which is scarier: snakes or spiders?

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i say spiders

― ken c, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 08:51 (nineteen years ago)

You doing Rumpie tribute threads today?

snakes.

― StanM, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:03 (nineteen years ago)

Spiders. I've handled snakes but the thought of touching a spider gives me the willies.

― robster, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

spider is euphemism for periods?

― ken c, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

― ken c, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

snakes
stronger venom or the ability to constrict

why do ppl fear spiders?

― Grandpont Genie, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:07 (nineteen years ago)

snakes: not scary

spiders: not scary unless they're big and hairy

― J.D., Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:09 (nineteen years ago)

I have seen tarantulas and find them fascinating rather than scary.

― Grandpont Genie, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:11 (nineteen years ago)

saying that, I probably wouldn't want one crawling on my hand. Not because of the legs, which I imagine would just be a bit tickly, but coz of the mandibles (or whatever the dangly bits round the mouth are called. chlicerae?). I think I wouldn't like the way they drag when the spider walks.

I think I am repulsed by large invertebrates rather than scared by them -- a crucial difference. I'd imagine I might be physically sick at the sight of that foot long centipede that eats bats in caves.

― Grandpont Genie, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:16 (nineteen years ago)

I've handled snakes but the thought of touching a spider gives me the willies.

You have more than one willy?!?

Anyway, SNAKES. Slithering creeps.

― nathalie, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:18 (nineteen years ago)

"why do ppl fear spiders?"

I'm not sure if the hypothesis has since been discredited or not, but when I was in university it was suggested that arachnophobia, acrophobia (fear of heights), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), and several of the other common phobias which tend to occur across cultures, are actually adaptations which evolved early in human history when spiders, snakes and falling off of things posed a genuine threat to our well-being. Basically, the cavemen who were smart enough to fear these things lived longer, reproduced, and passed their scaredy genes into the next generations.

― j-rock, Thursday, 29 March 2007 02:46 (nineteen years ago)

Spiders are way scarier than snakes because they have way too many legs (and centipedes are even worse... not only do they have disturbing legs, but centipedes look almost alien). Spiders can also be huge and hairy... snakes can be huge, but without the hairiness, they just aren't as scary to me.

― Sara R-C, Thursday, 29 March 2007 03:34 (nineteen years ago)

Instinctively I fear big spiders more but I like spiders being around,. they eat the insects. Snakes - especially Australian snakes - are deadly mufukkers. So they deserve fear and respect.

― Trayce, Thursday, 29 March 2007 03:35 (nineteen years ago)

I think I'm more scared of spiders. I spray the absolute shit out of the big fuckers if they cross my path, oh yes.

Snakes I can deal with. Although, I found a huge snake skin outside my house the other day. I was on edge for a while.

― Drooone, Thursday, 29 March 2007 03:39 (nineteen years ago)

I deal with either of these animals much better if they are outside and there is a nice solid wall between me and them.

― Sara R-C, Thursday, 29 March 2007 03:41 (nineteen years ago)

I lived with my girlfriend's bird-eating tarantula, Suzanna, for about a year. When she was about 8 months old, i.e. 6 inches in diameter, she got out of her cage, and I had to spend about three hours trying to get her back in it. It was a frightening battle of wits, and I ended up with an urticating hair in my throat which made me woozy for about three days.

Snakes are way scarier, though.

― en i see kay, Thursday, 29 March 2007 03:58 (nineteen years ago)

Um er Snakes because snakes eat mammals (not all of them, but enough to make you nervous), and spiders eat, like, cobwebs and each other and only poison you if you get in their way.
maybe it's a no legs at all/too many legs bias that we are having? Snakes don't have legs and move around very quickly and weirdly: I don't like snakes.
Spiders have eight legs and move around very quickly and weirdly: I don't like spiders.
Slow down and stop attacking me you limbless/mult limnbed creatures .
Grow a spine, for goodness sake!
(I wish I could spell, as well.)

― aimurchie, Thursday, 29 March 2007 04:14 (nineteen years ago)

urticating hair in my throat which made me woozy for about three days.

I don't know what this means for some reason.

― Trayce, Thursday, 29 March 2007 04:19 (nineteen years ago)

I climbed into bed one night and touched something hairy on the pillow next to my head. I leapt out, switched on the light and what I saw definitely doesn't belong in bed.

http://www.bighairyspiders.com/pix/wollongong_huntsman.jpg

It freaked me the fuck out. Now if I see a Huntsman I become practically paralysed with fear. A couple of weeks ago one crawled up my driver's side window and I nearly veered off the road. It crawled over the roof of my car and appeared on the back window so I flicked on my wipers and it vanished. When we arrived at my sister's house we sat talking for 10 minutes, neither of us willing to admit that we were too scared to get out of the car. I think there is definitely some merit to the theory of scaredy genes being passed on.

― Hard like armour, Thursday, 29 March 2007 04:53 (nineteen years ago)

SPIDER SCARY BECOS YOU DONT KNOW WHERE THEY ARE AND THEY DONT MAKE ANY NOIZES. AND IF SPIDER COME INTO YOUR BEDROOM AT NIGHT AND IF IT FEELED THIRSTY IT COULD DRINK SALIVER OUT OF YOUR MOUTH WITHOUT YOU EVEN KNOWING ABOUT IT.

― [email protected], Thursday, 29 March 2007 04:55 (nineteen years ago)

OK, that's not helping.

― Hard like armour, Thursday, 29 March 2007 05:02 (nineteen years ago)

In the immortal words of one Professor Henry Jones, Jr., archeologist: "I hate snakes, Jock. I hate 'em."

― Roz, Thursday, 29 March 2007 05:10 (nineteen years ago)

Trayce:

New world tarantulas kill mice and other prey by kicking hairs off of their legs and abdomen into the prey's face, causing them to choke. The legs have some sort of venom/dander/stuff on them that slows them down/nauseates them/whatever.

In my case, I tried getting her into a cup, and that pissed her off, so she kicked some hair into my face. I inhaled one, and felt groggy for a good long while.

― en i see kay, Thursday, 29 March 2007 05:21 (nineteen years ago)

But spiders aren't living their spidery lives with the intent to kill us! Whereas some snakes DO think "I smell the blood of a mammal, where should I direct my large gaping mouth?".
I mean, they don't "think" that between writing verses of snake poetry, BUT..
snakes are scarier than spiders.
For now.

― aimurchie, Thursday, 29 March 2007 05:30 (nineteen years ago)

I climbed into bed one night and touched something hairy on the pillow next to my head. I leapt out, switched on the light and what I saw definitely doesn't belong in bed.

I could just suppress a scream seeing that picture/spider. ARGH!

― nathalie, Thursday, 29 March 2007 07:26 (nineteen years ago)

spiders, easily. Y' know around the house and stuff and shit. They just wait till your asleep then they get you. In the night. Snakes have more class. You have to fuck with them a bit. Again, snakes have more class.

― dice in my pockets, Thursday, 29 March 2007 07:39 (nineteen years ago)

how big is a huntsman?

and i say spiders. i've had snakes, i like snakes, i know most snakes are interested only in staying far away from big, noisy humans. and the angry, evil ones stay in asia and australia, thank god.

spiders aren't that bad generally but having seen pics of brown recluse bites gone necrotic i'm a little bit afraid i'll put on my shoe one day and WHAP angry dying spider and rotting leg.

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Thursday, 29 March 2007 08:43 (nineteen years ago)

huntsman spiders can be as large as a man's hand, but usually they are smaller (a baby's hand). they like coming indoors when it rains; they can squeeze through any gap. i had to get desensitised by a psychologist because i was so terrified of them i would almost black out at the thought of them, now i am fairly calm when i see them, but i'm afraid they have to die if they come inside because i'm not up to rescuing them and there is no way they are allowed to roam loose, i don't want to risk the horrorshow hard armour had on her pillow. i don't spray them, i swat them, it is very quick. a lot of people like them but i just can't.
i'm not scared of snakes at all, beyond a healthy respect for the poisonous ones. i think they are quite cute with their little sleepy faces and they feel nicer than you would think, warm and dry.

― estela, Thursday, 29 March 2007 09:01 (nineteen years ago)

oh yeah...fuck black widows. I have been bitten by one and it isn't fun (just a a BAD STINGING sensation for 5-7 hours). And fuck those spiders that bite you on the eyelid and make you puffy all day.

― dice in my pockets, Thursday, 29 March 2007 09:05 (nineteen years ago)

i'm not scared of snakes at all, beyond a healthy respect for the poisonous ones. i think they are quite cute with their little sleepy faces and they feel nicer than you would think, warm and dry.

otm, dangerous /= scary, it has not much to do with logic. I like bees and hate wasps, for instance. i love snakes. Spiders are repulsive and terrifying.

― tremendoid, Thursday, 29 March 2007 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

how big are those frucking Huntsman ?
size of a dog!?

I think spiders are scarier becuase snakes just look like cats to me, spiders look like they were made in hell

― Latham Green, Thursday, 29 March 2007 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

Estela was spot on with the description of a Huntsman. They are harmless, but look evil and are sneaky bastards. One was hiding under a bath towel and jumped on my mum when she got out of the shower.

At least I don't live where there are bird-eating spiders and tarantulas. I think I would have heart failure if I saw one of those bad boys in the flesh.

― Hard like armour, Thursday, 29 March 2007 22:11 (nineteen years ago)

A huntsman crawled onto my dinner on Fraser Island and I was so freaked out I threw the fucking plate into the air and had to go hungry that night. Fucking spiders.

― chap, Thursday, 29 March 2007 22:27 (nineteen years ago)

Neighbouring diners probably thought you were unhappy with the way the chef cooked your steak. If ony they knew what terror lurked beneath their plates...

― Hard like armour, Thursday, 29 March 2007 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

OMG SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snakes are mysterious.

Spiders I am okay with as long as they are not on me, but when they are it's Freakout Reflex Shudder Terror Ack fear Time.

― Abbott, Thursday, 29 March 2007 22:47 (nineteen years ago)

I'm terrified of spiders and don't mind snakes at all

but I have noticed, curiously enough, that taking any dissociative drug kills the spider fear for several days afterwards

― bernard snowy, Thursday, 29 March 2007 23:43 (nineteen years ago)

Growing up, I was terrified of spiders. Eventually, I decided to eat any small spiders I encountered ("small" in this context meaning "little or no detectable crunch") and now they don't bother me at all, even the big ones.

― shieldforyoureyes, Friday, 30 March 2007 01:49 (nineteen years ago)

I never really found snakes all that scary until two years ago when I was doing an internship with a park ranger GPSing trails in this San Diego canyon open space preserve. The two of us were investigating this trail that seemed to just eventually vanish on a slope with a south-facing aspect. We stopped for a second, and she very calmly told me there was a Western Diamondback all curled up next to this piece of wood about two feet from my ankle. I'd never knowingly been standing directly next to a snake, deep in some chapparal brush, wearing shorts. I made very uncool noises when I saw the snake that I would come to regret. I'll be honest - they were little girl noises. The ranger did not appreciate that my first instinct was to pick up a nearby rock and smash the shit out of it. Apparently that is not the park ranger way.

Spiders are scarier though.

― iiiijjjj, Friday, 30 March 2007 01:54 (nineteen years ago)

Oh and I only mention the south-facing aspect thing because I understand that rattlesnakes prefer dens on slopes that get the most sun. They love that sun, can't get enough of it. Love it almost as much as they love senselessly robbing people of their lives.

― iiiijjjj, Friday, 30 March 2007 01:57 (nineteen years ago)

a den of assholes

― estela, Friday, 30 March 2007 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

Here is a super neat fact I just learned at the Wikipedia:

"Nearly ninety percent of the black widow bites reported in the medical literature of the first 4 decades of [the twentieth] century were inflicted on the male genitalia by spiders lurking underneath the seats of outdoor toilets."

― iiiijjjj, Friday, 30 March 2007 02:25 (nineteen years ago)

that foot long centipede that eats bats in caves.

thank you for giving me nightmares. good god.

― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 30 March 2007 02:26 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

This is my worst nightmare. They really do come into your bedroom at night. Doctor finds spiders in ear of boy with earache

― Hard like armour, Monday, 7 May 2007 22:56 (nineteen years ago)

"They were walking on my eardrums," ARRRRRRGGGH!!!!!!!!

― Hard like armour, Monday, 7 May 2007 22:58 (nineteen years ago)

I woke up with a hobo spider near my face on the bed once. REFLEX: grab pair of scissors (also on bed, I am a slob) & slice spider in half. It was one of the more disarming ways to kill a spider bcz not only was it doing the terrifying spasm of death dance, it was in two solid pieces. Fucking John Carpenter stuff.

― Abbott, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:16 (nineteen years ago)

Spiders. A Huntsman near the door when I lived in Melbourne. Fucker sat there for 3 hours. I could not pass.

― paulhw, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:28 (nineteen years ago)

Like a goddamn Balrog.

― Hard like armour, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

See, comparatively, snakes don't seem bad.

― Abbott, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

How did you dispose of the body pieces? I would not be able to even bring myself close enough to chop that thing up in the first place. I just looked up hobo spiders and they look worse than Huntsmen. Brrr.

― Hard like armour, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:33 (nineteen years ago)

abbott you fucking cunt, stop being so awesome

also i have no idea what a 'hobo spider' is but as a child i did see a WOLF SPIDER (these things are like tarantuals except 20x faster motherfuckers) in my basement & i took that cocksucker out with a broom

― deeznuts, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:35 (nineteen years ago)

I don't even remember, it was just SHOCK for minutes after. I probably wrapped it in kleenex cerements like when I smash cockroaches.

Those little fuckers ARE creey...they have hideous appendages coming from their heads like crabstalk eyes of bind doom.

http://health.yahoo.com/media/healthwise/h9991029.jpg

They're all over the place in Idaho, and they bite with crazy conseqiuences:

This ulceration 'scabs' over within three weeks from the initial bite, leaving a permanent scar. If the bite is delivered in fatty tissue, the lesion may be very deep and extensive, not healing for over two or three years. Systematic reactions to Hobo Spider poisoning include severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, soreness and flu-like symptoms. In extreme cases where the bite was not taken care of early, skin graft, amputation, and the possibility of bone marrow failure may occur.

― Abbott, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:38 (nineteen years ago)

They are also apparently known as the Aggressive House Spider. They come LOOKING for you, seriously!

― Abbott, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

there was a dead spider on my carpet a couple of years ago which just sat there in the corner, and i refused to touch it for fear that it wasn't dead but rather WAITING for the proper moment to strike. I eventually kicked it with my boot and it dissolved into dust. weird.

which is weird because i generally like spiders ok, but maybe i just prefer spiders which are moving to ones which are still.

― félix pié, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:48 (nineteen years ago)

I hate spiders with a passion, yet at the same time they fascinate me. "On the other side of attraction lies repulsion."

― Hard like armour, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

I was bitten on the ankle by a brown recluse when I was 18.

Doctor thought my slight red inflammation with brown goop squishing out of the open sore was just an infection. I told him I thought it was more likely a spider bite. He gave me an anti-infective (pennicilin derivative, I'd assume). Got worse. My foot and leg swelled tremendously and turned a nice shade of purple while producing more brown goop from an increasingly large open sore. I returned to the doctor, was ushered over to ER where the infectious disease specialist took a look and told me it was a Brown Recluse bite. He gave me an antivenin and informend me that if I had waited one or two days longer to return to the doctor the would have had to amputate my right foot.

At the time, I was living in a high-rise in midtown nyc.

pleasant dreams... mwahahaha

― Andi Mags, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 00:48 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry for the typos in there. eh. I love snakes and spiders, they just give me the heebie jeebies when I'm caught off guard.

― Andi Mags, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 00:51 (nineteen years ago)

Thank god for infectious disease specialists.

― Abbott, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

I have been trying of late to conquer my phobia of spiders but this thread is not helping

― bernard snowy, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 02:44 (nineteen years ago)

Just remember that the tingle you feel in your ear is NOT a spider. Probably.

― HI DERE, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 02:45 (nineteen years ago)

spiders. snakes aren't really scary unless they're poisonous or freakishly large. spiders, being way smaller, are harder to tell apart at a glance and are just innately scarier by virtue of their being arthropods and being rather alien to our mammalian sensibilities.

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

omg i so much as see a spider in the house 'n and i can't move

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

These horror stories about spider bites are very freaky, but lets not forget the numbers:

annual deaths from snakebite: 20 on average

annual deaths from spiderbite: 0 on average

source: teh interwebbles

― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 02:58 (nineteen years ago)

ALso, a spiderbite turned Peter Parker into a superhero. A snakebite never did nothin' for nobody.

― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 03:03 (nineteen years ago)

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3214/culverts1uk6.jpg

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 23:21 (nineteen years ago)

^ A den of assholes. Pictured L-R: Various assholes.

― iiiijjjj, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

Even the culvert's kinda like an asshole.

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 23:35 (nineteen years ago)

snakes

― Jeff, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 00:23 (nineteen years ago)

i just don't find snakes all that scary in general. certainly not the non-poisonous kinds.

― latebloomer, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 00:28 (nineteen years ago)

admittedly i was obsessed with reptiles as a youngin' (i begged my mom for a pet snake for like two years before i lost interest). knowing more about them in general makes them less scary.

― latebloomer, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 00:33 (nineteen years ago)

Snakes are cute. Spiders are EVIL HARBINGERS OF DOOM.

― emil.y, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 00:41 (nineteen years ago)

Snakes are worst! No, spiders are worst! It's like you're all talking at cross purposes!

― Aimless, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 00:57 (nineteen years ago)

in the hopi creation myth, spider woman creates people from the earth by spreading her webs over them! but snakes are evil even in mythology!

also, spiders are awesome because they make things! and not just piles of sticks or whatever, they make SHAPES

― bernard snowy, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 02:20 (nineteen years ago)

(this is what I tell myself in order to fight my phobia)

― bernard snowy, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 02:20 (nineteen years ago)

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/3053/culverts1uk6ep9.jpg

this guy

― Pleasant Plains, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 02:48 (nineteen years ago)

fourteen years pass...

As a lifetime arachnophobe, I'm really looking forward to this (if I ever confront one, I won't be thinking about how harmless they are).

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/05/1084692989/beware-the-joro-spider-scientists-say-the-giant-but-harmless-arachnid-is-spreadi

― clemenza, Monday, 7 March 2022 00:13 (four years ago)

And, while they kill their prey using venom, scientists say they are harmless to people and pets because their fangs are usually too small to break human skin.

― visiting, Monday, 7 March 2022 00:27 (four years ago)

snakes

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Monday, 7 March 2022 01:51 (four years ago)

spiders are amazing creatures. they are also the serial killers of the animal kingdom. they entrap their prey and watch it while it struggles, sometimes for days, and then saunter over to it and suck out its blood. given me an honest snake any day -- one that simply swallows its prey whole.

― treeship., Monday, 7 March 2022 03:29 (four years ago)

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