Dry Your Eyes, Princess, They're Fascinating Animals

Tonight, I shall be watching this, a loving and heartbreakingly poignant story of the life cycle of Australia's tarantulas.

I'm hoping it may make me less likely to have an embarrassing accident in the event I have the ?pleasure? of meeting big spiders next month.

I doubt it, though.

Although, spiders, per se aren't the issue - it's the sheer size! I can't kill them anyways but seriously, killing a big one like that must be like stepping on a newborn. Can you imagine? ick.

We all know, don't we, deep in our hearts, that the girl who rescues worms after the rain (as well as a slug the other day) really does contort herself around the 8 million webs on her front porch on a daily basis. I just can't bear to destroy that amazing web they've built nor one of their few chances at survival. Sometimes I even feed them.

But, the big ones, who's eyes you can look into? And fangs you can see? *shiver*

Comments

[Parenthesis]

When I see a spider I see a can of Doom. Sorry, but there it is. Especially the hairy types. It comes from having to look after your mate's wolf spiders while she's away on holiday, had horrible dreams about creepy crawlies for weeks afterwards. Kittens are cute. Spiders are not.

[Vanessa]

I can safely say that almost every thing that ever terrified the hell out of me back home has an entirely null effect upon me now I'm on the road.
I hated spiders at home, but climbing down a mountain in dangerous circumstances, I slid through the gap in a monster spider's (occupied) web without even blinking, because I was far more preoccupied with surviving the climb intact than any bug.
I also hated cock-a-roaches (I barely notice them now), horses (yeah, alright, I haven't faced that one yet), heights (till I climbed and skydived), and deep water (till I surfed, snorkelled, swam with a turtle, went whale chasing, and learnt to scuba dive).
I think, at home, with less to challenge me, my mind makes up stories about myself. 'She's scared of X' is one such story.

There, that was useless spider advice, wunnit? Watch out for the ones that jump on your head.

[Vanessa]

Hey - jet lag made me misread: tarantulas are teeny tiny. And who said you have to squash them?

[Saltation]

ooo i didn't know barking spiders were tarantulas!

don't worry, they're much littler than tarantulas.and much safer because they squeak at you to let you know they're there and that everyone should quietly back off.

re webs: don't worry about it: aussie orb spiders daily rebuild 6 foot efforts. big local "safety tip": when walking thru aussie trees, carry a stick. not a walking stick, a webbing stick. needs to be about 3 feet long, can be as thin as your finger nail. hold it horizontally in front of you and wave it slowlyish up and down as you walk thru the trees.

clears all the webs, scatters all the spiders.

believe me, until you've had an orb spider with an abdomen an inch broad and high and 2 inches long fall on your head at midnight and all its legs' claws dig into your scalp as it terrifiedly grabs for grip, you haven't shuddered.

[Saltation]

> Hey - jet lag made me misread: tarantulas are teeny tiny.

vanessa was sounding quite sane there for a moment, until i got to this bit...

:)