Scared of spiders but not crane flies?

[Misty Avich]

Like a lot of people I have an irrational fear of spiders. But for some reason I have never been afraid of crane flies. This is a crane fly.

Spoiler: example

Like spiders, crane flies have long legs and look very much like spiders, and I heard that many arachnophobics are equally afraid of crane flies too. But I'm not at all. I can pick them up and they don't give me the heebie-jeebies like spiders do.
I even used to collect as many crane flies as I could and take them to my bedroom, and just happily slept in a room full of crane flies hovering around me.

How come I'm not afraid of these little fellas? Is it because they fly? Maybe the wings kind of dissolve my spider phobia? Or maybe because they only have 6 legs and not 8 so they glide rather than scuttle or cling? It's very strange how loving I am of crane flies but how fearful I am of spiders.

Anyone else?

 

[Misty Avich]

Ironically I'm more afraid of the harmless spiders than I am of any poisonous spiders. With any harmful animals or insects, I avoid them and may worry if I'm too near something that will cause harm, but I'm not afraid the way I am of spiders. In England most spiders don't bite. The ones that do bite normally hide themselves away and mind their own business. The harmless ones are those big house spiders with the wiry legs, which usually just appear on the floor or on the wall and scuttle really fast like a huge claw or something. I feel nauseous to even think about them.

 

[GrownupGirl]

Where I live most spiders are harmless and I don't mind them, and they eat crane flies, which I don't like. Crane flies creep me out. Maybe because they look like really big mosquitoes, even though I know they don't drink blood?

Here in Canada people call them Daddy Long-Legs, but a Daddy Long-Legs is really a type of spider. I read that they're also called mosquito-eaters, but they don't eat mosquitoes, or any other bugs. As adults they have such a short lifespan they don't usually eat anything at all.

 

[Wolfnox]

Respectful of spiders. Same with snakes.

 

[avanaphia]

I'm afraid of spiders but it depends. Cellar spiders (or daddy long legs) don't bother me that much. Crane flies are okay. I don't mind ants as long as they stay outside. Butterflies are pretty. Moths are alright. But as for anything else, it's a solid no from me.

 

[Misty Avich]

Crane flies are called daddy longlegs in the UK too but I say crane flies so that everybody understands. In the US daddy longlegs are those spindly spiders, which I'm afraid of.

 

[Tom]

I was just thinking about Daddy Long Legs a lot yesterday. Stumbled upon them in online ramblings. They have always been one of my favorite bugs, though they are not true bugs or insects or even spiders. But there are actually several things called Daddy Longs Legs including a family of long legged spiders and Crane Flies.

The one I mean and very common worldwide is one of the Opiliones and also known as the Harvestmen.

Ode to Daddy Long Legs

What an amazing creature thou art.
Almost twice as old as Dinosaurs
Friend of the Garden and Peoplekind
No venom hast thee... and only two eyes praise be

Just a ball with legs
Might as well be from Venus
Literally will eat anything
No silk make ye, but you protect the babies

WMBTWWP*


*What Must Be The World's Worst Poet

 

[Magna]

Like a lot of people I have an irrational fear of spiders. But for some reason I have never been afraid of crane flies. This is a crane fly.

Spoiler: example

View attachment 115854

Like spiders, crane flies have long legs and look very much like spiders, and I heard that many arachnophobics are equally afraid of crane flies too. But I'm not at all. I can pick them up and they don't give me the heebie-jeebies like spiders do.
I even used to collect as many crane flies as I could and take them to my bedroom, and just happily slept in a room full of crane flies hovering around me.

How come I'm not afraid of these little fellas? Is it because they fly? Maybe the wings kind of dissolve my spider phobia? Or maybe because they only have 6 legs and not 8 so they glide rather than scuttle or cling? It's very strange how loving I am of crane flies but how fearful I am of spiders.

Anyone else?

Maybe it's because Crane Flies are completely harmless, don't bite and don't seem to be attracted to people. Spiders, even harmless ones, since they crawl they can easily crawl on people, across feet, etc. I'm not afraid of spiders, but I have a huge issue with anything crawling on me. I've had spiders crawl on me and actually wake me up from the sensation. Not cool. I generally leave spiders alone even if they're in my house. Spiders that crawl on me and/or wake me up from crawling on me are exterminated.

 

[Tom]

This is the time of year when they start showing up here, when I open the door there's 20 of them sitting in the small space around the door because it's getting colder outside. It's silly but I try to gently remove all of them so I don't crush them when I close the door, it takes some time. I spend hours every autumn rescuing Daddy Long Legs from doors.

Very delicate creatures. In one old farm house we lived in they were in an attached laundryroom where I used to sit on a bench to smoke. Everynight they would come out and circle round and round the floor looking for tasty bugs to eat. They don't bother crops but eat pests and fungi and even carcasses and fecal matter. Amazing survivors at least 410 million years old and basically unchanged all that time.

 

[Outdated]

I've grown up around spiders and I wouldn't say I have a fear of them but I have no great love for them either. I do however have a bit of a soft spot for Huntsmans. They're harmless to humans and very active and they'll quickly clean out any insects they find in your house. They also don't build webs.

I'm glad you posted a picture of a Crane Fly, I'd never heard of such a thing before.

 

[Forest Cat]

They're harmless to humans and very active and they'll quickly clean out any insects they find in your house.

I mentioned before that I saw one on tv that tried to wrestle a stick out of a womans hand when she poked it to get it to move out of the way. It attacked the stick! And I think it would have beaten her with that stick if it had gotten a hold of it. No way are those things harmless.

 

[Shamar]

Like a lot of people I have an irrational fear of spiders. But for some reason I have never been afraid of crane flies. This is a crane fly.

Spoiler: example

View attachment 115854

Like spiders, crane flies have long legs and look very much like spiders, and I heard that many arachnophobics are equally afraid of crane flies too. But I'm not at all. I can pick them up and they don't give me the heebie-jeebies like spiders do.
I even used to collect as many crane flies as I could and take them to my bedroom, and just happily slept in a room full of crane flies hovering around me.

How come I'm not afraid of these little fellas? Is it because they fly? Maybe the wings kind of dissolve my spider phobia? Or maybe because they only have 6 legs and not 8 so they glide rather than scuttle or cling? It's very strange how loving I am of crane flies but how fearful I am of spiders.

Anyone else?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am not aware of any species of spider with wings.

 

[Forest Cat]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am not aware of any species of spider with wings.

If they do exist, I bet a dollar they live in Australia.

 

[Misty Avich]

I've grown up around spiders and I wouldn't say I have a fear of them but I have no great love for them either. I do however have a bit of a soft spot for Huntsmans. They're harmless to humans and very active and they'll quickly clean out any insects they find in your house. They also don't build webs.

I'm glad you posted a picture of a Crane Fly, I'd never heard of such a thing before.

Those are the ones that scare me the most.

 

[Outdated]

Those are the ones that scare me the most.

I have no real problem with them until one runs across my face in the middle of the night. Even I have a hard time dealing with that.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

When I do macroinvertebrate sampling for stream quality, I enjoy finding Crane Fly larvae (Tipulidae). they are sensitive to pollutants and lack of oxygen. But, they are damned ugly.

 

[Suzanne]

How funny is this post for me.

Just the other day, as I was watching a crain fly. I had the thought: you creep along. You have lots of legs. So, how come I do not shudder?

I did lose the shudder with spiders once, due to a book I read: all creatures great and small by James Herriot. But, one time, a massive spider was on my husband's jacket and he hurriedly threw it off and I stupidly and yep, showing off, picked it up and it attack my finger. I am blessed that all I got was a tiny lump. From that moment on, I decided I best not be so arrogant. However, I still can pick them up with a cup and not freak out.

My deep hatred is for flies.

 

[Suzanne]

Maybe it's because Crane Flies are completely harmless, don't bite and don't seem to be attracted to people. Spiders, even harmless ones, since they crawl they can easily crawl on people, across feet, etc. I'm not afraid of spiders, but I have a huge issue with anything crawling on me. I've had spiders crawl on me and actually wake me up from the sensation. Not cool. I generally leave spiders alone even if they're in my house. Spiders that crawl on me and/or wake me up from crawling on me are exterminated.

I felt a tickle on my face and off fell a huge spider. Happily, at that time, I was ok with them, so kind of laughed and said: thanks for that and took it outside.

 

[Tom]

Another thing that stood out to me about the Daddy Long Legs was the color pattern. The Harvestmen is not heavily equiped with offensive armament. No big jaws, no stinger or venom. But is has a wide variety of defense mechanisims ncluding frezzing, playing dead, bobbing (which woukd be called zig-zagging in the army and navy and 'jinking' in the air force) and a powerful stink gland that secretes a chemical cocktail that makes it taste terrible. But I was wondering if the two toned color pattern: brown on top and whiteish on bottom was also a camoflauge strategy. The brown most certainly is, but what about the bottom?

We use that pattern sometimes on military aircraft. The idea is that seen from above it blends in with the ground and seen from below it blends in with the sky. I remember it especially on fighters and ground attack aircraft like the A-10 Warthog.

 

[Misty Avich]

This is a strange one:

A couple of years ago I remember I was in the garden when I felt a really sharp, burning pain underneath my arm. I lifted my arm to see a wasp was under there. I yelled ''ouch, ouch!'' and got my husband to flick it away with a stick before it stung any further, and he did. But I wasn't scared, it just hurt.
However, if there had been a (harmless) spider on me, I would have SCREAMED like Marv does in Home Alone when he has the pet spider on his face.

So a wasp can give me an agonising pain and I was calm, a little bit wary and upset because of the pain but no fear from the wasp itself, yet one of those harmless house spiders can really cause a massive ruckus lol.