Question of the Day Wednesday, May 13, 2020

[Willowy]

I lived in various parts of Japan for 9 years and never once saw a "murder hornet" or even heard of them, so hopefully their population is naturally self-limiting and we don't have a cane toad situation here.

Yeah, I'm afraid of heights and small enclosed spaces, but those seem like perfectly rational fears to me so I wouldn't call them a phobia. My mom, though, was locked in a closet by her kindergarten teacher, and now she can't even be in a regular-sized bedroom with the door closed, so I'd say that's reached phobia status.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I wouldn't say I have any phobias. There are definitely things I'm scared of like water, but I wouldn't call it a phobia. I can go on a boat, for example, as long as I don't look straight down into the water. I can go in a lake or a pool as long as my feet touch the ground. I do feel a lot of anxiety though when I look at aerial views of water, especially over the ocean. Since I'm hoping to start a career in cartography/geography, I've just had to learn to change the map views to drawn maps instead of satellite views if I ever have to look at maps of water.

 

[aliceneko]

I used to have bad arachnophobia, but I've gotten over it a lot more since I've had Toffee and Fudge - Toffee has a bit of a taste for spiders!
I have thantophobia, which is a feature of my anxiety disorder. I also get claustrophobic but it depends on the environment - I can handle lifts, as long as there aren't many people in them, but I don't like small rooms or other enclosed spaces like public toilets.

 

[Silver Crazy]

My worst arachnophobia experience was when we were dirt bike riding through the bush going up a real steep hill.
I shot between two trees and rode through the web of a bird eating spider. (Its bum end was almost the size of a tennis ball)
The spider planted itself right across the front of my helmet and all I remember is looking cross eyed at a huge set of fangs hovering above the bridge of my nose then closing my eyes and tumbling off the back of the bike hoping the spider would fall off.
I shivered and shook for about 2 hours after that. But it cured me of a fear of spiders though, look at normal size ones and think just a little bug.

 

[Willowy]

I have a funny arachnophobia story. My friend (who is arachnophobic) and I were walking the dogs on an abandoned road, and decided to trek through the woods a bit. After a while I noticed there were million and billions of little jumping spiders everywhere. I do mean everywhere. Probably 10 spiders per square inch kind of thing. It was even starting to freak me out a little and I like spiders.

But I didn't want to say anything to her so she wouldn't have a meltdown. So I started walking back toward the road, just making it seem like it was time to go or whatever. But I also knew that if she saw them and knew I saw them first and didn't warn her, she'd be mad. She was chattering on about how pretty the woods were, how it would be a good place for a picnic, etc., and I said, trying not to alarm her but also trying to let her know, "yeah but there are spiders" and she said "oh I know there are always spiders around, I just try not to think of it". But when we were almost out of the woods she saw them and freaked out. She screamed "why didn't you tell me?!?" And I said "I did!" She said "I thought you meant spiders in general!" Lol. We teased each other about that situation for a long time. "I thought you meant spiders in general" became kind of a catchphrase.

 

[denice]

Snakes I don't care what size they are and being nonvenomous which most are I am afraid of snakes. I have a bit of a fear of bats but only because of the diseases they carry, trapping and checking bats is how they track rabies in Ohio. It hasn't been too long ago that they checked two bats that had rabies. A few years ago one decided to take up residence right by my door. I rent and the management company called someone to get him. That guy was very careful even though it was a small bat he had the long heavy duty gloves and a face shield on.

 

[Xraystyle]

I lived in various parts of Japan for 9 years and never once saw a "murder hornet" or even heard of them, so hopefully their population is naturally self-limiting and we don't have a cane toad situation here.

Oh, I've definitely seen murder hornets in Korea. They are...terrifying. They're usually in the mountains, but since hiking is such a popular pastime people come into contact with them a lot. You don't often hear of people dying from their stings these days but it is certainly possible, and I'm guessing plenty of hikers end up in the hospital from getting stung.

I don't have any phobias unless you count social anxiety (lol). I tense up and can't speak and start shaking whenever there is the potential to speak to someone I want to impress. It kind of sucks when it comes to flirting because I can easily talk to guys I'm not interested in (giving them the wrong impressions) whereas I stay at least 10 yards away from the guys I actually like and pretend to ignore them. Oddly, I can do public speaking just fine (and am actually kind of good at it?)

And these aren't really phobias, but stuff that makes me very uncomfortable: sitting with my back to the door and large ships, especially ones that are docked. I hate being on a dock next to a cruise ship or a tanker. They are too big! (I can be on the boat, I just don't like being next to the boat)

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Although I don't care for creepy crawlies, they don't freak me out like THOSE other things

As Kat0121 said, DO NOT VISIT FLORIDA! I grew up there, and they're EVERYWHERE!

P.S. Mamanyt1953 Mamanyt1953 ...it's May now.

SPIT!!! My time-sense is shot, and the longer this pandemic lasts, the worse it gets! I'm going to end up with a calendar phobia!

Spoiler: ARACHNID HORROR STORY

When I worked at Lakewood Hospital in Morgan City, LA, one of my assistants came to me one day because there was a "big spider" in our bathroom. I went to look, since security was busy, and found a wolf spider that apparently had been taking steroids. This thing's body was literally the length of my palm, and about half as wide. BIG SPIDER! VERY VERY BIG SPIDER! I freaked. However, it was up to me to do something. ANYTHING. Being the respiratory department, there were things available to deal with this. I grabbed a water humidifier bottle (photo following spoiler, it was the short, fat tube), took the top off, and slapped the bottle over him. I slid a thick piece of paper under the bottle, picked it up, and got the top on, shaking like a leaf the whole time. Took him to the lab, and they got rid of him for me...NOTHING bothered those guys! The worst part was that after I put the top on the bottle, the spider kept reaching one leg up through the neck of the tube connection. I had nightmares about that for YEARS!

This photo goes with the spoiler. If you have a thing about things with eight legs, DO NOT OPEN!

 

[Norachan]

SPIT!!! My time-sense is shot, and the longer this pandemic lasts, the worse it gets! I'm going to end up with a calendar phobia!

Fixed it! We've all been trapped in a Groundhog Day time loop for so long now. It's like February has continued for 3,792 days.

 

[muffy]

i have a phobia with roaches and earwigs. i only seen two roaches in my house in the twenty five years i have lived there. my mothers house would become infested with earwigs every spring. i hope to move into an adult apartment but i am scared to death it might be infested with roaches.