Tarantula

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 May 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

catlin	06 May 2002
This Saturday I went to meet one of my e-mail friends here at Mannheim. She happened to be here as there was a show of snakes, tarantulas and reptiles here in the neighbourbood and she and her hubby brought some of their tarantulas with them so we took the chance to meet and to swap tarot decks. As I was for about 7 years arachnophobic (I had a terrible horror of spiders, even the tinyest ones) I took the chance to see how I can get along with these creepy animals and so I asked Susanne to put one of her tarantulas on the back of my hand. Imagine I could support that without flinching or getting panic anymore! I felt so proud and even got another point of view of spiders.

lunalafey	06 May 2002
Overcoming, facing a fear is such a awsome thing. I mean Awsome in the neutral(?) form, meaning not great, but truelly not bad, follow me ? I was in 6th grade when I had a Turantula walk across the back of my hands, I was nervous. Which is kind of unusual for me because my father was a BUG(insect) scientist. I played with 6 legged(I know spiders are 8, different family altogether) since forever. I have always had a fear of hights. But it wasn't all just the distance, part of it was the integrity of what kept me from falling. Lack of trust in the man made. I still don't understand that. OK my point, DID YOU HAVE FUN ? Was it cool? With my fear of hights, I still have always wanted to skydive. I got the chance and I jumped on it !!!! It was great and facing the fear took the fear out of it. The desire to do IT.(what ever IT may be)

kayne	06 May 2002
You know Catlin - my stomach was twisting into a tight little ball just imagining that! Well done! :D

wavebreaker	06 May 2002
Well done Catlin! It is awesome if you can overcome a fear like that. I used to be afraid of deep water. I would only get into the shallow end of the swimming pool and I would always use the stairs, never jump in. Then I tried scuba diving. I thought it was really scary at first, but I took it one step at a time. Now, I don't have any trouble at all jumping off a boat for a dive to 30 or 40 metres... ;)

aeonx	06 May 2002
Great catlin, I'm really proud of you! :)

catlin	06 May 2002
So am I . The funniest thing is that I even thought about starting keeping tarantulas but I thínk I'll renounce on that because of the cats (I remember my Toby who wanted to eat one of those long-legged scrawny "Weberknechte" which happened to appear in the kitchen one day so I had to save this poor spider from Toby) and the crickets you have also to keep to feed them (the tarantulas, not the cats of course ;) ;)

Kissa	06 May 2002
Quote: Originally posted by catlin the crickets you have also to keep to feed them (the tarantulas, not the cats of course ;) ;) Well done catlin! I would keep and breed the crickets and throw the bloody tarantulas to the cats (now I know why we have cats..) Yak! No misunderstanding, I would never hurt any living creature but I wouldn't even try to overcome my fear of big spiders. Small ones are ok. We laugh everytime our (soon) 2 year old little girl sees a bug (ant, spider, beatle) she says a big hello, speaks to them and wants to kiss: she sends them kisses ("bisous!") !!! She also does it with seagulls, everybird she sees, squirrels not to mention cats, dogs, horses, lambs ... I am sure she would LOVE a big tarantula to cuddle :D !!! Kissa

cricket	06 May 2002
Quote: Originally posted by catlin and the crickets you have also to keep to feed them (the tarantulas, not the cats of course ;) ;) *blinks a few times* I'm being kept to feed to the tarantulas? *phew* What a relief... and here I thought I was just there for decoration.... :P:P:P:P

catlin	08 May 2002
Hi cricket, Actually "Heimchen" are fed to tarantulas but as I do not know the English word for "Heimchen" but remembered Jiminy Cricket from Disney's "Pinocchio", I choose "cricket" as they are related to our "Heimchen".

january	08 May 2002
S-P-I-D-E-R-S!!!! Just the word sends icicles up my spine and makes me check for any creepy-crawlies in my hair. I was just telling a friend that this summer, I'm going to the Bronx Zoo and hold a tarantula to overcome my lifetime case of arachnophobia. I mean, the little yellow house spiders have me screaming!! They are amazing creatures, though. Their webs, industriousness... and they take care of those evil garden-eating bugs and disease-carrying mosquitoes! But I could never get past their hairy creepiness. And tarantulas are the big-daddies of all spiders!! You've given me a final push of inspiration... Thank you for sharing!! ~ january

catlin	13 May 2002
Hi january, You're welcome. B/W the tarantulas do not feel ugly on the skin. I think a fly is much more "YEEEK" or something like that on the skin due to its "stoppers" or whatever you call the thing they have on their feet. The tarantula felt pretty soft on my hand, even a bit warm, really nothing to frighten. If you wish, you can sent me a pm to give you my anti-spider-stress-relive-program with which I overcame my arachnophobia.

The Tarantula thread was originally posted on 06 May 2002 in the Chat board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Chat, or read more archived threads.