and things that go bump in the night.....
Deborah Ross in Times 2 this morning speaks of avoiding the kitchen all one day because she saw a spider nestling in the recessed handle of her cupboard door. Said spider turned out to be a tomato 'haulm' (well from a distance, without one's specs, I suppose there is a similarity) Set me thinking about things that scare.
STOP PRESS INTERRUPTION A flock of long-tailed tits has just systematically worked through my garden before swooping over the hedge to do the same next door - and a weak sun helped their search!
Is it just women? Are men scared of silly things? I am not speaking here of things which are worth being scared about. e.g. I have a dry-stone wall at the top of my garden. Occasionally a heifer pops its head over just to have a mosey. If instead a cheetah got up on its hind legs to have a look round I would be locked in and dialling 999 before you could turn round.
So - trying hard not to be sexist = I am sure some men dislike such things= I would guess that there are more women who are well ,if not scared certainly not happy to be in the vicinity of spiders, mice, creepy crawlies in general. So come on - lay your cards on the table. Let's have a straw poll on what if anything you just can't bear to be in the same room with (one of my dearest friends has more than a 'thing' about wasps (he will be reading this so yes, P, you know who you are.))
Me?
Well I do remember in some foreign clime I found a praying mantis clinging to a fence. The farmer was already on the coach so I knocked on the coach window and pointed it out to him. He indicated that I should bring it on the coach so that he could have a closer look. I didn't, arguing that I didn't know how to pick it up (legs, wings or whatever were all in funny places) but in fact nothing on this earth could have persuaded me to pick it up.
Spiders? alright using the card and glass method of removal but definitley not alright if I have to raise my legs off the ground because I am causing a road hazard to its progress across the room.
Mice? Can cope if dead in mouse trap - otherwise forget it.
Moths? Genuine fear!!!
Butterflies? Love them.
Rats? Never come face to face with a wild one - but no thanks. Years ago a male friend had a quite pretty white, brown and black patch pet rat. It slept in his knife drawer on a yellow duster. He was unmarried. Need I say more? I am sure you get the gist.
Hedgehogs? Adore them.
So come on. Reveal all. Psychologists say it is better to talk about these things so treat your personal revelations as the first step on the road to recovery.
.JPG)
56 comments:
I have a suspicion that females were encouraged to be frightened of such things so that they could be 'saved' by a brave man and this has become part of our subconscious behaviour. I don't mind spiders except when they are on the ceiling directly above my face as I have had one drop down on me unexpectedly which was not nice. That said I really don't like maggots or any kind of round worm which wasn't good when I was studying zoology at uni. Or wet paper, maybe it reminds me of rotting fish in the harbour where I played as a very young child.
No thank you to snakes of any kind. Though I was persuaded at different times to touch then when being demonstrated by braver people than myself. Ticks, big ugh. Fleas the same. Spiders and stink bugs get the removal treatment to the outside, and if I'm careful even a wasp or two. Oh deer flies are simply awful, if around them when outside.
Definitely NO to cockroaches, bed bugs, mosquitos, horse flies, rats and big snarly dogs.
Not so keen either on spiders, mice, woodlice, wasps or hornets.
Certain people too I would tend to avoid if possible.
I used to be terribly afraid of snakes. I would scream involuntarily if startled by one. Then I got a job that involved tramping around the woods and swamps. I got used to seeing them and learned to freeze and let them by. Now I share a corner of my greenhouse with one. He politely slithers off when the door opens. We coexist nicely, but I am not fond of them. My daughter still freaks out about spiders. My grandson is the same way.
I can cope with anything with legs, be it large or small. I hate worms. And anything bigger like snakes. My big brother was a keen fisherman and liked to show me a new fishing fly or little gadget. He also used to get me to sort out tins of fishing weights. One day he told me to get a tin from his fishing coat pocket and open it. It was full of live worms! I screamed, he laughed, and I have hated worms ever since.
I have no problem with spiders or any insects, I don't mind mice or rats or snakes. Nothing much scares me unless it is as big as me and threatening. I'm not scared of cows or horses. I was fortunate as a child as my mother was ruled by her phobias. I think I realised early on that she was strange and was scared of the silliest things. My first husband was terrified of spiders and my second is scared of most wildlife, especially swans.
Spiders definitely, but not very keen on beetles either, just too many legs.I don't like rats much or mice come to think it. That's about it. My eldest son is terrified of spiders but he just sucks them up with the vacuum cleaner.
Living in the woodlands, I tend to give coyotes a wide berth. For example, at dusk and dawn the coyotes are hunting to feed their young and I let my dog outside to do his (early AM and late PM) business. I put all the outside flood lights on, stand in the doorway, and take a good look around before letting the dog outside. Most hunting is done in the middle of the night but if unsuccessful the dusk and dawn hours are the choice. Yes, this ritual is probably driven by my fear and love for my dog.
I don't have a problem with mice or rats, my Mum did so I couldn't get them as pets until I married at 18 and moved out. Bees or wasps don't bother me at all and I find it funny when people are dashing here, there and everywhere wafting them away. I'm not keen on spiders but like you I can move them with the paper and glass trick, or in my case jug and mouse mat!
I don't like moths or butterflies but as long as they don't land on me I'm fine. I really don't like Daddy Long Legs, their trailing legs in flight make me run but if they sit still I can now trap them spider fashion and release them outside. I used to have a terrible phobia of false teeth, but I seem to have gotten over that. The only thing my husband is scared of is heights, he literally freezes if he is more than six feet off the ground.
House mice I can deal with, large spiders I have dealt with but don't like them. Moths - OK as long as they don't flap in my face. Butterflies, badgers, foxes, hares, owls, long-tailed tits, robins, wrens and many others, furred or feathered, I absolutely love. Rats - not keen, chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utangs and other primates make me feel uncomfortable as they give the impression they know more than we do. Big wild cats, rhinos, crocodiles/alligators would scare me.
I have no fear of bugs mice lizards etc. but I don’t really like snakes. I used to be afraid of lightning but now that I am not on the boat that fear has disappeared. Gigi
I am only really scared of large things like cows, etc., especially when I find one in the bath.
I'm fine with insects (but my husband is severely allergic to wasp stings so I do eradicate those) but one son is spider phobic and I try to de-spider the house before his visits. Most animals don't worry me; I have been very excited to see bears in the wild from a distance or from the car but would be frightened close up. Also bison and moose - again I have happily seen from a distance or from in the car but know they are dangerous. These of course are not irrational fears - snakes are fine except venomous ones for example.
Large "alley" rats are the big no, for me. Disease vectors, for one thing.
I do love the image of the cow looking over your garden wall - I'd enjoy that!
Ceci
Any kind of creepy crawlies! I prefer dogs and cats and birds are OK, too!
Snakes! Arg I can't even look at a photograph of one and as for a filmed scene of them moving just sends me over the edge. I am petrified and I don't know why I have never had a bad experience of them.
Jane
I inherited a fear of snakes from my Mom. She would have nightmares if she saw a snake anywhere - even on TV! I'm not as bad as that but I "eek" if I spot even a little one.
As a child, I was terrified of spiders. If i was reading a book and came across a picture of one, I couldn't even touch the page to turn it. Lying in bed at night, i would call to my father to come and kill a spider;I heard him one time say to my mother that he didn't understand how i could see them in the dark. I swear they disrupted the airwaves with their scuttling about. As I've gotten older, I have learned to live with them as long as they don't get to close. Renee in OK
I don't like things that move FAST.. And at the top of the list for me is 'Cockroaches'... don't know if you have them there... They don't bite , but are nasty things that go 'crunch' when you step on them... hate the crunch too.. uuughh... MOst other creepy crawlies i don't mind.. Hugs! debs
I love your "need I say more." I know a very funny, active hiker/camper, all round do it your-self er who goes so pale at the sight of a spider people don't even tease him with them anymore.
That's interesting, Pat. You can cope with mice when they are trapped and guillotined - with their innards squelching out? I am the opposite. I can cope with mice when they are alive and cute and stuff, darting around. Dead? One of my cats used to bring me tokens of her affection. Put them down at my feet. Looked at me expectantly. Thank you so much. How could I not appreciate something half dead? I can't bear dead animals. Give me a human instead. I'll be fine. I'll cope. I even know the Heimlich manoeuvre.
One theory of mine regarding spiders? Anything that you can't make eye contact with (mainly because they don't have eyes) you can't gauge, therefore making one uncomfortable. A friend of mine has a rather worrying fear of moths. He'd literally move house if there was a moth in the vicinity. Before you think me a saint because I don't kill mice and other things if there is any way of avoiding doing so: I suggested to him to light a candle. You know: Light - the moth's ultimate attraction and downfall. They sizzle when they kiss their heart's desire. It's awful. I just hope I haven't fed said friend's darker side by giving him ideas.
I suppose I'd draw the line at a Boa Constrictor. Whilst I appreciate a bear hug the idea of being crushed by a set of muscle in oversized snake form doesn't appeal. Apropos of which: Do you remember that wonderful drawing in "Le Petit Prince" (page one)? It's the outline of a Boa having swallowed an elephant - WHOLE. I was, still am, enchanted. Let's not go where Pinocchio found himself.
U
Cockroaches. When you stamp on them they make an awful crunchy sound, and then get up and walk away.
I don't like spiders or snakes and the worst snake in my experience when living in Texas was a "side winder" snake. If there were a ceiling over the sky, I'd have been there when I saw that snake!
If there were one thing I could eradicate it would be ticks. What is their purpose beside spreading germs? Because of ticks, I no longer walk in our woods and that is sad but having been bitten by a Lyme tick (no Lyme disease) and by a Lone Star tick (can no longer digest beef - sob!) it's a case of once bitten, twice shy.
Word to the wise, don't step on a spider with a huge rear end because that could be a egg case full of a bazillion baby spiders who then run in every direction! I still shudder to think of it.
I'm glad to see the Laughing Horse award newly added to your wonderful blog, Pat!
Hugs!
Not keen on spiders, but I don't kill them. I either catch and release (gotten very creative in my methods!) or leave them be if they're minding their own business. Otherwise, not much bothers me. I once had a mouse run up my pant leg--on the inside!--when I was trying to capture it. I danced a jig and peeled out of my pants in the blink of an eye, but the experience didn't scar me for life.
Snakes! We lived in the wilds of Nova Scotia back in the early 2000’s. Lots of wildlife but I wasn’t prepared one day driving down our road. A HUGE yellow and white snake slithered across the road right in front of me. I just barely managed to slam on the brakes. It was heading in the general direction of our house. I didn’t leave the house for two days.
Robin
I am terrified of snakes. As a child of 9 or 10 I fell into a muddy stream (think very creamy coffee color) where several poisonous water moccasins snakes had just slithered in. They were angry because my friend and I had been tormenting the snakes by throwing rocks at them while they sunbathed on the bank on the opposite side of the stream. I slipped on loose gravel and fell into the stream. My ten-year-old friend found a way to walk towards me in the shallow area and led me by hand to safety as I was paralyzed with fear. To this day I can't swim because all the water available (swimming holes - lakes. ponds) where I might have learned were the same muddy water I could not see into. I will sign off as Ana from Michigan USA because last time I commented, I think the blog site listed me as anonymous.
I'm rather scared by bees as they like me and leave me with their sting. That's outside.
Inside, I'm disgusted by cockroaches (the big, german, brown type) and fear their massive multiplication. Home Center has a fairly efficient solution for them.
I’m not a spider gal. Won’t be in the same room! Now without my DH I’m a bit braver but stomp, spray or vacuum in a wink. Won’t tolerate. Don’t garden outside when they appear in the fall for about 4-6 weeks. Dyson cordless has been a game changer for me as I can put it on high suction and reach quickly, high or low. Worth every single penny just for that alone! Snakes are okay as long as they are on the ground and don’t venture up to eye level like in a small fruit tree or hedge. I do prefer that they don’t surprise me in case they are a kind (rattlesnake) that I need to avoid and I’m not in favor of meeting any kind while swimming. Love salamanders, geckos, and cute little hedgehogs, too. Mice can be cute in the proper setting (outside) but I’d hate to meet a rat. Potato bugs are just pure ugly and gross and centipedes have no place in my garden. But, spiders will always top my list my whole life. Have a healthy respect when hiking for the biggies like bears and big cats but it’s the little creepy, crawlies that make me shudder and shake.
Ruta M Good theory!
Tom Don't ever change!
I think when the big Autumn spiders run across the carpet I get scared. Something to do with all those legs but insects never worry me, nor even large animals. Horses or cows I always stand my ground and wouldn't dream of going into a field with cows and their calves.
Slugs! Doesn’t matter if they are tiny little black ones or the monster-sized banana slugs in the woods here in the Pacific Northwest. They don’t dart around like spiders, trust me, they’re always on the move
I really do not like cockroaches at all, not even keen of photos or videos of them. Spiders don't bother me, however my 40 year old son hates them and his wife had to get rid of them in the house.
As a child we lived two houses away from fields so sometimes had rats in the garden, in the days of rat catchers. Don't mind them or mice. Fortunately in the UK the only poisoned snakes are adders. Not sure I'd like to come across large poisonous snakes in other countries.
Blue horses with big teeth are creepy.
I am quite afraid of snakes of all kinds. We have a mother opossum with babies living under our porch and they are welcome to live there as long as they like because they eat snakes!
I'm terrified of spiders but if they're outdoors, I leave them be. Indoors, they're dead.
My husband is terrified of dentists, he hasn't seen a dentist in forty years. He's also terrified of snakes.
Mice, rats, bugs, bees, I'm okay with but I don't want bugs crawling on me, they get flicked off.
Ursula mentioned that spiders don't have eyes, actually they have eight eyes.
Snakes and spiders!
Also visits to the dentist. Had a really painful bad experience with one in my teens.
Pixie's correct, and Ursula is wrong, Spiders usually have eight eyes, but some have six, and occasionally four.
If a spider would just sit still and let me sweep it out of the door, all would be fine, but if they run towards me, I have to admit to sending them to meet their maker! X
One of the best childrens' parties I've been to was an 'animal party'. A delightful and very 4yr old child savvy man brought along stick insects from minute just hatched ones to some about 9 inches long, giant African snail, a hedgehog, lizards, tarantulas, and snakes. The children were allowed to handle all the creatures and were so careful. He explained all about the animals and really engaged the children so not one showed any nervousness.
Brilliant party and hopefully they will grow up with respect and curiosity for nature.
Pixie and Col, that may be so. It doesn't alter the fact that I (human species) can NOT see a spider's eyes. For all I care they may have a million eyes I still can't read them: Friend? Foe? Fight or flight? Ignore?
U
Another interesting topic Pat. I am not frightened OF spiders, but that I may hurt them when moving them. I will do so, either when they crawl onto my hand, or by carefully trapping them under glass. Likewise NZ Wetas - a wonderful creepy crawly with an exoskeleton I am so afraid of hurting. I'll not pick them up in my fingers, but don't mind them crawling onto me if they so choose. Mice/rats I'm not partial to because I think they're disease-carriers, and I'll trap them, but not hold them. Large animals... well horses I just love, and am confident around. Cattle I recognise as potentially dangerous and I'd move pretty fast to get a fence between us.
You are really putting the pressure on. I don't like mice. It probably comes from the time on the farm where the field mice would crawl up the inside leg of your pants. Need I say more?
Hmmmm....I hate rats but am not afraid of them. I really cringe at squishy wormy things like maggots. Genuinely make me sick to my stomach. But fear? Maybe coyotes, although I have never come face to face with one.
I have snakes in my yard, they are harmless to people. I stay clear of them but I do not hurt them, but they do give me the creeps. Spiders do not bother me. If I find one in the house I catch it in a little box I have and take it outside.
Take Care,
Kaye
Utah, USA
I like all creepy crawlies except cockroaches. They were huge in a town 'gateway to the North', called Port Augusta. If you sprayed them they would run towards you. Terrifying...and so hard to kill with your shoe. Yuk.
I have been trying to educate my little grandaughter into respecting the small harmless beings in life, and one of those instances was to handle worms from my worm farm. She went from being reluctant to intrigued. Days later she gave me the grated apple from her plate saying 'Here Nanny, these are for your snakes". On all levels, I think we need a bit more education there !-Pam, Aust.
...oh, and last night I dreaded putting on the light at 2 a.m. to respond to the cat's 'victory kill' mewing that does not quieten until the presented kill is inspected. I hate that in the dark, never knowing the state of the killed or injured catch.
It was a large, heavy, deceased rat. The cat is desexed and I don't keep him in as I hate litter trays, but he is a good mouser. Cats do keep the rodent populations down.- Pam.
SNAKES; I cannot stand them!
Thick skinned rhinoceroses.
Rachel's comment about blue horses with big teeth cracked me up!
Outdoors, I like all animals unless they want to sting or bite me (mozzies, wasps). Indoors, I don't like to share my flat with spiders, flies, bugs of any kind, but of course with my windows frequently open to let fresh air in, they sometimes do come in. If possible, I take them out, but I admit to sometimes killing them, and if a spider catches me by surprise, I find it hard not to shriek (I usually don't, since it is totally pointless).
Snakes, mice, rats? No problem at all. More than once I have taken a living mouse off my cat, who then went in search of it, never suspecting me, a human, to be able to catch a mouse.
Rats are omnipresent in cities all over the world; we have to live with them as they live with us, but I would not be happy about them in my house.
Snakes in Germany are all of the non-dangerous kind for humans, and their presence in the wild usually indicates a healthy eco system.
A young friend of mine once had a baby boa constrictor. I went to visit her to have a look, and the snake felt warm and dry to the touch like the arm of a human. I was wearing a jumper with relatively wide sleeves, and it chose my right sleeve to have a nap. It was not in the least repulsive or frightening.
Still, I don't approve of people keeping animals as pets that clearly are NOT pets. In an average human abode, you simply can not offer them adequate living conditions.
Red Plase don't say more - any more would be too much information.
Reading of ur blog friends in foreign parts makes me very glad to know that apart from adders - and few of us have ever seen them let alone trodden on one we have no poisonous snakes and our wild animals are all quite attractive and harmless unless meddled with.
What cissies most of us are with spiders - and yes - as several of you say - it is the LEGS!!!
Thanks eberyone - jolly good read.
Birds of any description. I will and do feed them in the garden and like to observe them through the kitchen window. This is a lifelong phobia, had hypnotherapy to no avail. It really spoils the pleasure of visiting new places.
I agree with Ruta M and think many girls are conditioned to be frightening of spiders the like. Society finds it socially acceptable and so it continues.
I have a friend who is frightened of moths. I sent her a photo of a hummingbird moth that I had taken but didn’t say it was a moth….”oooh what is that? It is amazing, it looks like a hummingbird.” Where she lives hummingbirds are common. I told her that it was a “hummingbird moth” - she was then frightened of it.
Quite bizarre
Congrats on displaying the award…well deserved.
In Italy I once picked up a small piece of stick on the lounge rug. I thought about putting it into the wood burner but threw it outside in the terrace. It shook out its legs and walked away. Had I known what it was I’d never have touched it
I will make a lot of enemies by admitting this, but I have a fear of cats. Jackie
Growing up in an American farming community, I have a healthy wariness of hogs, especially the sows with litters. They will eat you. Another creature I would rather eat than meet is a tom turkey. Fortunately, most kids can outrun most domestic turkeys. This is not the case with hogs -- and the piglets are so cute, kids want to pick them up and cuddle them. We were warned...
I should also add venomous snakes to my comment above. Jackie
I bought some KitKats today and am listening to Ride On this evening. I hope you have had a good weekend Pat.
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