Woohoo!!! I Dit It!

[Pixie]

This will sound absolutely ridiculous to the majority of you but I've made a huge step tonight in overcoming my phobia and I'm unbelievably proud of myself! I just had to tell someone! lol

Since my early teens, I have had an insane and intense phobia of grasshoppers and crickets. I have at home snakes, lizards, tarantulas and rats all of which I love dearly and scare most people. But one of the things I am most deathly phobic about are the darned crickets!!!

Throw some moderate to severe generalized anxiety disorder and mixing me with crickets was a mess!!! You want to see a grown woman have a histerical fit and cry like a two year old? Throw a cricket my way and you'll get that very quickly!!! LOL

Anyways, I recently acquired 2 beautiful new tarantulas (thanks Rob :D) and one is still a youngster, therefore I have pretty much no choice but to feed it crickets. In the past when I've fed crickets to my tarantulas, I got their meal portion in separate bags and as soon as I got home, snipped a corner and dumped them into the tanks with the T's.

That alone took me over a year to do myself! I had my bf or friends do it for me before or fed pinky mice since my first two T's were pretty much full grown when I got them. Since I got my new T's, I figured I really had to work on getting rid of my phobia. My first "lesson" was when I went to the reptile shop to get feeders, I asked them if I could "play" in the tanks to get over my fear. The workers thought it was hilarious and of course I had to be brave in front of them!!! Didn't touch any but stuck my hand in a tank with hundreds and shook around the egg carton pieces.

I took home a couple of dozen that day and set them up in a critter keeper. My bf has been in charge of fishing out the crickets for me and throwing them in the T's tanks but tonight I felt especially daring.

I actually went in the container, got a cricket and fed it to my T!!!!!

This is SO huge for me, I still can't believe I dit it!!! 45 minutes later my heart is still pounding some!

Woohoo!

Silly Pixie! ;)

[paul_le_snake]

good onya

cheers
paul

[ohh_kristina]

lol :D

[Tim_Cranwill]

I can't stand crickets either or spiders for that matter! :D Good job. You're brave.

[Tim and Julie B]

Good job:D When Tim bought me my first reptile, a leo later named Fatty cause she had a partial tail, I had to get him to bag up the crix for feeding, my phobia wasn't as severe as yours. It took me about 6 months to get them myself. Now, no prob, but I won't touch the mealies though. Ewwwwww

So congrats on your progress,
Julie B.

[TheRedDragon]

Good for you for getting over you fear. That's one of the many reasons why I want to get a tarantula...to help me get over my arachnaphobia. :)

[CDN-Cresties]

Awesome job, their not so bad after all :D

-Steve-

[Pixie]

Thanks for the kind words folks :)

I still can't believe that I did it!!! Hehehe! Never thought I'd ever get the nerve to myself, rubber gloves helps TONS!!! lol

The fact that my phobia stopped me from taking care of some of my animals entirely really bugged me and it prevented me from getting some other kinds of animals. No more! I will not let crickets rule my life and choices! lol

Nothing like new pets for motivation :D

Pixie

[Emily-Fisher]

Good Job Anny!!! Now you can come over and babysit my frogs! ;):D

[Pookie]

Excellent work! It's good to see someone who's determined to take care of her animals the right way! :) Those crickets are pretty ugly lookin! :)

[daver676]

Way to go Pixie!!

Hip Hip HOORAY!!

:D

Dave

[OttawaChris]

Best way to overcome a phobia is to just jump in and get in its face... good on ya for having the guts pixie!!

[Lisa]

Congratulations. I don't know if i'll ever be over my fear of bugs.

[LISA127]

Good for you. I can handle any insects that I have to feed my herps, altho crix are my least favorite to deal with. Yuck! However, I myself cannot stand any type of invertebrate.

[drewlowe]

Congrats for you. Mealworms aren't as bad as crix. I don't really care for crix. to much, but got used to them. Plus i grew up with a bunch of boys so insects don't bother me.

[Darlene]

Way to go girl !!! I have a phobia of bugs with many legs. Soon I shall get scorpions; then a tarantula & lastly a centipede or millipede. with any luck I'll overcome, too !!!

[Colonel SB]

That is awsome pixie :D congrats on the big step....next is the fear factor eating of the crickets ;)

[Pixie]

LOL Colonel SB!!!!!!

Fat chance of that ever happening!!! I'm not afraid of the Madagascar hissing cockroaches but I wouldn't eat one for any amount of money, especially alive!!! It's beyond me that people can do it!

Smaller bugs, I can understand more. But those big buggers are a huge bite which means lots of guts and it's gotta squirm in your mouth some! Ewww, I don't think I could stomach the feel of little legs on my tongue.

I'm pretty sure I could handle softbodied worms though... Still wouldn't do it unless a nice pile of cash was involved! LOL

Pixie

[lilyskip]

way to overcome fear! woohoo!

[Invictus]

Right on Pixie!! You did the best thing. Overcoming fear by confronting it directly. I don't know if I'll ever be over my personal fear of spiders, but I am going to go skydiving to get over my fear of heights. I may let Dragon get a T soemday to help me get over my fear... but no until I have antivenom. (I have a level 3 allergy. One bite from a T, I'm dead. Plain and simple.) So, it's not spiders that I'm afraid of, it's death by asphyxiation that I'm afraid of. :D

[Tim and Julie B]

Mealworms aren't bad kind of nutty, like almonds.

[Pixie]

Invictus: What kind of allergy do you have? How can you know that you're allergic to tarantulas without having been exposed to their venom before?

Are you allergic to bees and wasps by any chance? I've never heard of a level 3 allergy before and have studied some nursing, would love an explanation.

It is a good thing to be extra cautious around T's if you're allergic to bee and wasp stings. Surprisingly though, I just found out that an avid tarantula keeper is allergic to bees and wasps but not to tarantula venom, he has been bitten. I thought that was quite surprising!

Pixie

P.S. I still wont eat worms just for the fun of it, gotta be some $$$ involved! :D

[OttawaChris]

Originally posted by Pixie
P.S. I still wont eat worms just for the fun of it, gotta be some $$$ involved! :D

Wrap them in bacon... everything seems to be delicious when you cook it in bacon LOL

[Invictus]

Originally posted by Pixie
Invictus: What kind of allergy do you have? How can you know that you're allergic to tarantulas without having been exposed to their venom before?


I was told their poison is almost identical to bees and wasps, which I am extremely allergic to. I can even die from mosquito bites. If I get even one mosquito bite, I get hives all over my body, swelling in the hands and feet, and eventually the throat if I don't take antihistamines.


I've never heard of a level 3 allergy before and have studied some nursing, would love an explanation.


That's the term my doctor used. He said level 1 is your basic allergic reaction - localized swelling and irritation, itching, etc. Level 2 is a more widespread reaction which includes the symptoms I listed above - hives, rashes, etc. Level 3 is anaphylaxis - throat swelling and compression of the windpipe resulting in death (for the laypersons here, I'm not patronizing you Pixie). I have the third level reaction to insect bites. And if a single mosquito bite can do that to me, imagine what a bee, wasp, or tarantula could do.


It is a good thing to be extra cautious around T's if you're allergic to bee and wasp stings. Surprisingly though, I just found out that an avid tarantula keeper is allergic to bees and wasps but not to tarantula venom, he has been bitten. I thought that was quite surprising!


I've heard of that before as well, but I seem to react to any and all insect and arachnid venom the same way. I've even had garden spider bites that lead to a harsh reaction. Even knowing the possibility is there for me to die from a T bite is enough for me not to want to take the chance of owning one as a pet.

[OttawaChris]

Most tarantula venoms are extremely weak... even weaker than garden spiders in many cases. If you would get something like a rose hair (Grammastola Rosea) or a pink toe (avicularia avicularia) the chances of you getting bitten are VERY VERY low... in fact I don't know of a pink toe ever biting someone before. That particular species just never seems to want to bite. Rose hairs are very mellow and fairly slow spiders that are well known for their docility.

A lot of tarantula bites that I hear and read about are dry bites too.

Basically with the more placid species of spider (like pink toes, rose hairs, PZB's or chacos) if you dont muck with them your chances of being bitten are pretty much zero. I presume you won't be trying to handle them anyway so that decreases the slim to none chance of a bite even more.

If you would like, I extend this offer to you or dragon... I will give you a rose hair tarantula free of charge (pay the shipping and she is all yours) It will be worth it to me to see 2 more cases of arachnophobia cured :D

[TheRedDragon]

Are you serious Chris??? I'd ABSOLUTELY be delighted to take one! I don't know about Invictus though, but, hopefully he'll let me! :)

[Invictus]

It's not about that. We could get 2 for what it would cost to ship one out here. :) That offer was super cool of you though Chris. Thank you. I will be sure to let you all know if I do decide to allow one in the house. In the mean time, I'm growing fond of the idea of an Emperor Scorp.....

[Clownfishie]

Wooohoo! :D Congrats, great job... I can imagine myself ever getting over my spider phobia enough to actually go near a tarantula... lol...

[XxRachxX]

yay! well done!
i completely spaz out every time a cricket jumps on me at work!! we have these tweezers which are about 1 metre long, which come in handy for squishing!! we also used to have this really greedy beardie who we launch at any loose or left over crickets:) i mostly just vacum them up.... im so glad i dont empty it!
although my college lecturer made me shove my hand into a tank full of crickets a few weeks back.... shudder... it did help though:)

[sapphire_moon]

Good Job Pixie! I have the EXACT same problem.....And that is what is preventing me from getting a darling little leo that I am always seeing.........

[Pixie]

Thanks for the explanation Invictus, I very much understand your cautiousness now! I had never heard of allergies classified into grades before, makes sense. Also, I agree with you that if you are allergic to so many insects, it is best not to take a chance hanglind a tarantula.

On the other hand, I first got into tarantulas strickly as display pets. After owning them for two years now, I just handled my first tarantula this evening!

I would hope that the idea of having one in the house will grow on you. Even if you never handle the tarantula, I am sure you will appreciate it as much. I did :) Just let your hun do the maintenance for the T (which is minimal) and you will always stay safe. Even in the worst possible scenario of an escape, the T will just hide out. It surely wont hunt you :D hehe

sapphire_moon: I got some leos since about a year now and none have eaten a cricket. They have a varied diet of worms (mealworms, silkworms, butterworms, waxworms) and the occasional pinky mouse. Even though I have gotten a lot better with crickets, I only feed them to the pets that really require them like my T's!

I am also very proud to say that I've fed 3 crickets to my T's so far all by myself! :D It's getting easier every time, phew!!! Now my heart only pounds for 5-10 minutes after instead of a half hour!!!

Pixie

[Amiechann]

crix are still a bit scary to me.. just got to where I can kindof handle mealwormss...eekkk

[LadyHawke]

i have a huge bug phobia....but its a weird one, i really hate crickets and do my best never to handle them at all, i use a container to gather them in and dump them where they are suppossed to go, i dont like it when they crawl on my arms but i can deal with it....i could never grasp one...that would just make me go into convulsions and hysterics.....lol
but i can handle my rose hair tarantula with no problem,i dont know why it just doesnt seem bug like to me and doesnt frigten me at all......now the little spiders still scare the crap outta me, lol. i just got myself a emperor scorpion, and havent built up enough nerve to handle it yet....its more bug like, but the pinchers help me think its a tiny black lobster.....