Are Tarantulas all that intimidating to you now?

[Vizardlorde]

I respect big bugs (with the exception of big roaches cause I hate those fuckers from my 11 years in Cuba so i kill them on sight) i wont be bothered by their prescence unless they touch my skin, at that moment i freak out like little girl and try to kill it w/o letting out a girly scream. You know what fuck big bugs...

[DockyWocky]

There is literally nothing else on Earth I am more terrified of than spiders. I'm ok with scorpions, ever other insect/bug/etc, but spiders are where I draw the line. I very nearly threw a grenade at one once, they're that evil.

[Reeve]

When you're a child, you would think Tarantulas are among the most frightening things on earth, but when you grow up, you begin to realize they're actually very docile and generally friendly towards humans. Are you still scared of them or view them in disdain?

I never thought they were intimidating. I had a camp counselor who let me hold one when I was like 5 or 6 years old, so they never freaked me out. The freaked the hell out of my mother, though, who lived through a giant migration of tens of thousands of them through her hometown when she was a child.

[Noomz]

When you're a child, you would think Tarantulas are among the most frightening things on earth, but when you grow up, you begin to realize they're actually very docile and generally friendly towards humans. Are you still scared of them or view them in disdain?

Those giant fangs don't inspire trust in me. They are insects, they are all instinct.

[Trassk]

I've always had a fear of spiders (oddly not scorpions, though I wouldn't want to pick one up), and when younger I killed one soon as look at it.
But now I'm all grown up, I tend to be a little more merciful about the little buggers, if I see one I trap it in a glass and throw it out the window rather then kill. Someone said something about spiders being attributed to fate so if you kill them it spells ill news for you.. but its more the case they make more of a mess killing them then not.

[Vizardlorde]

Those giant fangs don't inspire trust in me. They are insects, they are all instinct.

Arachnids* 8 legs not 6

[Stir]

Now, I still love spiders, but realize that their urticating bristles (hairs on their back) are a good reason not to keep them as pets.

Yeah; I hear those bristles are the worst.

As a child, I was allowed to handle a tarantula at the zoo... Quite a calm creature. But the zoo person did tell us not to make any sudden moves, as those hairs could cause a lot of irritation, and possibly damage the eye if they hit you in the face with it.

[Aphrel]

spiders and snakes are among the most horrible creatures on earth in my book. Oh and scorpions..

[Deleted]

I was never scared or intimidated by them. The only difference between back then and now is that I discovered the variety. Some of them are really beautiful.

Check this sexy cobalt beast out:

http://i.imgur.com/URPRMA8.jpg

[Vizardlorde]

lol you might want to put that on a spoiler or as a link since we have a small group of arachnophobes the forums who can be quite shocked by that image. On a sidenote the color is quite beautiful.

[Deleted]

lol you might want to put that on a spoiler or as a link since we have a small group of arachnophobes the forums who can be quite shocked by that image. On a sidenote the color is quite beautiful.

Fixed. But I can't imagine how anyone would be scared of that. I don't like hairless spiders. Fluffy ones like tarantulas are awesome though.

[The Riddler]

Depends on the kind of tarantula. Most of the tarantulas used in movies and TV are just your garden variety Pink-Toed, or the bigger Chilean Rose. Those tarantulas are as harmless as butterflies to humans. However, when you get out to places like South America and Africa, there are some very aggressive tarantulas which have a mean bite which are good to be wary of, but are usually not very dangerous to humans beyond the pain of the bite itself.

It is the Black Widows and the Brown Recluses that will mess you up. Tarantulas? Nah - not particularly scared of them. In fact, they make excellent pets because they're low maintenance, easy to care for, and live a really long time (upwards of 20 years for some species).

[Kellhound]

Those giant fangs don't inspire trust in me. They are insects, they are all instinct.

They are not insects, they are arachnids. But yes, those huge ass fangs are unnerving. I caught one in the place I worked in high school, kept it for about a week. I could never get over the size of its fangs, and eventually let it go back into the desert...

[Warlord Booty]

I'm curious how long I would stay petrified, if there was one sitting on a kitchen counter.

[The Jester]

I absolutely -despise- critters, not scared, just feel disgusted and the need to kill them. Usually if it's a big, quick, annoying bugger.

[hpa]

Im extremely afraid of all kinds of spiders even small common ones - if i saw a tarantula i would run lol. Even spiders in movies or on pictures completely freak me out and i instantly put my feet up on something and wont have them on the ground (if im sitting on my chair at the computer for example). If theres a spider in my room i just sit there looking at it to make sure it stays up in the corner or try to throw something at it or hit it with something long xD. Yep.. pretty sad been like this forever and im 19 soon ...

[Rusken]

I've only seen them at the Zoo so I've never had a real experience with them, the Huntsmen we get around here aren't nearly as creepy though. All that hair, no thanks.

[Warlord Booty]

Check this sexy cobalt beast out:

I can't even quote links yet

I would probably cry for 3 days, if I encountered that thing for reals.

[JustTed]

It's a spider. A giant spider. A horribly, hairy, huge freaking spider, so the answer is yes, it is still very much intimidating to me now. If I saw one and could move instead of being frozen in fear, I would absolutely run screaming in the other direction. Possibly crying. Most likely crying.

Absolutely terrified of spiders.

[Buckeye]

yes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUqQftk1sw4

I was 10 years old in a canal on a paddle boat with my cousin. I saw a spider and I'm arachnophobic so I instantly killed that little bitch. Sure enough exactly what happened in that video, happened on our paddle boat while we were ~20ft from shore. I don't know how I made it out alive that day, I almost swam even though I could see an alligator about 30ft out. Fucking terrifying.