arachnophobia

[RommelDawg]

Buddyreit- I am in the same situation as you. Considering a move to AZ for a possible job opportunity and suffer from arachnophobia. Unless you actually have this fear, it is difficult to explain it to other people. It is not the fear of being bitten by a spider, as I am not concerned about their venom; it is the visual image of the spider itself which terrifies me. Not afraid of snakes or anything else for that matter, just web-building creatures with too many creepy legs.

[Marcy1210]

Rommel, I used to be absolutely terrified of spiders, crickets, beetles, locusts (when we lived outside Chicago), and anything that "crunched" when stepped upon. When I was little, if I saw a spider, I'd scream for my dad, cover my ears and he'd kill it. It wasn't until I moved here to Tucson after 12 years in the midwest, 8 in New England and 37 in the mountains of Colorado (that have pretty much the same creepy crawlies) that I could finally face a spider. The first one I saw was probably a harmless little brown house spider, but I put a glass over it, slipped a heavy piece of paper under the glass and transported Mr. Spider to the porcelain throne and he was gone. Once I did that, I started to be less afraid of them. I did the same for the scorpion and the cockroach and realized I can control these critters! It was empowering, and a lot less dangerous than spraying them with an entire can of Raid in close quarters. What I still am terrified of are the bees. Every February or so, hoardes of bees cover my hummingbird feeders like a blanket and I break out in a sweat, never go out near them, and am paralyzed by fear. Then, they're gone until the end of summer when they swarm again. Fortunately, this year we've had hundreds of hummingbirds, so they've kind of kept the bees at bay. But, since the day I woke up with a vinegaroon (whip scorpion) in my bed with me, I've thrown back the covers and thoroughly checked my bed before I get in it!

[jojoban]

Hello,
We're living near the mountains, in Starr pass (Tucson). So needless to say that there are lots of these ugly creatures in our house. I've seen lots of bark scorpions and wolf spiders in my home. Then when summer comes, tarentulas are coming too. But they stay in the bushes in front of my porch.
I don't mind the tarentulas since they are harmless and they eat scorpions. But I do mind the bark scorpions in my home, they are venimous and can dangerous for babies or little pets (we have baby and dog). So last year I called one of the pest control company. They came last july. Since then, I didn't see anymore scorpion or even spider in my home...

I have also the arachnophobia like you, but for some reasons, the tarentula is so big and hairy that it makes me think more of a plush toy than an "ugly thing". The one that is in my front yard is bigger than my hand, and seems like a cool dude who is doing her business.

Anyway, I surely understand why some people are afraid of these. But if you end up living in Tucson and are an arachnophobe, then do not live near a "wash" or a moutain. Make sure you live downtown, and you'll limit your chances to encounter these unwanted friends.

[azdr0710]

Originally Posted by buddyreit

Especially for those of us with an irrational fear to begin with!

gee, if you're not exaggerating, maybe you need to work this out first before coming....

keep the corners - inside and out - all swept up neatly, clean your kitchen, the usual....you may see roaches on the kitchen floor when you first enter it when you turn on the lights.....

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

gee, if you're not exaggerating, maybe you need to work this out first before coming....

keep the corners - inside and out - all swept up neatly, clean your kitchen, the usual....you may see roaches on the kitchen floor when you first enter it when you turn on the lights.....

Not to worry about roaches...don't take the trash out after 9...Javelina's have huge horns and teeth....

[Marcy1210]

That's true, Grannysroost! My son and a couple of neighbors were cornered last fall when the javelina were rooting around the garbage dumpster at our condo complex, and the neighbors and son were just trying to take out the trash. They backed up about 100 yards and let the javelina do their thing, and then the javelina just meandered down the road, everyone dumped their trash and high-tailed it home! Nasty critters. And btw, they're NOT pigs. They're peccaries. They're interesting~but mean.

Peccary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[kolaida]

When we lived in there, we first lived on Davis-Monthan and then moved out to Sahuarita. I don't remember how many bugs, if any, we had on base. In Sahuarita, we did have a few bugs~ a centipede at one point in the house and a black widow in the garage. They were pretty easily taken care of. (Well, except the centipede because I was alone at the time and freaking out!! LOL! Trying to unsuccessfully kill it, jumping away from it, screaming and acting like some kind of lunatic over it, haha, I finally got it onto a paper plate and threw it outside, hoping it would scamper off somewhere and then obsessively washed my hands! You're not alone in your fear of creepy crawlers!)

My dad was around for the black widow and took care of it. I only saw two tarantulas there. One was on the East Pima Campus while taking an accelerated, late class and the other was in our neighborhood (some guys, including my father, spotted a tarantula and thought it would be good father/son bonding to catch it in a jar and show it off around the place before releasing it. Luckily, that was my brother that got dragged along for the ride and all the girls got to stay behind).

I don't remember seeing any roaches (shudder) there. I'd rather deal with a centipede or spider. I saw plenty or roaches in Louisiana, though. I think we did have our home sprayed in Sahuarita because my mom was very paranoid about it, so it worked for the most part minus a few bugs over the course of a few years. Definitely kept the roaches away at any rate, lol! Most of the bugs you see will probably be outside so long as you keep a clean house