h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Having read the backlog to find out there's no chance of you eating one, you could try rereading to note the comedic value inherent in our eight-legged friends. Note Steve, the car-wing-mirror spider, and others. Then think again, and realise that they're just friendly creatures hoping to make your evening a little more amusing!

x x Fenny

Having read the backlog to find out there's no chance of you eating one, you could try rereading to note the comedic value inherent in our eight-legged friends. Note Steve, the car-wing-mirror spider, and others. Then think again, and realise that they're just friendly creatures hoping to make your evening a little more amusing!

x x Fenny

You know... we all keep talking about Steve, but apparently, that hasn't been enough to bring him back from the dead... Someone do something! *sits down holding a big "We Want Steve" sign, and starts chanting*

WE WANT STEVE! WE WANT STEVE! WE WANT STEVE! *and this continues on and on until someone gives in and brings back Steve*

uhoh you caught me out - i truly did not read the backlog, sorry i was being lazy - but i couldn't find that link to Snopes on your page either! but thanks for allaying my fears - i have tended to hide my mouth under the blankets whenever i have remembered about the spider eating thing in the past - but to be honest the idea of eating small baby ones is not so bad - it's the fear of the sensation of all those legs clawing at the inside of my mouth that worries me, so the little tiny ones which i wouldn't be able to feel are not a bother

This is the first time I've read this thread; I feel compelled to comment here. I am a big fan of insects ... NOT! That having been said, I saw a spider once that was so beautiful I can't stop thinking of it.

I live in So. Calif. and we have these plants called Lantana (bushes, actually) which, while very pretty, are considered something of a weed. They have a cluster of flowers on the ends of their branches, and they bloom from the inside of the cluster to the outside. As they bloom and age, the individual flowers change color, going from lavender to periwinkle blue to pale yellow. I once saw a spider, goodly-sized (1.5 inches across) which was colored the same as the flowerettes of the plant it was living on. Absolutely blooming gorgeous!!! I would go out into the courtyard of my building and watch this spider whenever I could. Sadly, 10 days or so after I found it, I came home from work and found that the gardener had done his usual "time to cut the plant back to a twig" bit; all that was left of the bush was a low-growing log-like thing. I have never seen another of these spiders since.

SC

We don't get many pretty spiders here, except the ones who live in dark places and are almost invisible except for their flourescent yellow backs.
Found the biggest one I'd ever seen in the verandah t'other day... common stripey one, but about 3" long. Amazing. Bit boring, though... I prodded it, and it just shifted its legs about and sat there all night.

Who says you need to open your mouth? It can always scrunch down and crawl up a nostril... But please, don't tape your mouth AND nostrils closed okay??? I quite like spiders and have several residing in my house. Living in Flodida they are good to get rid of the other creepy crawlies. I did get a bit leery tho' when my cat was playing with a medium-sized one under the coffee table and it suddenly turned around, put up its front legs and attacked the cat! Hmmmm, THAT one went out of the door. And I would much rather have them in the house than the giant cockroaches we get here. Some of them are 2 inches long and they FLY. But I also won't mention the palm-sized Wolf spider that was in residence when we bought this house. I figured he was big enough to live anywhere he damn well wanted! Hmmm, wonder where he went? Let me check around, now I think about it...

Here in England we have just entered the season of the HUGE BLACK HOUSE SPIDER Having spent the whole Summer growing fat on the abundance of flies, they have now reached humungus proportions and are rampaging around my house.....as there is no-one available to remove them humanely, I feel mass murder is the only option.

Murder isn't necessary. Let's see... hmmmm, a trail of dead flies leading out the door...play a recording of the mating call of the giant house ...give them a new 'web' address ... good luck. (PS plug up the plug 'oles, that'll help as they often come up the drains...)

Felt compelled to join in this conversation. Spiders are evil creatures designed for the sole purpose of terrorising nice people. Like me.

Saw a cunning device this morning in a gadget catalogue. Spider catcher - about a metre of plastic rod, with a handle one end and a grabing thing t'other end. When handle is squeezed, grabbers open and place over spider - release handle, spider trapped. Then remove spider.

Humane yet satisfying. Might well order one.

b-b

does it come in various sizes - miniscule for money spiders on up to the 'oh my god what IS that???' size? It might be handy for all the other creepy crawlies, providing you have good reflexes and catch it on the first try. Reminds me of when my family and I went canoeing one summer. Here they have huge banana spiders in the trees, big long bodies and massive legs and they literally build webs between the trees. We weren't good canoers, went under the trees and we had to duck to go under one of these massive webs. My husband (who is terrified of spiders) whacked at the web with his paddle and ended up with this four/five inch long spider crawling up his oar. Of course, he starts waving it around, hitting the water with it, yelling: the kids are hysterical, the canoe is rocking (and there were alligators in the water) and a damn good time was had by all! It finally fell off into the water. The moral of this story is, if you aim at a spider, make sure you get it on the first go or suffer the consequences!!!

Only the one size as far as I know. Big enough for the average UK house . Which is small by international standards, but still scare the out of me!!!!
The canoeing expedition sounds fun. Rather you than me with the big though...

Are you as terrified as your hubby?

b-b

As the sole purpose of the spiders in my house is to terrify me, there would be no point in carefully catching them a putting them outside as they would surely instantly run back inside. Unfortunately, humane disposal is not an option....

Favourite method of disposal....

HUGE ENCYCLOPAEDIA

I have developed a reallly good aim, to go with my fantastic peripheral vision!!!

Killing - shoes are also good - but not as wide ranging. Depends whether there are valuable objects in sight :-p
b-b

The other evening I killed HUGE one on the stairs by throwing my son's Simpsons videos at it. My youngest son (who also hates spiders) is disgusted and is demanding to know which video actually squashed it, so he can avoid any spider guts that may still be attached!!

"What's wrong with spiders?"

Hmm, let me see... Does the fact that a spider has just INJURED ME TO AN INSANELY CRIPPLING DEGREE simply by scuttling insidiously out from the side of my desk, thus causing me to catapult out of my chair, whereupon I hit the floor quite solidly and rolled in an absurdly proffesional manner, only to stand up and feint sideways as the b*****d crawled after me, prompting me to smack my leg against a wooden cabinet so hard that my knee-cap feels like it has been smashed into tiny tiny pieces.

And it kept following me. Along the wall.

Lets just say that the threat has been ellimenated. By a plant-pot (containing four foot tall Yukka plant) being repeatedly battered base-first against the octipedal bugger.

Allow me to recap:
A spider has crippled me.
A spider has caused several large dents to appear in the wall.
A spider has caused copious amounts of soil to collect on the carpet.

And you sick b******s actually *like* spiders?

Please excuse me whilst I find the corpse of Steve and smash him flatter than he already is...

Just be thankful that the spider didn't crawl inside your printer - then you'd really have something to worry about.

Hope you recover soon.

176645

Saw these two right next to each other at the top of the Other Conversations list:

Other Conversations

What's Wrong with Spiders?
Last Posting: 11 Minutes Ago
What's Wrong With Americans
Last Posting: 23 Minutes Ago


Kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

I agree - everything is wrong with s. I think the video should be thoroughly disinfected.
How big was the spider with crippling powers? I think you should frame it as a deterrent to future spiders in your house.
Evidently there is more wrong with spiders than americans!