# Terrifying spider encounters...



## "William The Baptist" (Jul 24, 2012)

Hello All,

Perhaps ONE of you can find enjoyment from the picture posted below... for those who can't, you can empathize with my horror! 

I must recount the horrors of the past couple of weeks. It all began with one Sunday a friend from church named Laura began to talk about spiders. *Shudders*. That word in and of itself makes my skin crawl, literally! I must swipe at every thing that feels remotely like a creepy crawly. So Laura instigated a long conversation at lunch after church on this horrendous topic. Of course, her sister pulls out her iPhone and finds images of these disgusting creatures as if it were show and tell story time! She promised to bring her spider book the following Sunday. 

Fast forward to this past Lord's day, and my brother in law caught a LARGE and I mean gigantic spider. He then had the nerve to present the spider to my face, as in a foot away (way to close for comfort). This was at their house for lunch, not in church, mind you. It had an eggsac on the back, which was absolutely petrifying when you think of the implications! For example, this is not merely a squishable spider, for if you stop on it or whack a book on it... you release thousands of its tiny minions! Which is enough to make my heart stop. So it is not easy to kill. So she remained alive the whole Sunday, and he thought it funny to bring it up numerous times. After weeks of talking of spiders... all I wanted was the safety of my own home.

Though, the irony is, my home is not safe from spiders. I can handle small squishable ones, the ones that crawl on the porch and I can step on or whack with my shoe, but those large and detestable ones... they literally scare me still! So yesterday I decided to act on some of the money saving tips my husband encourages me in, such as utilizing the clothes line he put up for me in the backyard. I proudly did the laundry and hung them to try... when I had a wasp encounter! Which, by the way, we are battling a few wasps nests around our house, not quite as horrifying as spiders, but still scary. I reached to grab a clothespin and lo and behold a red winged devil snuggled its body next to my finger, out of pure shock and terror, I shook my hand violently and jumped to the side and quickly ran to the back door steps. When all was clear I finished hanging my assorted clothing and ran inside. I left shortly after to run errands... and when I came back, the real fear struck. I went out to put my naughty dog out in her doghouse. I looked to the sky, admiring the beauty of God's creation, when a paralyzing sight caught my eye causing me to literally run. A spider. Not just any spider, but one with a web spanning 2 feet in diameter and a body more terrifying than even the one I saw on Sunday.

I couldn't face my backyard after that. My plan was to wait til my husband got home and ask him to get his ladder and catch it. It was so big it was not squishable, but needed a well thought out death, such as death by drowning, or dousing it in a pool of poison. Anything but allow it to live! Spiders receive an automatic death sentence around me, and mercy is not an option. I am the judge, jury, and executioner all rolled up in one when it comes to these wretched beings. Unfortunately, he got home late so it was dark by the time we finished dinner.

Which brings me to this day. I mustered all the courage I could and went and let the dog off her leash. (The spider built its nest just above her dog house). I then ran inside and got the camera to document the horrors of the day. Upon further investigation I found it had orange and black legs with a yellow and black spotted back. I then turned to google images. The horrors have subsided, and I have found something miraculous!

It is a Black and Yellow Argiope. It turns out they catch and eat things such as wasps. I am left with the decision, do I spare my wrath and allow a one time mercy toward the much loathed spider in order to naturally rid our home of the wasps? Or do I turn to the death of the spider and spray the fumes of poisonous death upon the wasps?

This is a true account of my nightmarish reality of spiders haunting me in the form of conversation, pictures, and real life spiders.

Also, here is a picture. *Shudders violently*.

View attachment 2982

Thus ends the account of spiders in the life of Mrs. Allison. Living in the country has more interesting bugs than in my old suburb..


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## Scottish Lass (Jul 24, 2012)

Sounds like a definite case of mercy to me. This spider (as are most) is worth the keeping, since the wasps pose a far more real danger to you.


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## jwithnell (Jul 24, 2012)

We called those "writing spiders" when I was growing up because of the zig-zag down the middle. I thought Texans would be proud of a big spider and web?


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## Constantlyreforming (Jul 24, 2012)

Did you take the picture?


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## Constantlyreforming (Jul 24, 2012)

I had thought of not posting this on the Puritanboard, but I will just add it to this post. On Sunday I was on our front patio, and we have a nice Gardenia plant that is potted on the edge of the patio. There was a tiny little spider I noticed bouncing around the leaves. THe leaves of the gardenia are no more than 1.5" long...it is a small plant. Well, the spider itself cannot be bigger than this: O

I have a good camera and decided to test it's macro ability on the spider, as I have with snowflakes. Here's what I got. Here is original photo I took, but resized to fit here...you can really tell how small it is compared to the leaf it is on:









and then the full sized image of the spider, but cropped and shrunk a little to increase resolution:


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## Constantlyreforming (Jul 24, 2012)

Here is one more fun one I caught with my camera last fall.....my wife was quite enthralled with it's quick death.


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## JoannaV (Jul 24, 2012)

Aaah. What a good story. I hope you succeed in using your clothes line, the bugs really do only attack you 1% of the time.


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## CuriousNdenver (Jul 24, 2012)

If it was me, the spider would have to die. I've had success in killing them by spraying them with Lysol Kitchen Cleaner.

This is so horrifying to me that I had to scroll past the pics with the lid to my laptop closed! Eeew!


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## AThornquist (Jul 24, 2012)

I enjoy your writing, Leah.  You would have died from the web that stretched from a tree to a house I stayed at, and which held nearly 100 spiders that were 2-3 inches in legspan. Haha! We got a pole and pulled some down to play with 'em.

View attachment 2983


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## "William The Baptist" (Jul 24, 2012)

Anna, I think it will be ONE exception, mercy has been granted to this terrifying being. Only because the site I linked said it is not harmful to humans and it will help rid me off the wasps.  Plus, it is so fascinating to me the intricate design of creation that the Lord has provided. The wasps have gotten worse since we moved in, and the Lord brings this spider along to help... 

Constantly Reforming, I did take some pictures, but it was pretty high up in the tree branches and we don't have as nice of a camera as you do.  It's the same type of spider, just one I found off a website. What an incredible piece of equipment you have! It has great quality, and amazing at how that teeny horror can be so magnified. I even looked at the spider for a few seconds to admire your photography/editing skills. (;

I'm about to go out and get my clothes and set up more. I'm still warming up to the idea that a gigantic spider is outside literally looming over my head!

Melanie, I'm glad you understand my horror! I can't even tell you how many pictures I had to sift through to get info on this spider... *shudders*, more spider pictures than I EVER care to see!! But I'm glad I properly identified it now... I decided to let this one live. *gulps* hope I don't regret it!!


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## "William The Baptist" (Jul 24, 2012)

AThornquist said:


> I enjoy your writing, Leah.  You would have died from the web that stretched from a tree to a house I stayed at, and which held nearly 100 spiders that were 2-3 inches in legspan. Haha! We got a pole and pulled some down to play with 'em.
> 
> View attachment 2983



Thanks Andrew! I used to read a lot of missionary biographies in my jr high/high school years... and the one thing that seized my heart with fear was that God would call me to be a missionary, esp where there were lots of bugs, esp spiders!!! By His grace, He changed my heart to be willing, but... no missions on the horizons. Just spiders in my own backyard! Btw, where was this house?

AND PLAYED?! Ugh, that is absolutely petrifying! I would have run far away. Far far far away.


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## Rich Koster (Jul 24, 2012)

I like spiders because they eat mosquitos and gnats.


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## a mere housewife (Jul 24, 2012)

Mrs. Leah, I remember a boy in Texas superiorly telling me that he would not kill a spider for me, because they killed bugs. Setting aside all that about scientific classifications, and though I behaved with a proper humility outwardly, inside I felt he was missing the obvious. 

I'm told that scientific inquiry is one way to weaken the imaginative grasp of the horrifying possibilities of eight hairy legs. I don't believe it. I'm afraid facts have rarely weakened my imaginative grasp of anything. An imaginative portrayal of a spider's more comforting qualities, like Charlotte's Web, is far more to the point, instead of all these stories about Miss Muffet running off in terror, and Shelob. 

And yet, I believe there is very reasonable basis for why most of our literature portrays spiders as aligning themselves with the powers of darkness. And that is simply, that spiders are evil. 

But you are to be highly commended for your noble and courageous researches!


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## Galatians220 (Jul 24, 2012)

I'm hearing you, Leah... I maintain that horrifying spiders with _>shudder!< _egg sacs on them, such as you describe, are one reason that the Lord allows the proliferation of flame-throwing devices in our world. 

I grew up in Detroit. I had never seen spiders other than "Daddy-Long-Legs" and an occasional tiny, black one. Then when I was 27, we moved out here, to what had recently been farm land, and I started seeing the most terrifying, disgusting spiders one could ever imagine. One of them that had actual hair on its uneven legs (!) was in my laundry tub just three weeks after we moved into this house! Thus began the years-long drill: I would see one, scream loudly and run, and Richard (who, "in Vietnam, saw bugs 8 times the size of that one" -- _sure..._) would employ some heavy killing apparatus (usually a winter boot or two, to make sure the job was done) to dispatch the claim jumper. However, once I came upon him in the garage, cleaning off the footwear with an oilrag; he said, "That one sure made a mess of my boot." I had nightmares for days after that - and I did not seek a detailed description of the kill.

I did decide to settle down about the spiders, but we have a contract with Terminix now. They'll come at no extra charge when we have "a problem." I imagined they'd seen it all, but a few months ago, a Terminix guy here on a regular visit came out of our basement in some middling state of alarm. He said, "Are you aware you had a 'brown-something-or-other-spider' down there? I killed it, but I'm going to treat your home thoroughly..." *Aack!* Revolting.

It's obvious that the Lord made spiders for some reasons of His own and to keep anaphylaxis-causing wasps and other vespids under control, but they sure are detestable!


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## Rich Koster (Jul 24, 2012)

I defend my bride from home invaders. Spiders almost always cooperate by walking on to a piece of paper. Then, I take them outside and place them near one of our outside lights. It's sort of like baiting for their hunt


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## Jerusalem Blade (Jul 24, 2012)

I spent some time in northern Kenya on the Sudanese border teaching at a MERF compound, and saw some exotic insects and spiders there. Most all of the mosquitoes were malaria-laden, and I had to take some pills daily to counteract that, though I still did kill as many as I could in my quarters.

A Canadian man I co-taught with – a young URC pastor – went against the conventional wisdom and kept the door to his room wide open at night (before he hit the sack) with all his lights on, and his room was filled with all sorts of creatures. I used to call his room "the great outdoors". I used to put plastic under my door at night to close the gap and keep creatures out.

One man was bitten by a scorpion walking on the grounds one evening, and he was taken to someone (a doctor?) who treated such – and cured him by putting wires connected to a car battery (positive and negative) onto the stung area; evidently electric shock neutralizes the venom. Another (African) pastor was taking a shower and a scorpion crawled up through the drain – he squashed him somehow. They also have creatures called "Scorpion carriers" – some native children say scorpions jump on them and get a ride – that look like big spiders, but move very fast, and I heard don't bite.

I could say much more, but I remember my wife telling me that she didn't want to receive emails with all this kind of information. It was bad enough for her in Cyprus where the water bugs have wings and fly!

I don't really like spiders – snakes, even poisonous ones, don't alarm me – but I knew a young man in upstate NY who actually liked spiders, and would let powerful ones (with the thick hairy legs) crawl around on his hand and between his fingers. He never was bitten; I guess they could sense he had no fear of them, and that he was no threat.

I think you made a brave decision, Leah.


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## Unoriginalname (Jul 24, 2012)

I would pick wasps over spiders any day. Spiders may be the worst thing in the world.


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## JoannaV (Jul 25, 2012)

My first time in Virginia brown recluses kept invading the place I was staying at. Back in the UK growing up I would always try to relocate wildlife to the outdoors, but my views quickly changed once the wildlife was potentially dangerous. Nowadays I go for the kill if one of hubby's shoes is lying around. I prefer not to get spider/bug goop on my own shoes. My husband doesn't like spiders but sometimes he will rescue me  Our house is super old and there is a new and different wildlife invasion every month.


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## AThornquist (Jul 25, 2012)

Jerusalem Blade said:


> One man was bitten by a scorpion walking on the grounds one evening, and he was taken to someone (a doctor?) who treated such – and cured him by putting wires connected to a car battery (positive and negative) onto the stung area; evidently electric shock neutralizes the venom.



Interesting, huh? I've seen a tribal boy get shocked in the same way to neutralize the venom of a potentially venomous snake (he was bit at night, so they were unsure if it was venomous or not). I don't think there is much evidence to show that this sort of shocking works, but at least it eases their (the victims) nerves in some way. Hehe.

Leah: the pic is from Wamena, Papua, Indonesia.


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## Unoriginalname (Jul 25, 2012)

AThornquist said:


> I don't think there is much evidence to show that this sort of shocking works, but at least it eases their (the victims) nerves in some way. Hehe.


The proof of the pudding is the eating.


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## JohnGill (Jul 25, 2012)

We had those spiders in East Texas growing up. Leave it be, they're nice spiders and having played with them while growing up I was never bitten. Perhaps the most patient of all spiders.


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## Andres (Jul 25, 2012)

My rule is bugs are allowed to live if they stay outside. If they are inside my house, then they die. There are some exceptions to outside bugs being allowed to live - cockroaches and mosquitoes must always die, regardless of where they are seen.


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## Galatians220 (Jul 25, 2012)

There's one good thing about this second-in-a-row, blast-furnace summer we've had here: I think the mosquitoes got fried or something. I've only seen two so far, one biting me, which I killed, and another one flying around. This is remarkable since our property backs up to a creek that's usually a fertile, mosquito breeding ground. I think their eggs got burned to a crisp this year. I would have liked to have observed that.


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## Somerset (Jul 25, 2012)

My wife often calls me to remove an "enormous" spider from the bath. My spider removal kit consists of a piece of paper and a magnifying glass. I accept that Australia and Texas (biggest in the world!) has some unfriendly examples - but over here they are no problem.


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## Constantlyreforming (Jul 25, 2012)

speaking of hornets....

there were some huge 2"+ hornets around this tree here in Quincy. I could get up very close and get some good pictures as they were distracted and obsessed with the sap running from the trees,.













and here's an extra picture of a katydid I took yesterday.


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## CuriousNdenver (Jul 25, 2012)

Leah,

You are much braver than I am; I could never let him live. I have also learned I do best by NOT looking at the pictures. I would be a very poor spider researcher!


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## J. Dean (Jul 25, 2012)

Spiders I don't mind. 

Hornets I do not at all like.

So I take it that putting a pic of my tarantula paperweight wouldn't go over well with some here?


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## JoannaV (Jul 25, 2012)

I worry about protecting my children when they're older. In England there is big fly, little fly, various harmless spiders, little ants, beetle, wasp, bee. Here there are a thousand varieties of each, some harmless some poisonous, some that look like something else... I can't tell the difference between bees and wasps and flies here. Maybe my children can memorise an insect book and protect me.


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## Jerusalem Blade (Jul 25, 2012)

The electric shock treatment for stings & bites is not bogus; I saw a kit in a drug store somewhere, but my first googling didn't find it; I did find this, however: Electro-Shock Treatment of Snake and Spider Bites .

I'm allergic to bee / yellow jacket stings (anaphylactic shock), and carry an EpiPen when I'm in the country. I see from this link that electric shock works for that also, but an EpiPen might be more convenient to carry. When I lived in the Woodstock area (for 19 years) we had loads of yellow jackets (aka ground hornets), and I would exterminate them when they had nests near our dwellings. If you get up early when it's still chilly (even in summer) or late, they become sluggish and the entire nest can be killed if you've first located all their alternate escape routes, and can spray them if any try to get out. One can do that by sitting near a hive during the day, not moving around, and watch the area, where they come and go from.

I've never been stung by a hornet, but I think they'd be the same as a yellow jacket, only worse. Those 2 inch ones are probably bad. Wasp stings didn't affect me - different sort of venom.

I had a friend bitten by a brown recluse, and it was serious. He lost some skin (necrosis?), but ended up okay.

In Africa they had an insecticide in a spray can with a powerful output; they called it a knockdown spray. Very effective against all sorts of insects. In the Garden of Eden they didn't go after men, nor will they in Paradise. Here, all of nature is amok from the cosmic effects of sin and death.


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## CuriousNdenver (Jul 25, 2012)

J. Dean said:


> So I take it that putting a pic of my tarantula paperweight wouldn't go over well with some here?



Not so well at all, but thank you for NOT posting it!


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## JennyG (Jul 26, 2012)

Somerset said:


> ....over here they are no problem.



they're a problem to me, whatever you may say


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## SRoper (Jul 26, 2012)

Unoriginalname said:


> AThornquist said:
> 
> 
> > I don't think there is much evidence to show that this sort of shocking works, but at least it eases their (the victims) nerves in some way. Hehe.
> ...



That's true, and it hasn't been proven to work in mice or rats, at least:

Electric shock does not save snakebitten rats

Electric shocks are ineffective in treatment of lethal effects of rattlesnake envenomation in mice

And a review article that concludes the treatment is ineffective:

Use of stun guns for venomous bites and stings: a review


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## Jerusalem Blade (Jul 26, 2012)

Hey Scott,

I realize there is a lot of skepticism about this, so I'll provide a couple of links of my own (see esp. the NYTimes article):

THE DOCTOR'S WORLD - NEW SHOCK THERAPY FOR SNAKEBITES - NYTimes.com

Zapping Bites and Stings

Therapik Offers A Technological Twist For Bug Bite & Sting Relief

The incident I mentioned earlier – in northern Kenya by the border of Sudan – I was there on the compound at the time, and the man who was stung was a friend. A scorpion sting can be very painful and debilitating – he was spared that from the electric treatment.


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## lynnie (Jul 27, 2012)

Home Depot. Wasp spray. Shoots 27 feet. 

Enjoyed your story


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## SRoper (Jul 27, 2012)

Jerusalem Blade said:


> Hey Scott,
> 
> I realize there is a lot of skepticism about this, so I'll provide a couple of links of my own (see esp. the NYTimes article):
> 
> ...



Thanks, Steve. I note that the NYT article predates all the journal articles I cited. The remedy just hasn't proven itself.

As far as experience in the field--I understand that many bites don't result in venom being transferred to the victim. It is quite possible to survive snakebite without any ill effects, regardless of the treatment administered.


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## SueS (Jul 28, 2012)

At age 5 I was severely traumatized by the gigantic (at least 10' in diameter) spider in the original movie version of "Swiss Family Robinson". I remember hiding behind my grandfather's recliner chair and have been freaked out by them ever since. A few weeks ago I had to go up to our attic for something and found a huge web covering several feet - I won't go up again until I set off some bug bombs to kill whatever made that web.

On a more practical note - brown recluse spiders have very destructive venom that destroys flesh and even sometimes kills. Activated charcoal made into a paste and applied to the bite will draw out the poison and promote healing. It worked on my husband's cousin who had been bitten several weeks previously and on whom conventional medicine was not helping. She said the wound started healing within a couple of days. We keep activated charcoal handy "just in case".


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## Edward (Jul 28, 2012)

lynnie said:


> Home Depot. Wasp spray. Shoots 27 feet.



Just a friendly warning - the Feds may come and get you if you use pesticides contrary to the label directions.


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## fishingpipe (Jul 28, 2012)

I am 6'7" 320 lbs, and consider myself to be a manly man, but my 5'7" 110 lb wife must kill all spiders around our home.

I'll handle any snake (not as part of worship, mind you ), and even hunt snakes for the fun of catching them, but I do not like spiders.


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## Mindaboo (Jul 28, 2012)

Spiders do not bother me. I had a spider encounter about 18 years ago. I was asleep and woke up when I felt something bite me. For some reason I called Poison Control, and they said take some Benadryl and watch the spot. I did that. About three hours later I woke up thinking I was having a heart attack. I called again, and they said go to the hospital. I called my sister-in-law who called 911. The ambulance came and the EMT found a black widow in my pillow case. The spider bit me through my pillow case. I was so sick I thought I was going to die. It took me a while to recover. Thankfully it was me and not my then one year old. 

It still doesn't bother me to see a spider, but put a snake anywhere near me and I'll pass out for sure! Leah, I can't see them in movies, pictures, or at the zoo. I used to check my blankets every night before I went to bed, look under my bed, etc. to make sure there weren't any snakes around. I've gotten over most of it now. I still can't stomach a picture or the thought of one being anywhere near me.


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