You learn something new every day...

[Kaysea]

Remind me one of these days to tell you about my little mate - the pet spider you have when you don't have a pet spider.

*nod nod*

[Eimi]

No I'm very respectful of spiders in their natural habitat, but if I see one anywhere near me in MY house. Its dead.

That's how I was before.  I used to kill pretty much any spider I saw in my place.  I don't mind them outside where they have natural preditors, but I figured indoors they had none so it was up to me to control their population ;)

But here, I discovered that there are so many OTHER bugs (especially mosquitoes) that get into the house, spiders inside are actually a necessity.  So I now have a spider rule.  If its as big or smaller than my thumbnail it can stay.  If I'm feeling particular merciful/lazy, I might let one slightly bigger stay as long as it goes into hiding, but I will give it a verbal warning (and yes, I do talk to my spiders outloud).  If any spider comes within a foot of my body, though, its toast.  Huntsman of any size will be killed on the spot, unless they're full grown, in which case I would rather move out of my apartment and leave all my stuff in it than hunt that sucker down.

(If you don't know what a huntsman is, and are insanely curious, you can look here, and yes, I have seen one that size in a house before though thankfully not mine - BREE DON'T LOOK!)

[Kaysea]

*falls off chair laughing*

That was my little mate...

[Patrick]

That practically gave me a heart attack.  If I saw that within a MILE of me I'd be moving out of the country. *convulse* (it was to big for a shiver)

[Kaysea]

They are a common occurrence in my house during the year..... my hubby and kids say I am too soft on them, as long as they don't come down to eye level - they can stay.  If they come down to cat level - they are playing with fire, because my cat likes the way they taste..

[Eimi]

Are yours fast?  These ones here are FAST.  I watched one run across a 10 foot ceiling in 2 seconds.  I was so glad that wasn't MY bedroom, let me tell ya.

[Kaysea]

Big and fast and the kids reckon the vacuum cleaner trick doesn't work any more, they run down the hose at whoever is holding it.

[Bree]

... I was already freaking out because of the last Lost episode.

Now I may never, ever sleep again.

*cries*

(And I didn't even click the link... just read the stories! *SOB*)

[Eimi]

Those things are FREAKY when they're running towards you too *cries*

[PastMember]

I'm not at all afraid of spiders... but I admit that I absolutely HATE cockroaches!!!! I'm not exactly certain why... but they just totally gross me out! When I lived in Hawaii I had a rule that if they stayed in the common rooms of our house then they weren't my problem... but if they came in my bedroom or bathroom they were dead!

[Patrick]

I'm NEVER looking at this post again.  Or going into the pacific region. *convulse*

[Vix]

I like spiders.
And snakes.

Of course, that's assuming that I know where they are and they're not sneaking up on me or lying somewhere waiting for me to step on them.

[Mikel]

If a spider startles me, it may be in trouble.  Otherwise I have no issues with them and appreciate the good they do.

Given my choice, I will peacefully escort them outside.

[Jane]

They are a common occurrence in my house during the year.....

Crosses Victoria and Japan off the 'places I am prepared to visit' list.

Best (worst) eight-legger story? (And I must say my skin is crawling just writing this.)

This huge (in New Zealand terms) spider turned up in the bottom of the shower.  I screamed for my husband but by the time he accepted that it was a life-and-death emergency and dawdled down to the room the spider had crawled up behind the corner of the wallboard.

Incoherent me tried to explain what had happened and finally he agreed to spray half a can of insect killer up the hole.  I told him I still couldn't use the shower but that was okay, we had a spare.  We went off about our business but the very next time I stuck my head back in that bathroom and found the spider had come back out to die.

More screaming and my husband this time was a little more sympathetic, being able to see that it had indeed been a very big spider.  He volunteered to get rid of the body (like there was any other choice in our two person household!) and life got back to normal.

About a week later I went around to visit my dad (he and my husband are great friends) and as I'm leaving dad reaches into the cupboard and pulls out a glass jar.  "Do you want this back?" he asked.

It was Alien all over again!  My #@$%* husband had saved the body and taken it around to show my dad!

Let this be a lesson to you spider-phobia people - just don't trust those who don't share your phobia to understand appropriate behaviour.  They have no bloody idea!

[PastMember]

I like spiders.
And snakes.

Snakes are fun!   We had pet snakes growing up. One time, when I was about 8 when they mowed a field across the street we found an injured garter snake that they had hit. We took her home and nursed her back to health, then let her go.