My Friend the Tarantula

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The picture above is a tarantula. In case you didn't get that from the title. Tarantulas make up the largest eight group of aracnids. Nothing like a picture of a spider to send chills down your neck. These little creatures fuel my nightmares. They probably have been the cause of many nightmares. Spiders didn’t always scare me.

I'm sure that some people out there love these little arachnids. When I was little kid I thought that these furry critters were awesome. I was probably 4 or 5 then, so I was unaware they could bite me if I scared them. It never once crossed my mind that the large pointy objects on their face were fangs. Luckily they never decided to bite me. Oddly enough my mother never seemed to mind having a spider that was considerably larger than my little hand wandering around on me.

When we would drive out to our ranch I would beg my mom to stop so I could catch one in a Styrofoam cup. I knew that they were easy to see on the road. When I spotted one my mom would pull the car over. I would scurry over and lightly tap the spider into the cup. Once back in the car it was play time. It would crawl on my hands and legs. Then run across the back seat. They never seemed to mind being handled. Maybe they are just really docile. I was never rough with the little fellows.

Once at the ranch I would place it on the ground. The spider being the free soul that it is would generally scurry away. Thinking back the ranch was a much safer place for the spider than the highway. Think about how many insects and arachnids you’ve killed while driving. The tarantulas don’t have to worry about that if they are far away from the road. As the spider would dart away into the brush I would wave and pretend he was going out to hunt.

I am unsure how many total I caught as we only went out to the ranch a few time a year; probably as a guess around ten to twelve. Which granted is not a lot, but for a 5-year-old it was more than enough. Perhaps my innocence with such a large gentle spider is why my mom was willing to let me catch them. I wonder if my mom knew that I was safe and wouldn’t get bit, or just didn’t realize they had suck large fangs.

Fast forward to today I scream like a little girl when I walk through a web. frantically trying to make sure no little hitchhiker are on me. As for the tarantula I still marvel at them, but from behind a glass container at the local pet store. I just can’t bring myself to pick one up even though I’m sure it would not bite me. The fear of being bitten is somewhat overwhelming.

Naifaz