Introduced to Spiders.
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 1:52 am
So, I'm a huge arachnophobe. I can't help it. It's just hard for me to even look at a spider without getting chills, shivers, and a nibble of fear in my head. It's almost funny for my friends because I'm a man that can't handle spiders. But I almost passed out when I was younger in science class and we were forced to each hold a giant rosy-something tarantula. That had been spitting and hissing and trying to bite the teacher as he took it out of the enclosure.
Anyways. Found a zebra jumping spider in my home recently. Panic ensued briefly, and of course, I hit it as hard as I could with a shoe.
ANYWAYS. The thing was so weird, so creepy...I've had little experience with jumping spiders, and the thing seemed so much more...aware? Active? It was twitching around, and the eyes literally made me want to scream.
So, naturally, I pondered this strange creature, and looked them up. With several drinks of cold water to help steady myself throughout the wikipedia articles and google images, I actually found jumpers to be pretty neat. Especially zebra spiders.
For all you spider lovers, I'm sure this is common knowledge, but I was really fascinated with how intelligent jumpers are, and how complex their hunting patterns are! They are one of the few spider species, and predators of their size, that will lose sight of their prey to reposition and remember exactly where it is. It seems silly, but that's not too common and pretty outstanding for the little buggers.
Also, zebra spiders, again, are one of the few spiders that are aware of being observed! This is an almost jumper-exclusive trait, and some of them don't even have it. That explains why it was acting so weird when I showed up. This spider, about the size of a nickel, was aware of me, a gigantic human, watching it. It was probably studying me and trying to figure out what I was going to do.
Plus, their little rectangle heads and binocular eyes are kinda cute.
And the dance. Oh. My. Gosh. The mating dance. All the cuteness.
So, to wrap up this kind of pointless anecdote in some fashion, simply learning about spiders helped me overcome some of my fear. Now, I'm not by any means saying I'm going to stop having such violent reactions. That will take time, if ever, to be overcome. BUT! I do have a healthy respect for jumpers at least, and especially my little native bros, Zebra Spiders. The sheer intelligence of such a tiny creature is just astounding, and I can definitely appreciate jumpers and maybe take the time to 'rehome' them instead of slamming them with a sole.
The moral of the story is to try and learn about what you're afraid of, if you can. Spiders are worth learning about.
P.S. I still hate the regular ones.
P.P.S. I feel bad for squashing that one zebra.
Anyways. Found a zebra jumping spider in my home recently. Panic ensued briefly, and of course, I hit it as hard as I could with a shoe.
ANYWAYS. The thing was so weird, so creepy...I've had little experience with jumping spiders, and the thing seemed so much more...aware? Active? It was twitching around, and the eyes literally made me want to scream.
So, naturally, I pondered this strange creature, and looked them up. With several drinks of cold water to help steady myself throughout the wikipedia articles and google images, I actually found jumpers to be pretty neat. Especially zebra spiders.
For all you spider lovers, I'm sure this is common knowledge, but I was really fascinated with how intelligent jumpers are, and how complex their hunting patterns are! They are one of the few spider species, and predators of their size, that will lose sight of their prey to reposition and remember exactly where it is. It seems silly, but that's not too common and pretty outstanding for the little buggers.
Also, zebra spiders, again, are one of the few spiders that are aware of being observed! This is an almost jumper-exclusive trait, and some of them don't even have it. That explains why it was acting so weird when I showed up. This spider, about the size of a nickel, was aware of me, a gigantic human, watching it. It was probably studying me and trying to figure out what I was going to do.
Plus, their little rectangle heads and binocular eyes are kinda cute.
And the dance. Oh. My. Gosh. The mating dance. All the cuteness.
So, to wrap up this kind of pointless anecdote in some fashion, simply learning about spiders helped me overcome some of my fear. Now, I'm not by any means saying I'm going to stop having such violent reactions. That will take time, if ever, to be overcome. BUT! I do have a healthy respect for jumpers at least, and especially my little native bros, Zebra Spiders. The sheer intelligence of such a tiny creature is just astounding, and I can definitely appreciate jumpers and maybe take the time to 'rehome' them instead of slamming them with a sole.
The moral of the story is to try and learn about what you're afraid of, if you can. Spiders are worth learning about.
P.S. I still hate the regular ones.
P.P.S. I feel bad for squashing that one zebra.