. Their attitudes range from indifference to my mom fighting me over who gets to put the new tarantula in their room (she swiped my B. Vagans!). I certainly loved spiders from my earliest memories. Of course, I don't do irrational fear, so the only animals I'm afraid of are the ones that walk on 6 fewer legs than my tarantulas.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
My mother.. she freaks out when it comes to scorpions, even the little European ones, but found fascinating and likes T's, including African Baboons giants like Pelinobius muticus.
 

Roosterbomb

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Messages
42
Most of my friends and family just say it's creepy and move on but there's some that say they won't come over because of them. Find that odd since I live in an area where the wild spiders are highly toxic. And then there's the ones that want to hold one. When I explain why I don't mess with my Ts like that they start asking questions and one thing leads to another and I offer up a sling.
 

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
2,009
As someone who got a T, to overcome arachnophobia, I will say it has to be the person's own idea to overcome the fear. Years of folks telling me "they are more afraid of you than you are of them" (which was dead wrong in my case --lol) did nothing. In theory I knew spiders were important in the world and didn't deserve to be sprayed or swatted to death, but until I was ready to take the next step.... Well, you can't force someone to overcome the fear. They have to want to.

I started with looking at pix and buying fake spiders (plastic). It tooks years before I got a T.

No regrets and it does work (or, at least, help). I still get startled by stray spiders in the house; but now I can calm myself down and decide if it needs cupping and putting outside, or if it is nicely webbed in a corner, if we can just live in harmony.
 

mmfh

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
345
+1 FireSpider. I simply can't keep my mouth shut lol. They think I'm weird but they can see my passion. This has led to many arachnophobics actually catching spiders for me to identify.... Mostly, I think they want to hear "omg! This one has venom that will melt your face off" lol but at least they are showing curiosity instead of wanton slaughter.
 

PRE66 6TART

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Messages
9
I put off getting my first tarantula for years because my wife told me in no uncertain terms that she would move out if I ever brought one into the house. Finally I made her accept that I was getting one, and a few short months later I started catching her at the T cage from time to time observing it with fascination and remarking about how cool whatever it was doing was. She even grudgingly admitted I was right when I couldn't resist saying "I told you so."
 

lalberts9310

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 9, 2014
Messages
1,083
My mom is extremely arachnophobic, I was never allowed to have a T until I moved in with my now husband - he doesn't mind them, he even has 3 Ts of his own, I've never actually come across anyone who likes spiders or are fascinated by them, except for my hubby, two friends of mine and my hubbys aunt, she really shows a lot of interest in my Ts and always wants to have a look at them when they come visit, she even mentioned getting one of her own :p, other people I've met are more disgusted and shudders at the thought of a spider, then I hear the constant jokes about how they should be smashed, stepped on or sprayed with insect killers, I'm also constantly told by some of the misinformed how "deadly" they are... I make it a rule not to use or do anything that would give Ts a bad rep, such as using molts to scare people, I'd rather try and help people overcome the fear and would rather educate them on how not-so-scary these animals really are. I don't care if people think 'm weird though, I love showing off my Ts and love talking about them.. I always tell myself: Don't be ashamed of loving the things that makes your weird little heart happy.
 

FireSpider

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 2, 2015
Messages
19
I don't care if people think 'm weird though, I love showing off my Ts and love talking about them.. I always tell myself: Don't be ashamed of loving the things that makes your weird little heart happy.
I think this is an important thing to remember in all aspects of life. Anyone who tries to make you feel ashamed for loving different things isn't worth wasting time on.
 

DVMT

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
91
I think this is an important thing to remember in all aspects of life. Anyone who tries to make you feel ashamed for loving different things isn't worth wasting time on.
+1 I have run into old friends and had catch up conversations with them a few times. When my spiders come up I can usually tell if they are someone worth meeting up with again based on the way they respond. I call my T's my "friend filter". If you aren't at least accepting of my hobby and somewhat understanding, then I don't have time for ya. I love hearing "I'm never coming to your house!" because I can always respond with "Why would you assume I want you to?" ;)
 

El Consciente

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 13, 2015
Messages
28
In my experience, with a little explaining people generally seem to be able to come to understand the appeal of T keeping insofar as keeping harmless T's, but it's always the idea of keeping the potentially harmful ones like poecilotheria that throws them.

That one is a bit tough to navigate with non-keepers.
 
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