Fear of spiders seems to be just about the most common phobia I've ever come across. How do you feel about the little creatures that share your home with you?
I recently got bitten by what is known as a "False Black Widow" here in the UK. Got up one morning and put on my dressing gown and felt something wriggling about in it, opened the garment and saw a black spider in it. Brushed it away and during this process got bitten on the stomach. 5 minutes later I had a big red itchy rash about 8 inches in diameter. Any horror stories you would like to share?

To quote myself from the bad news thread:

I actually really like spiders and most insects. The exception is the Pine Bug (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monochamus_scutellatus). These things are aliens, evil, and should be exterminated. They fly around with a faint clicking sound an seem to intentionally cling to you. Grab them by the antenna and prepare for the worst hissing scream know to man. They also bit huge chunks out of you.

Seriously, [censored] everything about them. But spiders are fine. I feel bad when I see one's setup a web in a place where no insects are.

They are better than roach spray.

After http://static.fjcdn.com/large/pictures/c4/17/c4178a_279518.jpg in Afghanistan, I got over my phobia

I wonder if that would deal with our toad problem...

Wow, I definitely wouldn't want that up my trouser leg!

I'd be fine with spiders if they would only stay hidden.

I love spiders. Once you see enough funny videos of them, they begin to seem like every other creature we consider cute. Only, these things mess with their webs as if they are tuning a guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYIUFEQeh3g

Look up the video called Spiders On Drugs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLw-9dpHtcU.

Spider watching is a hobby of mine and I will go up to a spider web and watch the spider. I also love to admire the work that was put into the web. Spider watching is best done at night since the webs look far more beautiful at that time. I never handle the spiders and always avoid ones I know are poisonous or aggressive. I am freaked out by tarantulas, though. Not heavily, but their huge size can be intimidating. Their fangs also are so strong that the fangs can go through shoes. Their fuzz can also be painful if they shake it off and it gets in your eyes.

I like to allow spiders to hang out in my room if I can confirm that they are safe ones. They have been safe ones so far. I had one in here behind my hermit crab's area. I noticed it was an orb spider, so I named it Orbie and went back to what I was doing.

Don't care.

If I was a soldier I would unload my rifle into those things...they would worry me more then any insurgents

I have a respectful relationship with spiders and generally do not kill them. They are one of natures creatures that take care of other more annoying insects like mosquitoes and roaches. If they're in the house, then ill catch them in a container and place them outside.

I respect nature while in nature but any invader in my home, be it bug or man, will get squashed

Them need to die. It's me or them.

When I was a teenager we were out on a small sailing boat and moored at some island for the night. I woke up to one of my friends screaming. Spiders everywhere. A spider horde. Humans panic -> spiders bite. They were small but they were with many. The bites weren't excruciatingly painful but they were painful enough to be annoying, and they itched like hell at the same time. Ever since then I've been arachnophobic.

I still wake up in a panic sometimes having had a bad dream of some horde of creepy crawlers crawling all over me, or worse, of a giant spider (imagine a Skyrim spider or bigger) hunting me trying to have me for lunch.

Imagine my horror when watching LotR, or playing Skyrim.

I would drop my gun, run in any random direction, and call for air support.

Must have giant feet to squash men like spiders . Im pretty much the same with most other pests, but just generally not spiders. Spiders like Black Widows, however, get squashed without a 2nd thought, inside or out.

Yeah, spiders need to die. And there needs to be a war on camel spiders.

LOve spiders!

Great adaptations, keeps the other critters in check, fun to watch. I used to just watch a spider in its web..mending, spinning, capturing, etc. However, they need to stay out of the bedroom and toilet!

My wife accepts them outside, but she'll go after them like any other non-human in the house.

love daddy long legs, kill all other spiders.

Use to put them outside. Now I just flush them.

Skyrim was just pure evil on that. I think in bleak falls burrow or something, you had to run through some kind of fire trap, and when you ran to the end a bloody giant frostbite spider would descend upon you from above. Gods, i dont think im arachnophobic but i don't like spiders either. That was fairly shocking, hah. Can't imagine what its like for arachnophobic people.

Spiders are awesome. Interesting animals on their own merits, and one of the less annoying critters to have in the house. They don't make noise, they stay in their little corners, and eat the nuisances for you. I like to think of them as my semi-pets in the summer as you can come to recognize the ones that set up shop after a while.

Granted, depending on where I am in the world, I can start to get a little paranoid of black widows and brown recluses. Thankfully, both are easy to identify, and I haven't had any issues with either yet.

I'm indifferent. I don't go messing with them so I pretty much never have them coming at me. There's been some scary times though like one time while camping I did have a black widow jump at my hand.

I have no love for the beasties. They generally creep me the hell out, however, I do have a rather benificial relationship with one paticular spider outside my door. We have this bush that attracts an ungodly amount of flies, and after this spider and I had a disagreement about him setting up shop in my shoe closet he kindly set his web up outside the door, just above the fly bush. As long as he doesn't come in the house, he gets all the bastard flies and moscitos he wants.

I haven't seen the dangerous spiders, and the little ones I don't fear. But cockroaches, those are different story. I shiver thinking about them.

Don't mind the spiders, hate the webs. I have a few of the common brown house spiders in my home. I had a talk with them about their webs, and they seemed to stop making them (or my GF is killing them all).

However, if I find a spider or other bug in my house, I capture them (a clear cup and a reader service card from a magazine is perfect for this) and take them outside. Unless it is a roach, those get the shoe leather press.