Really!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!???????

[Skywalker]

Okay, this is only sort of baby related.

I just went out to to my kitchen to get some cereal and what is chillin right in front of my fridge? Yep, a massive black/brown spider that looks like a fake rubber spider, except it's not fake at all. I had a chance to kill it but I froze, and then it ran underneath the fridge, where it can sit and make me paranoid all night. It's about the size of a half-dollar coin.

Do you know how many times a night I visit my fridge!? I'm going to have a nervous breakdown I am a pregnant woman who lives alone can go into active labor any minute and my birthing pool is just a few feet from the fridge. What's worse is I looked up on Google what type of spider it could be and it most likely looked like a black house spider, which can be aggressive, and which can cause painful bites, extreme sweating and vomiting - EXACTLY what I need while I'm already experiencing heartburn, nausea, contractions, water retention and swelling, you name it.

Keep your fingers crossed this spider doesn't come marching out to bite me while I sleep or when I go out to the kitchen to get food in the night! Stupid spiders.

 

[Elizabean]

AAAHHHH! How Scary!

Could you bomb underneath the fridge with a whole heap of bug spray? And then try to suck it out with your vacuum if it doesn't come out? The smell of the spray isn't ideal but at least you might be able to relax a bit.

 

[TXJen]

I second the idea of the vacuum... I am terrified of spiders and really any kind of bugs myself and that's how my husband always takes care of them.

 

[Misscalais]

I got bit by a black house spider just before falling pregnant it bloody hurt!!! I got a bit of the shakes but other then that I was ok. It crawled up the sleeve of my jumper when I was sitting on the floor. I've never had a spider phobia till then.
Have you got and insect spray? Cab you just spray under the fridge and hope to god it dies lol?

 

[brownlieB]

Oooh so glad I'm in a country where the spiders can't bite!
I'm not scared of spiders but pretty sure I would be if I knew they could hurt. I say Hoover it out too xx

 

[KrissyC]

Go all ghostbusters on it and suck it up the Hoover. Xx

 

[MissRhead]

Wow I never realised house spiders could bite you!!!! I'm even more scared of them now! I hate when you see one then it runs under something, I constantly run past the area or avoid it totally if possible lol! Hope it comes out and you manage to get rid of it, horrible things! X

 

[bettybee1]

I got bit by a big black spider once too it really hurt but I didn't experience any symtoms as I got my self straight to a&e for anti dope !!! X

 

[pandi77]

Lol... I live in Florida and it might as well be the arachnid state. A couple of years ago a cargo ship from Africa introduced a new species called the Huntsman spider...um yeah it lives in the Congo and hunts small birds and lizards. So hub and me scream like 10 year old girls whenever we see one. Hard to get them gone for good since you can't destroy their nest seeing as the don't make one! They stalk their prey and then attack it lol. Here's a pic...about the size of my hand minus fingers. Love me a vacuum with long extensions...ugh!

 

[pinkpassion]

Pandi, I would literally pee by pants.. I HATE spiders... especially aggressive ones

 

[Leids]

Pandi that's absolutely nuts. The few times I've been to Florida I'm always amazed (and petrified) of all of the bugs. My DH is even worse and refuses to move to Florida because of the bugs.

This is what I would do Skywalker - I would stand on a chair and lean down to spray then jump on it or vacuum it up with an extension really fast when it ran out.

When we had mice I used 2 chairs putting one in front of the other to walk around my apartment. I adopted a cat the next day and never saw a mouse again. I'm such a wuss.

 

[noodles13]

Holy shizzles!!! I would curl up and die! I am terrified of spiders I think its how they move haha god bless living in england in times of spider stories haha

 

[Skywalker]

I got bit by a black house spider just before falling pregnant it bloody hurt!!! I got a bit of the shakes but other then that I was ok. It crawled up the sleeve of my jumper when I was sitting on the floor. I've never had a spider phobia till then.
Have you got and insect spray? Cab you just spray under the fridge and hope to god it dies lol?

You're in Australia and there are probably scarier spiders there and actually I mis-identified this spider thinking it was the funnel web spider, but they only live in Australia. The one I saw looks really similar and I actually had ANOTHER one in my apartment (or maybe the same one? I don't know, this one was even bigger) just an hour ago in the center of the room so I was able to get a good look at it in the daylight. It is the American grass spider, which is THANKFULLY non-aggressive and the bite is relatively harmless. But they are CREEPY!!!!

Thanks for all the suggestions about the vacuum! I unfortunately don't have one that has an attachment that can suck under the fridge but a friend suggested spraying a special mixture of oil, dish soap and vinegar, supposedly they hate it. I hope so, because my house is set back in the woods and I bet there are going to be tons of them as it keeps getting warmer!

PS - I used to live in FL and I will NEVER live there again!!! One time, I got out of the shower to be greeted by a big, gray, hairy wolf spider LITERALLY the size of my hand and no, there is no exaggeration, the thing was as big or bigger than my hand, fingers and all. I did not come home for four days following this encounter until I was sure the landlord had taken care of the spider. I also had the pleasure of being bitten by a poisonous brown recluse spider in that same apartment and was chased by an orange and black hornet whose body was about three inches long and sounded like an apache helicopter. The insects in Florida are nothing to mess around with. Oh yeah! And one night, I had a flying palmetto bug (they look like cockroaches, but are much larger) flitting about my room in the wee predawn hours, so I let my cats in the room, slammed the door, and let them have a fun game of chase. When I poked my head in, my kitten was having a grand old time catching and then releasing the palmetto bug over and over, which was fun for the kitten, terrifying for me. Eventually I managed to slam a tupperware over the palmetto bug and left it there for a few days until it died because I couldn't actually confront lifting the tupperware to kill the palmetto bug for fear it would start flying around again. Also, stand still almost anywhere in Florida with sandals on for long enough and you're likely to get bitten by fire ants, as well as be swarmed by voracious mosquitos.

Did I mention I HATED living in Florida with every single fiber of my being? LOL!!!!

 

[bamm]

Lol... I live in Florida and it might as well be the arachnid state. A couple of years ago a cargo ship from Africa introduced a new species called the Huntsman spider...um yeah it lives in the Congo and hunts small birds and lizards. So hub and me scream like 10 year old girls whenever we see one. Hard to get them gone for good since you can't destroy their nest seeing as the don't make one! They stalk their prey and then attack it lol. Here's a pic...about the size of my hand minus fingers. Love me a vacuum with long extensions...ugh!

ohh hahaha we have huntsmans EVERYWHERE here. I have a long standing hatred for them, They can get to bigger than my hand (which is bigger than DH's hand, so BIG) They don't make nests, and the love to stalk you when they're big enough. Over here they like the ceiling, and when you move, they move. I had one fall on my head and bite me on the hand when I went to brush it off (didn't know what it was on my head or I would have freaked) and had a bunch of them breed in our brand new jeep, almost set fire to the entire car.

Not proud, but one time I had buckled DD in her car seat and then saw one crawling in the car, I may have jumped out and danced next to the car, leaving DD blissfully unaware in the back. (DH got her out) Didn't drive the car for 2+ weeks after that!

 

[pandi77]

Yes they are interesting little critters lol!

I guess we all have positives and negatives where we live sky walker. It sounds like you were in the middle of the friggin Everglades the way you describe your time in Florida lol! It's not all that bad where I'm at but yes we do have a larger (double meaning lol) variety of creepy crawlies for sure! No snow and I can grow papayas and mangos in my yard BUT I have to treat for bugs but not overkill style with yucky chemicals. I highly recommend diatomaceous earth to any of you looking for a non toxic bug repellent you can use outdoors and indoors. Besides the huntsmans (crafty little things) they have kept all the other crunchy type bugs at bay

 

[Skywalker]

Yes they are interesting little critters lol!

I guess we all have positives and negatives where we live sky walker. It sounds like you were in the middle of the friggin Everglades the way you describe your time in Florida lol! It's not all that bad where I'm at but yes we do have a larger (double meaning lol) variety of creepy crawlies for sure! No snow and I can grow papayas and mangos in my yard BUT I have to treat for bugs but not overkill style with yucky chemicals. I highly recommend diatomaceous earth to any of you looking for a non toxic bug repellent you can use outdoors and indoors. Besides the huntsmans (crafty little things) they have kept all the other crunchy type bugs at bay

Haha, nope! I was in Clearwater! The gigantic wolf spider, brown recluse and freakishly huge orange/black hornet were all when I was living in one apartment in a normal residential neighborhood, and the palmetto bug was in another apartment not far away from there. The fire ants and mosquitoes were like... everywhere haha. I used to take public transit and I hated waiting for the bus because I'd generally be wearing sandals and if I had to wait for longer than 5 mins I'd inevitably be found by fire ants and/or mosquitoes. My friends who were born and raised Floridians didn't seem to mind all the bugs as much as me, but I grew up here in Massachusetts, and in a less rural area that I'm in now, so I was pretty spoiled with not having to deal with any serious creepy-crawlies The worst were like, daddy long legs and at certain times in the summer, mosquitoes and yellow jacket bees. But where I'm at now, I'm more in a rural, woodland area and I'm encountering some more wild Mass bugs haha. But nothing like Florida! Man, I give you credit for living there! I found it to be way too much for me. I couldn't deal with the gigantic bugs, salamanders everywhere, heat and humidity... but I have friends who think I'm a total wuss who've lived there their whole lives and who love it, so it really is a subjective thing I guess! Haha but no, not the everglades, and my bug stories span across a five-year period of time so it was a bit of time between each of the scary encounters.

 

[themaybaby]

Lol! I'm sorry this made me laugh a bit. But I TOTALLY understand. I am a huge animal lover. I can love even the freakiest animals. In fact snakes are my favorite animal. But spiders. Nuh uh... I can't do spiders.. I can't do any type of bugs or arachnids...

 

[FleurDeMai]

The other day there was a spider hanging on the toilet paper roll... She must've taken a "how to mess with pregnant women 101" class!
Spiders where I live aren't too bad, but in my apartment they are everywhere thanks to our landlord who "doesn't see the point of installing window screens".

 

[Mrs HM]

OMG ladies - I hate spiders so much that I actually fell and tore ligaments in my ankle trying to get away from one that fell on to my leg. I'm also ashamed to say that it was the size of my small finger nail....I really am afraid of them! I sweat, shake and cry when I'm alone at home and have to deal with one. I can't imagine having spiders as big as your hand, that's truly horrific.

 

[pandi77]

That's funny skywalker I live in Dunedin lol. I lived in Clearwater for many years before here tho and some apartments were not as good at pest control as others for sure! My kitties keep the lizard population in check pretty well. If any critter is unfortunate enough to get withing reach of any of them it gets deconstructed slowly and painfully and then brought to mommy like a prize lol.

Prior to moving to Florida I lived in northern Missouri which is where I had my worst spider encounters ironically I was bitten by a brown recluse on my foot and lost a good part of the top (sorry tmi) and it took a long time to heal. There were also more black widows where it was cold and they liked to get in warm cozy shoes on a winter day so a good shoe shake was always in order before you put them on.

I am not a fan of spiders but even less of cockroaches/palmetto bugs so I try to keep my house pest free and let the circle of like continue elsewhere haha!