NationStates Jolt Archive

Why are people so grossed out by terrestrial arthropods? I am really, really into entomology, and can not see how anyone could consider a spider or a cicada disgusting in any sense of the word. I admit that, at one point, I was a little grossed out by silverfish and centipedes, but that has long since dissapated.

If you find yourself repulsed by insects, try a few pictures of the most adorable of all arthropods, the jumping spider, to try and get over your fear.

http://bugguide.net/images/cache/8ZZL2ZHLBZ7HLRWHRREHZREHVZILUZ8LNZ4LWZZLNZ2HLRNHJHMH4ZIH6Z7H6ZQL6ZGLNZ4LHRNHJH7LBZ8LYH.jpg
http://www.gregscott.com/macro/spider/jumping/gjs_4525_jumping_spider_in_orange_lily_600x480.JPG
http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-ViewPhoto.cfm?id=72290
http://www.tonycolter.com/photos/potd/potd-20030611.jpg
http://www.spiderroom.info/content/jumpingspider1x.jpg

Can anyone seriously say they're gross? Honestly?

I'm not sure it's a matter of them being "gross." I like spiders. I don't think they really look all that scary. However if I find one on or near me and was unprepared for it, that's a very scary thing.

However if I find one on or near me and was unprepared for it, that's a very scary thing.
That must suck. When I see a spider near me without expecting it, I get excited and examine it. Watch it walk, and try to help it get to a safer area if it's dangerous there.

I hate it when I wake up and there are tarantulas all over me. But that usually turns out to be imaginary.

Spiders are scary. Bugs aren't

I'm similar to Gael I think - I actually like bugs quite a lot, and went through quite a pronounced phase of interest in them. But in real life, unless there's a nice thick piece of glass between me and them, I tend to get freaked out.

For me, I think the nervousness comes from the fact I'm almost constantly on edge. Small, darting animals agitate my fight-or-flight systems. And, living as I do, on caffeine, added adrenalin is unpleasant.

I like squids, if that helps, as well as cuttlefish. And army or leaf-cutter ants*. And scorpions are pretty nifty too. Not a big fan of spiders, partially because of the way they walk, and partially because I come into contact with them way too often for my liking.


*I know they're totally different... just trying to use the word 'and' less, while being too lazy to rephrase.

Bugs don't freak me out usually, but that last picture you posted, eww.

I realize it's probably just a reflection but the eyes are just creepy, they look too...human.



Back in the day, (before pentium processors) I had a little program called "winroach". I think it ran on windows 3.0. It in effect gave your computer roaches. They'd scurry out across your desktop etc. Everytime you'd close a window three or four of them would be exposed and they'd scurry for the edges.

I need to see if there's a newer version of that old program around.

People are freaked about computer viruses, imagine how they'd react to finding roaches in their computer. :D

I have no problem with bugs---until Hollywood comes out with another damn movie about people getting infected with larvae!

Spiders and bugs are on my list in MY version of the Holocaust.

Yep, imagine Nazi soldiers running around stepping on spiders. That's WW3 for ya. Then we'll move on to all those Dr. Phil videos...

Jumping spiders are easily adorable, particularly the zebra-striped ones that live out in the planter boxes on my patio. They are a most-welcome summer guest, along with the long-limbed green garden spiders (currently living indoors up along the ceilings throughout the winter, 'til springtime), the wood spiders (where they go, I dunno, but they'll be around in June), and the tiny little metallic grren-and-gold ones who spin such perfect tiny little spiral webs before dawn...

I have no idea why people fear them. It's been millions of years since our mammalian ancestors were small enough to be seriously threatened by a spider.

Insects, on the other hand, are not welcome in my home. I take their presence as a possible sign of an unwanted infestation, or perhaps some unseen filth.

That's politics for you.

I don't mind bugs so long as they don't make a mess or try to bite me.

When I was at home, I would get upset every time my mother vacuumed the cobwebs and sucked up all the spiders. At one point, my room had small tarantulas scurrying about, lots of the whispier house-type spiders, various sized jumping spiders running around (often on my keyboard, which was annoying..), and even the non-spider critters called 'sun-spiders', which are creepier than any spider or scorpion. They just look unnatural. I've also petted spiders before -- some guy at a zoo had one for people to pet. Cute little bugger.

My only issue with bugs or anything else is when it poses some sort of threat or discomfort. My territory, so either be nice, or be smashed. Scorpions, while I think they're adorable, I tend to kill because my cats are too stupid to not get stung in the eye or something. I've been stung by them before, myself, but found it no worse than a pin prick.

Now.. wasps and hornets.. those I HATE.

They're aggressive, form their habitat near the house, I seem to be allergic to them (I'm still healing two scars from yellow jacket stings I had last summer), and in the case of wasps, the local ones mostly kill spiders.

It depends on the situation. For example I am disgusted when I see someone's amputated stump infested with maggots.

http://www.larve.com/Images/images_legulcers/maggots_amputation.jpg

Now.. wasps and hornets.. those I HATE.

They're aggressive, form their habitat near the house, I seem to be allergic to them (I'm still healing two scars from yellow jacket stings I had last summer), and in the case of wasps, the local ones mostly kill spiders.

For the last three summers, I've been consciously altering the behaviour and genetics of the wasp/yellowjackets residing out on the patio. Basically, kill the aggressive ones, while providing ample resources (flowering plants). Each summer, the wasps become less and less prone to attack.

Of course, you have to give them somewhat of a fairly wide berth, and not start swatting them indiscriminately. It's like a form of garden detente. But I haven't been stung in over four years.

It depends on the situation. For example I am disgusted when I see someone's amputated stump infested with maggots.

http://www.larve.com/Images/images_legulcers/maggots_amputation.jpg
That is one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. Just about wretched. Thanks alot.

np

Bugs? I've never had a problem with bugs - I used to be fascinated with them, especially cicadas and grasshoppers. The way I see it, they leave me alone and I leave them alone.
Arachnids are, well, different. I once had a picnic lunch while bushwalking in the mountains and accidentally put my drink bottle down on top of one of Australia's most venomous spiders - the Sydney Funnelweb (male variety).
It turned out to be a very bad move. The spider wasn't very happy ...
Luckily I ran faster than he jumped.

np
:sniper: :headbang: :sniper:

Bugs? I've never had a problem with bugs - I used to be fascinated with them, especially cicadas and grasshoppers. The way I see it, they leave me alone and I leave them alone.
Arachnids are, well, different. I once had a picnic lunch while bushwalking in the mountains and accidentally put my drink bottle down on top of one of Australia's most venomous spiders - the Sydney Funnelweb (male variety).
It turned out to be a very bad move. The spider wasn't very happy ...
Luckily I ran faster than he jumped.

Luckily there aren't any venomous ones here in Canada, though I'm told southern Ontario, where I live, is supposed to be well within their habitat - I've yet to see one in over twenty years here. Some of the wood spiders get to be quite large, and will bite - but more often than not, usually in the night, if they've crawled into your bedsheets. I've never noticed spider-bites 'til I wake up in the morning.

For the last three summers, I've been consciously altering the behaviour and genetics of the wasp/yellowjackets residing out on the patio. Basically, kill the aggressive ones, while providing ample resources (flowering plants). Each summer, the wasps become less and less prone to attack.

Of course, you have to give them somewhat of a fairly wide berth, and not start swatting them indiscriminately. It's like a form of garden detente. But I haven't been stung in over four years.

The local ones had made a nest in a stump, and, when I walked by, attacked me. I was stung on each arm. I would have been stung on my head, too, but the one that was going for me got stuck in my hair (Yay hair gel), and I managed to notice and pull her out before she could get me. I normally leave them the heck alone. After they attacked my dad, however, he took a blow torch to them and roasted their asses.

We don't go harrassing them, but when we can't walk in our own territory safely, its us or them.

Personally, I don't really have anything against insects... In fact, I like some of them, and tolerate most of the rest...

I'm not really fond of a few varieties, including any of the stinging ones (bees, wasps, etc), mosquitoes, or horse flies (hell, regular house flies aren't too welcome, either)... Spiders, I generally enjoy looking at and watching, but deep down, I think they give me the creeps as well...lol

I think the problem comes from the "fear of the unknown"... Just like our natural fear of the dark (regardless of how pronounced or controlled it is, I think we all fear the dark in some fashion, somewhere in our psyche)...

With darkness, intellectually, we know it can't hurt us... However, there may be things in it that can... And not knowing is enough to cause fear... Basically, things that we can't see are more frightening than the things that we can see... This is because things that we can see can be dealt with, things that we can't see have the advantage of surprise...

Insects fit into this theory simply because of their small size and generally fast speed... An insect can very easily "sneak up" on you... It's not like a large animal, which can be kept track of (if not by sight, than by sound)... An insect can be right next to us, even right on us, and never be detected...

I think that's what creeps us out about them...

The fact that a handful of them are fairly dangerous (or at least enough to cause a nuisance) adds to this feeling...

Along these lines, I'd think it's safe to say that when a girl (stereotyping, I know, but you get the point) tells you to squash a spider for her, she's not worrying about right now, when she can see the spider on the wall/ceiling/whatever...but rather, she's worried about later, when the spider may be out of sight ("Is it on me?!", "Where'd it go?", etc)

But yeah, I'm not particularly bothered by insects, at least not in a pronounced way, but I can see the reasoning behind the fear...

Along these lines, I'd think it's safe to say that when a girl (stereotyping, I know, but you get the point) tells you to squash a spider for her, she's not worrying about right now, when she can see the spider on the wall/ceiling/whatever...but rather, she's worried about later, when the spider may be out of sight ("Is it on me?!", "Where'd it go?", etc)
I'm a girl, and I take my shoe off and whack those damned spiders myself. I don't care where they'll be later, because they'll be dead. And if it's not poisonous I leave it alone to eat its dinner in peace, i.e. suck blood from insects. Take that, fruit flies.
Then again, I have a friend who goes catatonic when she sees a spider smaller than her fingernail (legspan included). I'm usually the one who gets up and whacks the spider for her while someone else reassures her it's dead.

I saw a programme on one of those nature channels once which suggested that humans have sort of an innate fear of anything which could be dangerous. Insects probably fit into that category more for the disease-carrying capabilities of some of them (tsetse flies, mosquitoes, etc.) or the destruction of food sources (grasshoppers, locusts, cockroaches) than strictly on appearance. Given the advances in medicine and hygiene and so forth most insects today are not a great threat to humans but it may still be hardwired into us to avoid them for our own safety. Most snakebites won't kill you but an awful lot of people have a phobia of them as well. Me, I love snakes. :)

don't really mind bugs.....

When I was a kid, I used to love watching ants. how they worked, cooperated. etc... fantastic little things

bees and wasps, well i just stay away from them.

mosquitos and spiders? I see, I kill.

I think my feelings are similar to Shaed's and Gaeltach's... the don't bother me all that much, unless I find them suddenly next to me.

When I was a kid, I used to like to freak out my friends (and some of the boys too) by picking up daddy longlegs. :D

Now, I leave spiders alone when they're in corners - they help get rid of mosquitos and the like (and I just make sure to get rid of the cobwebs once they're vacant). But if they're anywhere near my bed, I have to say that I show no mercy.

I find pretty much any bug, insect, creepy crawly thing fascinating, but centipedes make me scream like a crazy woman. I was traumatized by them in a basement apartment I lived in once. All those legs, fluttering around, moving so damn fast...and we had a brown carpet, so you couldn't really see them too well. Found one on my roomies toothbrush, one got caught in the globe of a light fixture and just kept zooming around and around. I'm shaking just thinking about it..give me spiders and snakes and mice and pretty much anything else. I hate those friggin things...

*Shudder* I hate creepy crawlies. I find them horrible and disgusting. Not saying they are, just that I find them that way. I can just imagine them crawling on me.... oh it's horrible. I have some kind of reason for my irrational pathetic fear of spiders though-when I was younger, roughly 7/8, I woke up to find one on my face. Not an experience I would ever like to repeat. Whenever I see a spider, I can't relax until it is gone and I know where it has gone. The worst thing is when one disappears and it could be about to crawl up your back or leg..... :(

Edit: I'm not scared of tiny bugs or tiny spiders. They can be quite cute. Just the ones that are big with long legs.... *shudder*

I get along with spiders so along as they don't violate our unwritten pact, whose rules go something like this:

1 - I don't go killing spiders
2 - Spiders don't go walking on me or in my shit

So far we're getting along OK, it works for me because I have NO such pact with any other type of bug. So I guess I've allied with the spiders, because they eat the ants among other things. But whether they're gross or not, there's one thing I can't stand - tiny crawling little hairy buggers creeping around on or near me. That's one thing I don't like about bugs and children alike.... unfortunately using chemical weapons on children is frowned upon.

I don't mind bugs. I grew up in the tropics and have handled and observed all kinds. I've been stung and bitten a few times but not after I learned which ones I could grab and which I couldn't.

I once woke up with a migale, http://www.tropiquarium.ch/migale_www.jpg about 15 cm in length, crawling down my arm. Far from being freaked out, I just waited for it to climb down and watched it for about half an hour before I took it out. Fascinating animal, it's big enough to kill small birds and mammals.

Bugs don't freak me out usually, but that last picture you posted, eww.

I realize it's probably just a reflection but the eyes are just creepy, they look too...human.
Exactly one thing that may make them cute. The two huge eyes on jumping spiders can be uncannily similar to human eyes. Beady human eyes, sure, but still humanistic.

I have no problem with bugs---until Hollywood comes out with another damn movie about people getting infected with larvae!
Well, sometimes eggs are indeed layed in humans. Not like in Hollywood, but it can be excrutiating. I can't remember any of the others but the largest of all tissue parasites, Dracunculus medinensis (http://asylumeclectica.com/malady/archives/dracun.htm). Some of the parasites can be so, so disgusting, and so uttely awesome. Though I'd change my mind if it ever happened to me.

and even the non-spider critters called 'sun-spiders', which are creepier than any spider or scorpion.
Eh, you're loss.

I've been stung by them before, myself, but found it no worse than a pin prick.
It depends very heavily on the species. Typically, the larger the scorpion, the less dangerous to you. But that isn't consistent enough to be any type of rule.

Now.. wasps and hornets.. those I HATE.

They're aggressive, form their habitat near the house, I seem to be allergic to them (I'm still healing two scars from yellow jacket stings I had last summer), and in the case of wasps, the local ones mostly kill spiders.
Well, hornets are a type of wasp. And so are yellow jackets. Though wasps do indeed have a worse temperment than bees, I have to admit.

It depends on the situation. For example I am disgusted when I see someone's amputated stump infested with maggots.

http://www.larve.com/Images/images_legulcers/maggots_amputation.jpg
I tend to find [urk=http://www.larve.com/Images/images_legulcers/maggots_foot_ulcer.jpg]ulcerous infestations[/url] more disturbing. But that's just me.

Luckily there aren't any venomous ones here in Canada, though I'm told southern Ontario, where I live, is supposed to be well within their habitat - I've yet to see one in over twenty years here.
All spiders are venemous, that is how they feed. Though I think there is one type of orbweaving spider that has no venom at all, but I'm not sure how that works. But, the point is that you mean no dangerous ones, since for all practical purposes, all spiders are venemous.

I've never noticed spider-bites 'til I wake up in the morning.
Myself as well, and even then only because I was itching that spot.

The local ones had made a nest in a stump, and, when I walked by, attacked me. I was stung on each arm. I would have been stung on my head, too, but the one that was going for me got stuck in my hair (Yay hair gel), and I managed to notice and pull her out before she could get me.
You're lucky. One of my friends accidentally broke of their nests. They got seriously pissed, and he had in excess of 30 or 40 stings, if I recall. I was with him, but they didn't bother me, which I was very glad about.

After they attacked my dad, however, he took a blow torch to them and roasted their asses.
You are, of course, aware that there are more humane ways to kill wasps...namely in the insecticide despartment...

And if it's not poisonous I leave it alone to eat its dinner in peace, i.e. suck blood from insects. Take that, fruit flies.
Again, all of them are venemous, it is only in the harmfulness to humans.

I saw a programme on one of those nature channels once which suggested that humans have sort of an innate fear of anything which could be dangerous. Insects probably fit into that category more for the disease-carrying capabilities of some of them (tsetse flies, mosquitoes, etc.) or the destruction of food sources (grasshoppers, locusts, cockroaches) than strictly on appearance. Given the advances in medicine and hygiene and so forth most insects today are not a great threat to humans but it may still be hardwired into us to avoid them for our own safety. Most snakebites won't kill you but an awful lot of people have a phobia of them as well. Me, I love snakes. :)
Yes, humans are programmed to be fearful of serpentine forms, which is why ophidiophobia is so common. There's a reason that the evil in Genesis was a snake. I believe this also applies to spider-like shapes as well, but if at all, to a lesser degree. This would be mainly because those who avoided them survived better. Pathological and toxicological reasons.

Now, I leave spiders alone when they're in corners - they help get rid of mosquitos and the like (and I just make sure to get rid of the cobwebs once they're vacant).
Actually, it's the members of order Odonata that eat mosquitos, but spiders do indeed kill many unwanted insects.

I find pretty much any bug, insect, creepy crawly thing fascinating, but centipedes make me scream like a crazy woman. I was traumatized by them in a basement apartment I lived in once. All those legs, fluttering around, moving so damn fast...and we had a brown carpet, so you couldn't really see them too well. Found one on my roomies toothbrush, one got caught in the globe of a light fixture and just kept zooming around and around. I'm shaking just thinking about it..give me spiders and snakes and mice and pretty much anything else. I hate those friggin things...
Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Though they can easily be confused with silverfish if you don't know the difference.

I once woke up with a migale, http://www.tropiquarium.ch/migale_www.jpg about 15 cm in length, crawling down my arm. Far from being freaked out, I just waited for it to climb down and watched it for about half an hour before I took it out. Fascinating animal, it's big enough to kill small birds and mammals.
Oh, god, that would be so awesome!

Spiders and bugs are on my list in MY version of the Holocaust.

Yep, imagine Nazi soldiers running around stepping on spiders. That's WW3 for ya.I'm a girl, and I take my shoe off and whack those damned spiders myself. I don't care where they'll be later, because they'll be dead.
No! :(

If you find yourself repulsed by insects, try a few pictures of the most adorable of all arthropods, the jumping spider, to try and get over your fear.

http://bugguide.net/images/cache/8ZZL2ZHLBZ7HLRWHRREHZREHVZILUZ8LNZ4LWZZLNZ2HLRNHJHMH4ZIH6Z7H6ZQL6ZGLNZ4LHRNHJH7LBZ8LYH.jpg
http://www.gregscott.com/macro/spider/jumping/gjs_4525_jumping_spider_in_orange_lily_600x480.JPG
http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-ViewPhoto.cfm?id=72290
http://www.tonycolter.com/photos/potd/potd-20030611.jpg
http://www.spiderroom.info/content/jumpingspider1x.jpg
Awwwwwwwwwwwww... :fluffle:

In the early days all those Windows bugs got on my nerves. But you get used to them.