Advice for arachnophobes...

[Guest guest]

If, like me, you've grown up with a morbid fear of our eight-legged fellow creatures, here's a bit of advice.My usual response to the sight of a spider was to reach for the insecticide, or, if it was a small enough spider, to use a tissue paper to extinguish its life.In the past decades of being on this planet, I've learned a little about these fascinating creatures. For instance, Huntsman spiders are common around where I live in Australia. You could say I grew up with them, because there's nary a year in which I haven't seen some of the species, either indoors or outdoors.Turns out these wonderful creatures are a natural 'insecticide', for they will kill and eat other 'creepy crawlies' in and around the house.Which is all by way of saying, I've learned a little about the relatedness of all living things, and the canvas on which we play out our existence.These days, when encountering a spider in the house, I use a feather duster to scoop it up and take it outside, where vigorous shaking of the duster will generally dislodge the spider and it will trundle off to carry on its affairs in the great outdoors.I've found that this procedure takes little more time than any alternative we've ever come up with, and there's a feeling of satisfaction in seeing the befuddled arachnid scamper off, wondering what just happened.From time to time, when we're aware of a Huntsman in the house, we let it stay there. It doesn't trouble us, and keeps the insect population in check. We even called one "Harry the Huntsman". He was with us for a few weeks and then disappeared. We figured that, since he was generally near our back door, which we kept open during hot summer nights, he probably found better pickings outside than inside.Regards,Detlef