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A tip if you are scared of spiders: Trap them in a glass, then slide some hard surface underneath. You can now move the spider (like out a window) while holding

A tip if you are scared of spiders: Trap them in a glass, then slide some hard surface underneath. You can now move the spider (like out a window) while holding it trapped with the lid. This has actually eliminated much of my arachnophobia, since I find myself studying the spider, safely confined inside the glass before letting it out. (This is actually one way they treat phobias clinically, a kind of desensitization exercise)

mkl 5y ago
Much quicker and more convenient is a spider catcher like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001356203377.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001356203377.html With that I can easily pick them up and drop them out the window or whatever. You can do it at well over arms' length too. It doesn't seem to harm them, as there's a space within the grabbing cage that they get directed to. Small spiders can crawl out between the cage bits but usually stay on the end long enough to move them elsewhere. Big spiders are fully caught.
- hn_go_brrrrr 5y ago
  Wrong link?
  - mkl 5y ago
    Looks right to me. A green and white plastic spider catcher. What do you see?
- yumraj 5y ago
  My favorite is a vacuum. Just use it with the handle extension mode and bare floor setting. When you get near them, due to the air movement they try to hold on tighter to the wall and don’t move, which makes it easier.
- freeflight 5y ago
  That video ad is something else: > "It's fast, easy and eco-friendly!" It's a piece of plastic that will be shipped halfway around the world, to do what could just as well be done by a glass and a bit of cardboard. It might be fast, easy and particularly convenient, but "eco-friendly" it most certainly ain't.
- hermitcrab 5y ago
  I just pick spiders up in my hand and throw them out. But I live in the UK. I would be hesitant to do that if I lived in Australia!
vector_spaces 5y ago
I used to have extreme arachnophobia, like strip-naked-run-screaming-if-I-found-a-spider-on-me level arachnophobia. A long time ago I was prescribed propranolol for PTSD by a psychiatrist specializing in trauma. I hadn't even mentioned my arachnophobia to her or any clinician I had seen at that point. It helped me a lot of social situations, but the effect was pretty subtle. Anyway, one day, I was hiking with friends, and someone pointed out I had a bug on me. I picked it up and realized it was a spider -- and then it dawned on me that I wasn't afraid of it at all. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my life to hold a spider without any fear at all. I started seeking out spiders to handle them. Even after I stopped taking that medication, the effects lasted. Nowadays I love spiders. I learned years after stopping taking it that this medication has been studied both for PTSD and phobias -- specifically arachnophobia. Your comment made me think to tell this story because I pretty much always attempted to bring spiders outside rather than kill them despite my fear. My rational side knew that most spiders are harmless, sensitive, and highly beneficial creatures. Plus I always hated killing anything and still do. But the exposure didn't actually reduce my fear of them noticably. And that experience is borne out in the research -- exposure therapy doesn't seem to be enough for most people Apparently propranolol is effective because it works on memory consolidation -- more or less it helps with overwriting old negative memories (more specifically the emotional charge that accompanies the memory) with newer positive ones. https://youtu.be/uO8pXtvxAA0?t=1893 https://youtu.be/uO8pXtvxAA0?t=1893 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/opinion/sunday/a-drug-to-cure-fear.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/opinion/sunday/a-drug-to-...
- pvaldes 5y ago
  People with arachnophobia should remember that 95% of the extant spiders are totally unable to pierce the human skin. Fangs too weak or short to reach blood capillaries and made any real damage, even if they would be poisonous doesn't matter. Those that coevolved with spider-eating monkeys are the problematic ones.
  - elcomet 5y ago
    So there's still 5% of spiders that can pierce your skin and inject stuff? That's not very reassuring
tzs 5y ago
This could be useful for that [1]. It has a thing to catch the creature and a built-in magnifier. The video showing how to use it is amusing--those two kids have great expressions. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Carson-Quick-Release-Catching-Magnifier-Children/dp/B000JQ5AZK/ https://www.amazon.com/Carson-Quick-Release-Catching-Magnifi...
dTal 5y ago
I am always scared of injuring the spider with the slide method. I have hit upon a method which is much simpler, and rather satisfying to execute. Wait until the spider is stationary. Put the glass on its side with the mouth directly in front of the spider. Then - tickle the spider's behind. Invariably the spider will panic-run forward, right into the glass. Lift the glass and there you have it! Spiders can't climb the smooth sides so no lid necessary. I have found that persuading the spider to enter the glass without tickling its behind to be much more challenging for some reason. They sense the trap, or at least that it's a sterile dead end. But startle them, and they'll always run forward in a straight line.

mkl 5y ago

Much quicker and more convenient is a spider catcher like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001356203377.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001356203377.html With that I can easily pick them up and drop them out the window or whatever. You can do it at well over arms' length too. It doesn't seem to harm them, as there's a space within the grabbing cage that they get directed to. Small spiders can crawl out between the cage bits but usually stay on the end long enough to move them elsewhere. Big spiders are fully caught.

hn_go_brrrrr 5y ago
Wrong link?
- mkl 5y ago
  Looks right to me. A green and white plastic spider catcher. What do you see?
yumraj 5y ago
My favorite is a vacuum. Just use it with the handle extension mode and bare floor setting. When you get near them, due to the air movement they try to hold on tighter to the wall and don’t move, which makes it easier.
freeflight 5y ago
That video ad is something else: > "It's fast, easy and eco-friendly!" It's a piece of plastic that will be shipped halfway around the world, to do what could just as well be done by a glass and a bit of cardboard. It might be fast, easy and particularly convenient, but "eco-friendly" it most certainly ain't.
hermitcrab 5y ago
I just pick spiders up in my hand and throw them out. But I live in the UK. I would be hesitant to do that if I lived in Australia!

vector_spaces 5y ago

I used to have extreme arachnophobia, like strip-naked-run-screaming-if-I-found-a-spider-on-me level arachnophobia. A long time ago I was prescribed propranolol for PTSD by a psychiatrist specializing in trauma. I hadn't even mentioned my arachnophobia to her or any clinician I had seen at that point. It helped me a lot of social situations, but the effect was pretty subtle. Anyway, one day, I was hiking with friends, and someone pointed out I had a bug on me. I picked it up and realized it was a spider -- and then it dawned on me that I wasn't afraid of it at all. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my life to hold a spider without any fear at all. I started seeking out spiders to handle them. Even after I stopped taking that medication, the effects lasted. Nowadays I love spiders. I learned years after stopping taking it that this medication has been studied both for PTSD and phobias -- specifically arachnophobia. Your comment made me think to tell this story because I pretty much always attempted to bring spiders outside rather than kill them despite my fear. My rational side knew that most spiders are harmless, sensitive, and highly beneficial creatures. Plus I always hated killing anything and still do. But the exposure didn't actually reduce my fear of them noticably. And that experience is borne out in the research -- exposure therapy doesn't seem to be enough for most people Apparently propranolol is effective because it works on memory consolidation -- more or less it helps with overwriting old negative memories (more specifically the emotional charge that accompanies the memory) with newer positive ones. https://youtu.be/uO8pXtvxAA0?t=1893 https://youtu.be/uO8pXtvxAA0?t=1893 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/opinion/sunday/a-drug-to-cure-fear.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/opinion/sunday/a-drug-to-...

pvaldes 5y ago
People with arachnophobia should remember that 95% of the extant spiders are totally unable to pierce the human skin. Fangs too weak or short to reach blood capillaries and made any real damage, even if they would be poisonous doesn't matter. Those that coevolved with spider-eating monkeys are the problematic ones.
- elcomet 5y ago
  So there's still 5% of spiders that can pierce your skin and inject stuff? That's not very reassuring

tzs 5y ago

This could be useful for that [1]. It has a thing to catch the creature and a built-in magnifier. The video showing how to use it is amusing--those two kids have great expressions. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Carson-Quick-Release-Catching-Magnifier-Children/dp/B000JQ5AZK/ https://www.amazon.com/Carson-Quick-Release-Catching-Magnifi...

dTal 5y ago

I am always scared of injuring the spider with the slide method. I have hit upon a method which is much simpler, and rather satisfying to execute. Wait until the spider is stationary. Put the glass on its side with the mouth directly in front of the spider. Then - tickle the spider's behind. Invariably the spider will panic-run forward, right into the glass. Lift the glass and there you have it! Spiders can't climb the smooth sides so no lid necessary. I have found that persuading the spider to enter the glass without tickling its behind to be much more challenging for some reason. They sense the trap, or at least that it's a sterile dead end. But startle them, and they'll always run forward in a straight line.