# Anxiety Disorders > Specific Phobias >  >  Spiders?

## Flavor

How many of you are afraid of spiders? I am.

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## Lunaire

Are you suggesting that there are people who aren’t?  :O_O:

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## CeltAngel

Well, growing up in Australia, where EVERYTHING IS SPIDERS, it kind of desensitises you to them. Granted, that wasn't the case for my mother or my brother (some macho dude he is!  :: ), so I had to become the designated spider wrangler when one would need to be dealt with. By the time I moved out, I was picking up large huntsman spiders barehanded. I STILL feel guilty for squishing the ones I did before that. They're just trying to live their lives, they can't help looking scary, after all!

That said, I don't mess with any of the poisonous ones. Redbacks and white tips are insta-squish material.... and as for Funnel Webs.... Just fucking run! I tend to think that the whole foreign view that "everything is trying to kill you in Australia" is overblown nonsense that we play into because it's kinda funny, but seriously.... You do NOT mess with Funnel Webs. They are fast, aggressive and mean. If you encounter one, you will know....  ::o:

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## Lunaire

> Well, growing up in Australia, where EVERYTHING IS SPIDERS, it kind of desensitises you to them. Granted, that wasn't the case for my mother or my brother (some macho dude he is! ), so I had to become the designated spider wrangler when one would need to be dealt with. By the time I moved out, I was picking up large huntsman spiders barehanded. I STILL feel guilty for squishing the ones I did before that. They're just trying to live their lives, they can't help looking scary, after all!
> 
> That said, I don't mess with any of the poisonous ones. Redbacks and white tips are insta-squish material.... and as for Funnel Webs.... Just fucking run! I tend to think that the whole foreign view that "everything is trying to kill you in Australia" is overblown nonsense that we play into because it's kinda funny, but seriously.... You do NOT mess with Funnel Webs. They are fast, aggressive and mean. If you encounter one, you will know....



Yeah I think I'm fine not living in Australia thanks. 

90A3A8C2-24C9-434B-BE7B-FE9D401CBF8E.jpeg

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## Wishie

i think it's partly instinctive, same as with snakes and other dithering and crawling things. I'm personally not very afraid of spiders and actually try to protect them when i can. Back in the day, people didn't have google, or even the ability to read for a large part of history. but they did know that this tiny creature bit their great uncles friend and he died or whatever. 

They couldn't tell the difference between species (and it's so easy to confuse certain types) but just heard some things and it became a knee jerk phobia. Like if you saw a snake in your child's area, and you are educated about the differences in species, you're probably just going to assume the worst and freak tf out. 

Which sucks, because spiders are pretty neat (i'm a big fan of jumping spiders, personally). and it's a bummer they're so misunderstood because they're an important part of our ecosystem. and they look cool as fuck.

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## CeltAngel

> Yeah I think I'm fine not living in Australia thanks. 
> 
> 90A3A8C2-24C9-434B-BE7B-FE9D401CBF8E.jpeg



 ::  ::  :: 

That picture is golden!

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## Cuchculan

We have those false widows here now. They are bloody big things. Came from Africa in fruit boxes. They have venom. Not enough to kill a person. But enough to make you swell up big time. Apart from them I normally lift a spider up and toss it out the window, rather than kill it.

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