DTMark Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I confess. Moths terrify me. Spiders used to scare me as a child, but one day I seemed to "get a grip" and grow out of this. Some moths, and some spiders, are actually really pretty. I can't kill anything, even if it is a moth. If it's a spider then I'll put something over the top of it and take it outside. I still can't actually touch them. Maybugs are more of a challenge - one of the joys of moving somewhere rural, you encounter hideous things you've never seen before and think "Can that fly? WIll it sting me?". Even so I can still put a bowl over it, slide something underneath and usually end up throwing the entire thing out into the garden as far as I can. Moths cause a paralysis in me, especially the really big ones with the hairy looking wings and fat bodies. Partner has to put those out. We have a book about wildlife, a really nice one someone gave me for Christmas. Flicking through that I look at the pictures of the mammals, the birds.. lovely. All of a sudden I flip over the page to be presented with a two page spread of moths and drop the book on the floor as if it had stung me. No matter how warm it is in the evening, I have to keep the windows shut for fear that a moth may fly in. Does anyone else have this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMark Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Ooh, you bitch I might have known someone would do that. Thankfully the revealing of the URL in the email notification gave it away. We had a really unusual one in the bathroom the other day which I tracked down as a "swallow-tailed moth" - didn't mind that one too much. Really pretty. Still had to get partner to deal with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ill_handle_it Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Maybe some kind of association or you learned the behaviour from an early role model. Also at some stage in our evolution these creatures may have been a threat,in that case it's hard-wired. The reality is they are of course harmless - my cat's eaten a few this evening,I think he prefers them to regular food now. I'd try to relax when one turns up and think about something that makes you calm and happy. Build up a new association to replace the anxiety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMark Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Maybe some kind of association or you learned the behaviour from an early role model. Also at some stage in our evolution these creatures may have been a threat,in that case it's hard-wired. The reality is they are of course harmless - my cat's eaten a few this evening,I think he prefers them to regular food now. I'd try to relax when one turns up and think about something that makes you calm and happy. Build up a new association to replace the anxiety. There's only one thing I hate more than seeing one on the wall, and that's when I look away, look back, and it has disappeared so I don't know where it is now. Our little black cat goes after them if she spots them, which leaves me in a duplicitous quandary about what to do, because I don't want it killed but then I don't want it in the room with me either. As an aside, there's a brilliant film called "The Cottage" in which one of the two hapless villains is terrified of moths and at one stage finds himself shut in a room full of them. I can still find that funny, even though I empathise. It's absolutely baking in this little room I use as an office because the window is shut... though in fairness there are no street lights and nothing in front of the house for a mile so an open window with a light on is like a magnet for these wretched things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMark Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Alright, I'll participate. I even managed to take a photo of the aforementioned swallow-tail. With that one it's only the tentacle bits that bother me. As long as it stays where it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 You don't mind butterflies, right? Well just think of them as butterflies. Ominously dark butterflies of the night.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 BTW what first drew you to go see a film called "The Cottage"? Naughty boy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 You are not alone Mark. One of my friends has a fear of them too! I quite like them, as insects go! They are quite colourful and furry and have big eyes! Butterflies are different from moths in that they park with their wings up. Moths wings are flat when parked! I do however have a reasonable respect for scorpions! It's best to put your boots on a metal legged stool overnight so they don't get in! I've never seen "the Cottage", but I did see "Taxi zum Klo" once in Brighton! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imminent_plunge Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 There's only one thing I hate more than seeing one on the wall, and that's when I look away, look back, and it has disappeared so I don't know where it is now. Our little black cat goes after them if she spots them, which leaves me in a duplicitous quandary about what to do, because I don't want it killed but then I don't want it in the room with me either. As an aside, there's a brilliant film called "The Cottage" in which one of the two hapless villains is terrified of moths and at one stage finds himself shut in a room full of them. I can still find that funny, even though I empathise. It's absolutely baking in this little room I use as an office because the window is shut... though in fairness there are no street lights and nothing in front of the house for a mile so an open window with a light on is like a magnet for these wretched things. Cats are great but ruthless. I'm scared of spiders, though don't believe in killing them. I trapped one under a pint glass with the intention of taking it outdoors, went away for a few minutes and came back to an overturned glass and the remains of the spider's legs disappearing down my cat's mouth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainlessSteelCat Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 It's absolutely baking in this little room I use as an office because the window is shut... though in fairness there are no street lights and nothing in front of the house for a mile so an open window with a light on is like a magnet for these wretched things. Blackout curtains and the windows open is the answer. I live in the middle of the countryside too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilf Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Cats are great but ruthless. I'm scared of spiders, though don't believe in killing them. I trapped one under a pint glass with the intention of taking it outdoors, went away for a few minutes and came back to an overturned glass and the remains of the spider's legs disappearing down my cat's mouth... Pretty much my method when it comes to spider disposal, throw the cat in the room and let the games begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hail the Tripod Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Aversion therapy. Isn't aversion therapy for stuff you like a bit too much, rather than stuff you're terrified of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AThirdWay Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Get a dog. Guy two floors below me has a Jack Russell, and I have never witnessed such single mindedness in an animal. Anything flying in the room, he's on it...... Course, he has to be lofted up to get the high flyers No need to feel guilty either, it's just nature at work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantic Purple Slug Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 You have good reason to be scared. Any moth could mutate into the mighty Mothra : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay67 Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 We noticed a few moths a couple of summers ago, whilst sitting around after an outdoor meal. They seemed to be attracted by the security light. The only one I managed to find on Google was the swallow tail moth,which was a pretty lemon colour.The photo in the thread has a bit of flash,and they're more attractive in real life.(Sometimes described as 'the flying post-it note!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swissy_fit Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 If you like spiders so much then do a google image search on 'Camel Spider Bite' : Camel Spider Bite (Images) Buckers From Wiki :- Solifugae are the subject of many urban legends and exaggerations about their size, speed, behaviour, appetite, and lethality. They are not especially large, the biggest having a leg span of about 12 cm (4.7 in).[2] They are fast on land compared to other invertebrates with their top speed estimated to be 16 km/h (10 mph),[1] about one third as fast as the fastest human sprinter.[15] Members of this order of Arachnida apparently have no venom, with the possible exception of one species in India (Rhagodes nigrocinctus) as suggested in one study,[16] and do not spin webs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARIMA Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I confess. Moths terrify me. Spiders used to scare me as a child, but one day I seemed to "get a grip" and grow out of this. Some moths, and some spiders, are actually really pretty. I can't kill anything, even if it is a moth. If it's a spider then I'll put something over the top of it and take it outside. I still can't actually touch them. Maybugs are more of a challenge - one of the joys of moving somewhere rural, you encounter hideous things you've never seen before and think "Can that fly? WIll it sting me?". Even so I can still put a bowl over it, slide something underneath and usually end up throwing the entire thing out into the garden as far as I can. Moths cause a paralysis in me, especially the really big ones with the hairy looking wings and fat bodies. Partner has to put those out. We have a book about wildlife, a really nice one someone gave me for Christmas. Flicking through that I look at the pictures of the mammals, the birds.. lovely. All of a sudden I flip over the page to be presented with a two page spread of moths and drop the book on the floor as if it had stung me. No matter how warm it is in the evening, I have to keep the windows shut for fear that a moth may fly in. Does anyone else have this? Are you scared of moths, or are you actually scared of the Moth Man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scunnered Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Moth ............ mother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solitaire Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I confess. Moths terrify me. No matter how warm it is in the evening, I have to keep the windows shut for fear that a moth may fly in. Does anyone else have this? I like moths but am terrified of spiders that come into the house through the windows when it cools down in the evenings and needed a solution so I'm currently kitting out the upstairs windows (which you need to keep open overnight in this hot weather) with black net curtains. I've bought some with a bottom hem so I can slot a tension rod through there as well and I'm hoping this will solve the problem. Should work for moths even better as they're less likely to creep in round the edges. Moths, of course, are attracted by the light, so being black nets it might cut down the attraction a bit as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 If you won't kill them, you will have problems. I just spray insecticide about the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMark Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 BTW what first drew you to go see a film called "The Cottage"? Naughty boy. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465430/ It's a comedy - I thought it hilarious, if you liked "Severance" you'll love this. This clip, apart from having some eye-candy, hints at the scene with the moths though it doesn't actually show them which is nice. It's very much my kind of humour, apart from the bit where one of the kidnappers goes into the village to use the phone box, the most memorable scene for me is when they're making their way through the countryside when she reads out a sign someone has put up: "keep of land.... obviously some thick f*** lives here". Really highly recommended. We noticed a few moths a couple of summers ago, whilst sitting around after an outdoor meal. They seemed to be attracted by the security light. A bit harsh, but if you leave the light above the front door on, all the moths come down and the resident pair of bats pick them off one at a time - you get incredibly close views. I think the bats live in the loft, I'm not scared of them, but I dread going up there. I like moths but am terrified of spiders that come into the house through the windows when it cools down in the evenings When the farmer does his harvest (he really does have a brand new combine harvester) they all come out of the fields and infest the house. I'm not really selling the rural life very well here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNACR Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Surprised you prefer maybugs, to moths, as they're a lot more like something that's crawled out of a display case at the Natural History museum. Hadn't really ever seen any until I moved to the country either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Not a problem with moths or spiders unless they bite, can even suffer a cockroach or rat.....but a biting fly, flea, wasp or mossie forget it they are the ones on my hit list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Not a problem with moths or spiders unless they bite, can even suffer a cockroach or rat.....but a biting fly, flea, wasp or mossie forget it they are the ones on my hit list. Geckos are quite good for eating mosquitos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMark Posted July 26, 2013 Author Share Posted July 26, 2013 Surprised you prefer maybugs, to moths, as they're a lot more like something that's crawled out of a display case at the Natural History museum. Hadn't really ever seen any until I moved to the country either. "Prefer" would be a bit strong. I've only ever seen two. Hideous things, like scarab beetles. One was on the floor of the kitchen one night. Partner and I went back and forth looking at it trying to decide what to do. I think we were both bolloxed at the time, which didn't help. It's one of the joys of rural life, like the blood-curdling noise of a barn owl or its prey in the middle of the night especially when it catches a small mammal in the lane outside, or the barking scream of a stag on heat and out of sight just on the other side of the hedgerow when you're trying to entice one of the cats in that sends you right back to the basic human/animal instincts of fight or flight - "What the f*** is that" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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