I would not shoot down the Idea of keeping a tarantula as a pet.
Allot of men and women have gotten over there fear of spiders by getting a tarantula as a pet, maybe some of those members can reply to this topic and just share there experience.

We do have those sonar things that you plug into the wall, I highly doubt they work though, all just gemic to make money.

I think you are heading in the right steps.
I know how you feel, well second hand feeling that is, my mother and Aunt are scared of spiders, my Aunt worse than my mother.
But I must say this, my mom has gotten better every since I had the tarantulas, she can look at them for a couple of mins and then I need to take them away but also learning about spider and tarantulas makes it interesting and makes you almost understand them.

You can build things to help you remove spdier, like a 2 liter coke bottle with bottom cut off and a piece of paper to use as an insert, the bottle goes over the spider and then you use the paper to slide under the bottle trapping the spider inside and then going out side and putting the bottle down and removing paper and walk away slowly.

I know it is easier said than done, but it sounds like you are a strong person and want to help them or you would of killed them ages of ago, with a couple cans of doom (bug killer)

Where are you staying?
In house, flat, outside town, in town, farm.

Nicola Taylor wrote: ... Book ordered ...

Here is another book you might try.

No, this book was not written to try to cure you of your phobia. Neither was it written to try to talk you into buying a giant fuzzy spider. (Although, you may certainly do so once you read the book, if you wish.)

It’s the Tarantula Keeper’s Guide (a.k.a., TKG3). And yes, my wife (now deceased) and I wrote it! And, the book was written to help a novice learn how to take care of a huge, fuzzy spider if they were considering buying one, or already had one.

It WILL walk you through a basic understanding of one remarkable group of spiders, however. If you can tolerate reading about tarantulas, and seeing photos of them, it might be a great help.

TKG3 is sometimes a bit difficult to find outside of North America. Look for it in a neighborhood, public library. Maybe they can get a copy through the Interlibrary Loan Service or its equivalent. Otherwise, contact Dimitri Kambas . He might be able to help.

Nicola Taylor wrote: ... appointment made with doctor ...

Good! Phobias shouldn’t be treated by amateurs any more than broken legs or appendicitis.

Nicola Taylor wrote: ... and a friend is taking me to see some big ones on Wednesday ...

Be careful about this! Amateur interventions often do more damage than good.

Having said that, what follows here may be considered a bit of an amateur intervention! It will be of little or no help with your problem, but it may explain something about the background behind it. After you’ve conquered your phobia, if you remember what I’m about to say, you may smile a little, and look in a mirror to stick out your tongue at the ghost!

YOU ARE NOT AFRAID OF SPIDERS! You are afraid of an imaginary “thing” that calls itself a spider. We'll call it a ghost because I'm not sure if there is a better name for the concept, or if either of us would really understand the concept behind a more professional term. You haven’t the foggiest idea of what a spider really is because your ghost won’t let you look at a real spider or learn about it. A “spider” by your ghost’s definition is a small blur that is the same as your ghost and a source of unbridled terror, not a real spider.

Once you learn what a real spider really is, that they have nothing in common with the ghost in your mind, your problem merely becomes one of getting rid of the ghost, NOT THE SPIDER!

That’s why I am recommending that you read the books. They’ll help to foil the propaganda from your ghost. They’ll help you divorce the scary concept of “SPIDER,” and the phantom that haunts you, from the real thing.

Once that happens, real spiders become things of mild interest or outright fascination. And, your therapist or doctor then only has to help you kill the ghost. And, that’s a relatively easy thing to do. Certainly much easier than getting rid of all the spiders in your life!

Best of luck. I hope this helps.

Tarantulas are survivors. Someday they'll be digging their burrows on our graves.
-- S. A. Schultz

If you decided to get the book. You can find it on www.tarantulacafe.co.za

Hope you get over your phobia

Sent from my PokieBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

Hey Nicola

This is my personal experience.
I used to be afraid of spiders as in "get me the #%^& out of this room there is a spider in here" kind of afraid i wouldnt be able to stay in the same room as them. I would always have nightmares or spiders running down and such.
Then a couple of years ago I went to an exotic pet expo with the intention of getting bearded dragon. while i was there some one conned me into holding a really big tarantula. i instantly got over my fear and fell in love with these hairy creatures. I left the expo with 4 tarantulas and before long i had 30. I was still scared of true spiders for a couple of months but not half as bad as it was before. And after holding my baby Tarantulas and learning so much about them it wasnt long till i had conquored my fear.
P.S. Rain spiders still freak me out!!! but the rest of them get to live freely in my house now. if i see one in the corner of the room i just leave it be.

Hope you get over your fear and maybe even become a tarantula collector

hey thats perfectly normal, i have 2 T's and i love them to bits but let there be another spider in my room i scream like a little girl not that i have a fear i guess its just a reaction... but spiders is a common fear.... the fear u have of spiders i have of birds... i literally feel like im gonna be sick everytime a see a bird or hear flapping wings lol

I was in the exact same boat 3 years ago. I ended up going to a pet shop one day and I found myself looking at the spiders doing the typical "eww, gross keep that nasty thing locked away" kinda thing. Mr pet shop owner would not have it, he pulled out a big fat salmon bird eater put it on my arm and I instantly felt ok with it. He was a damn good salesman too, I left that day with two little guys and my collection has grown since.

It's a slow process getting over the fear though but I've found that just exposing myself to the things (dirty mind kicks in) on a daily basis has numbed my fear. I still run for cover when the spider threat poses me but I've come a long long way since then.

Alcohol helps too, I remember coming home from a crazy night out, stumbling into my room and deciding that I should remove an uneaten cricket from my A. geniculata's tank. This spider hates my guts but drunk me sticks my hands in grabs the cricket and brushes the spider out of the way. The fact that I didn't get bitten made me feel better because now I know that they'd much rather run away.

I hope you manage to sort out your phobia at some point.

O and btw I'm in Fourways too