Spiders

[Wayne]

The most common phobia maybe?!

I can't stand spiders. They scare the crap out of me, and I have no shame in admitting that lol.:pray2:

[Spawner]

Spiders have always been one of my irrational fears. As my daughter was growing up I tried, and failed miserably, not to pass those fears onto her. Whenever there was one about and my husband was at work I'd manage to catch it in a jar and take it out to the back garden. I think the failure came about when I'd unscrew the lid and fling the jar down the garden whilst shreiking and flapping my arms around wildly. I can't sleep if there's a spider on the bedroom ceiling or wall though - I have to get "man the hunter" to remove it and run the risk of him chasing me round the house, snorting evil laughter, with said spider in his hand. I can't go anywhere near the giant hairy Mary garden spiders that migrate into our house in the autumn though.

Snakes are also a very common phobia but I used to have a pet one that was almost 8 feet long and she was lovely. All my friends who had snake phobia overcame it by playing with Piney because she was only about 6 inches long and pencil thin when I got her. Really warm and smooth and nothing like non-snake-lovers expect.

[Wayne]

^ I LOL'd at so much of that!!

I never thought of spider phobias as being an irrational fear but they actually kinda are aren't they lolz. I have no problem walking across the street and confronting somebody if they shout a homophobic obscenity at me, or running across the road when the cars are coming full speed, so that I can avoid the ignorami car drivers that don't even stop at red lights, yet if I see a spider (providing its bigger than a pin! lol) I will do exactly what you do in the garden, and flap my hands and scream and run

[Spawner]

It's completely irrational because there's no way on earth an English spider could hurt us, there is one venomous spider native to the UK but it's fangs aren't nearly long enough to penetrate human skin. Yet no matter how many times I tell myself this I can't bring myself to get close enough to touch one without a jar in my hand. Completely ridiculous but they still make my hair stand on end and skin crawl. Ugh.

[Wayne]

Yep, according to this BBC news article (and video) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7663272.stm), the UK's only spider that bites humans is the Steatoda nobilis

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1555000/images/_1555039_bitingspider300.jpg

[HeatSeeker]

LOL you guys are funny. I've had very little interaction with spiders, most of them being small and harmless.