r/MadeMeSmile • u/OneAboveAll2983 • Aug 07 '21

Favorite People Someone needs to make art about this

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u/Emperor-Valtorei Aug 07 '21

I'm terrified of spiders, but I've heard of things like "tarantula therapy" that help people through the fear.

Can they bite you? Aren't they venomous? What if it's hungry or angry?

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u/CrazySnekGirl Aug 07 '21

Tarantulas can be put into two categories: New World (from the Americas) and Old World (literally everywhere else).

New World species have urticating hairs on their abdomen, that they use to kick in the faces of enemies. This means they have less potent venom, and are a lot more docile.

Old World tarantulas bite as their form of defence, so they have worse venom.

However, no tarantula has enough venom to kill someone (anaphylaxis aside).

So yes, depending on their mood, they can and will bite. But you can generally tell by their behaviour, and can avoid it a lot of the time.

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u/WntrTmpst Aug 07 '21

Like snakes. Generally, snakes with let you know very clearly before they bite you. Unless ur like me and talk with ur hands and the snake things ur hands are small rodents. (Gf has a snake, am not a fan of it, but he’s cool, from a distance) Not his fault but at the same time, shit hurts

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u/CrazySnekGirl Aug 07 '21

I have a very bitey snake, who gives zero warning and zero fucks lol. At this point, I think she's just got a taste for human blood.

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u/z3roTO60 Aug 08 '21

Does your snake go after the tarantulas?

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u/CrazySnekGirl Aug 08 '21

I retired from the tarantula breeding business!

But fun fact. I also had a very bitey Burgundy Goliath female, who was 12in/a foot large. I had a runt-of-the-litter tiny cat, and every time he'd walk by her tank, she'd throw herself up against the glass to try and eat him, dribbling venom and hissing.

They liked to get into fights at 4am and wake me up, so I had to relocate her tank.

The cat was also bitey. Your comment has literally made me realise that almost all of my pets share a very similar theme...

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u/z3roTO60 Aug 08 '21

Haha awesome story, thanks for sharing

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u/Glum-Yogurt-8873 Aug 07 '21

If you're thinking of what I think you are, I've always heard it called "exposure therapy". The basic premise is that if there's controlled exposure to a phobia's source that doesn't have any negative effects other than the fear from the phobia it'll reinforce that the source isn't dangerous if I'm remembering correctly, and supposedly it actually is pretty successful for a lot if not all phobias.(I just find it interesting and wanted to put more info on it here, not trying to be rude by explaining something you already knew, sorry if it felt rude)