How Maggie the spider made me a man
A scream emanated from the bathroom.
‘What is it?’ came the concerned reply from the bedroom.
‘Spider!’ I reported, as once again I repeated the disagreeable routine of snaring a huge, gangling monster, one of the many that have taken to my upstairs of late. I have been in wars, climbed mountains, sailed oceans and walked across continents, but I’m still scared witless by an itsybitsy spider. I should know better.
According to recent research, over 50 per cent of women believe that a ‘real man’ shouldn’t be frightened of spiders. Tellingly, only a pitiful 10 per cent of men think the same way.
Consequently, after my latest encounter, I decided that it was time to face my fears. And so it was with curious amusement that I went to ZSL London Zoo, along with 40 others, to attend the Friendly Spider Programme, a sensitively planned afternoon of cognitive therapy aimed at helping arachnophobes overcome their fear of arachnids.
Dave Clarke, the zoo’s a able Head of Invertebrates and a recovering arachnophobe himself, started by explaining just how bad arachnophobia can get. It can prevent people leaving their homes or going on holiday, and in extreme cases can cause car accidents and even plane crashes.
In the lecture room – which was thoroughly checked for spiders beforehand, of course – I sat next to Anne. She had recently moved into a cottage in Bromley which, it appeared, she was sharing with rather a lot of spiders. Her daughter, who usually disposed of the creatures, had just left home to go to university, so Anne was having to come to terms with her fear – or face moving out.
One of the main reasons for our fear of spiders is that they are di cult to control.
As John Clifford, a hypnotherapist from the Centre of Clinical Hypnosis in London and an integral part of the Friendly Spider Programme, explained, they have a nasty habit of turning up unexpectedly.
Drawing on a white board, he showed how arachnophobia is founded on reactions that are lodged deep in our primeval subconscious. But he also stressed that while arachnophobia is quite natural, it is not logical. After all, when we run into a spider, it is usually doing its utmost to avoid ‘lumbering human beings’, especially as more often than not the spider is the one that will lose out. Rose from Putney confirmed this when she confessed to wrapping one of the hapless beasts in tissue and then ironing it to a cinder.
In the straw poll conducted round the room, it seemed that a spider’s alien looks, the speed at which it moves, the way it kills, and especially its webs, were its most terrifying traits. It is also a phobia that has been fuelled by baseless rumours, spoof online images and a string of horror films.
But the fear is very real indeed. Five people in the audience admitted to inviting strangers in off the street to remove spiders, while others had called taxis, the police and the fire brigade to remove one.
Once the causes of our fear had been clarifed, Dave turned his attention to the business of understanding spiders and the house spider, Tegenaria duellica, in particular. Of the 700-odd species that inhabit the British Isles, it is this variety that we most commonly encounter, largely in the autumn when male spiders are looking for a mate.
They are harmless to humans and as they can neither see nor hear very well, screaming is a futile gesture. Indeed, you are better off stamping your feet twice – on feeling the first vibration they will freeze, and on the second, scamper off.
Feeling partially reassured, we then had an a rming session of group hypnosis, before being ushered across the road to come face-to-face with the objects of our dread, and learn a simple – and harmless – trap-and-rescue technique, involving a plastic cup and a piece of cardboard. It was here that the brilliant staff at ZSL London Zoo, so understanding of the disproportionate terror these creatures can instil in some people, earned their pay.
But there was one more treat in store: a 20-year-old Mexican redkneed tarantula named Maggie. About the size of a hamster, she was a homely little creature from a species normally found in a burrow deep in the forest.
Despite her audience of (now recovering) arachnophobes, Maggie quickly captured the limelight and everyone fawned over her like a newborn baby. First one person, then two, then queues formed to hold Maggie amid much personal bravery, crying, and whoops of joy.
As more and more people handled her, an overwhelming sense of relief washed over us. A burden of fear that some people had carried for years, was lifted. A lady named Jo summed it up for me. Tears rolling down her cheeks and with Maggie cupped in the palms of her hands, she turned to Dave and whispered, ‘Thank you for giving me back my life.’
ZSL London Zoo’s Friendly Spider Programme is designed to ease or eliminate the fear of spiders. A combination of cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnotherapy, the course runs throughout the year. For details: 0844-225 1826, www.zsl.org – adults £135, concessions £94.50. Bristol and Dudley Zoos run similar courses.
Centre of Clinical Hypnosis: 05603-304 839, www.cch-hypnosis.com
Place it over the animal, taking care that legs and body parts are not trapped.
Slide a piece of cardboard under the glass.
Holding the glass and cardboard at the same time, lift up from the surface and remove the spider to an outside space or an open window.
Release the cardboard and let the spider to go.
There is no need to kill spiders!
‘What is it?’ came the concerned reply from the bedroom.
‘Spider!’ I reported, as once again I repeated the disagreeable routine of snaring a huge, gangling monster, one of the many that have taken to my upstairs of late. I have been in wars, climbed mountains, sailed oceans and walked across continents, but I’m still scared witless by an itsybitsy spider. I should know better.
According to recent research, over 50 per cent of women believe that a ‘real man’ shouldn’t be frightened of spiders. Tellingly, only a pitiful 10 per cent of men think the same way.
Consequently, after my latest encounter, I decided that it was time to face my fears. And so it was with curious amusement that I went to ZSL London Zoo, along with 40 others, to attend the Friendly Spider Programme, a sensitively planned afternoon of cognitive therapy aimed at helping arachnophobes overcome their fear of arachnids.
Dave Clarke, the zoo’s a able Head of Invertebrates and a recovering arachnophobe himself, started by explaining just how bad arachnophobia can get. It can prevent people leaving their homes or going on holiday, and in extreme cases can cause car accidents and even plane crashes.
In the lecture room – which was thoroughly checked for spiders beforehand, of course – I sat next to Anne. She had recently moved into a cottage in Bromley which, it appeared, she was sharing with rather a lot of spiders. Her daughter, who usually disposed of the creatures, had just left home to go to university, so Anne was having to come to terms with her fear – or face moving out.
One of the main reasons for our fear of spiders is that they are di cult to control.
As John Clifford, a hypnotherapist from the Centre of Clinical Hypnosis in London and an integral part of the Friendly Spider Programme, explained, they have a nasty habit of turning up unexpectedly.
Drawing on a white board, he showed how arachnophobia is founded on reactions that are lodged deep in our primeval subconscious. But he also stressed that while arachnophobia is quite natural, it is not logical. After all, when we run into a spider, it is usually doing its utmost to avoid ‘lumbering human beings’, especially as more often than not the spider is the one that will lose out. Rose from Putney confirmed this when she confessed to wrapping one of the hapless beasts in tissue and then ironing it to a cinder.
In the straw poll conducted round the room, it seemed that a spider’s alien looks, the speed at which it moves, the way it kills, and especially its webs, were its most terrifying traits. It is also a phobia that has been fuelled by baseless rumours, spoof online images and a string of horror films.
But the fear is very real indeed. Five people in the audience admitted to inviting strangers in off the street to remove spiders, while others had called taxis, the police and the fire brigade to remove one.
Once the causes of our fear had been clarifed, Dave turned his attention to the business of understanding spiders and the house spider, Tegenaria duellica, in particular. Of the 700-odd species that inhabit the British Isles, it is this variety that we most commonly encounter, largely in the autumn when male spiders are looking for a mate.
They are harmless to humans and as they can neither see nor hear very well, screaming is a futile gesture. Indeed, you are better off stamping your feet twice – on feeling the first vibration they will freeze, and on the second, scamper off.
Feeling partially reassured, we then had an a rming session of group hypnosis, before being ushered across the road to come face-to-face with the objects of our dread, and learn a simple – and harmless – trap-and-rescue technique, involving a plastic cup and a piece of cardboard. It was here that the brilliant staff at ZSL London Zoo, so understanding of the disproportionate terror these creatures can instil in some people, earned their pay.
But there was one more treat in store: a 20-year-old Mexican redkneed tarantula named Maggie. About the size of a hamster, she was a homely little creature from a species normally found in a burrow deep in the forest.
Despite her audience of (now recovering) arachnophobes, Maggie quickly captured the limelight and everyone fawned over her like a newborn baby. First one person, then two, then queues formed to hold Maggie amid much personal bravery, crying, and whoops of joy.
As more and more people handled her, an overwhelming sense of relief washed over us. A burden of fear that some people had carried for years, was lifted. A lady named Jo summed it up for me. Tears rolling down her cheeks and with Maggie cupped in the palms of her hands, she turned to Dave and whispered, ‘Thank you for giving me back my life.’
ZSL London Zoo’s Friendly Spider Programme is designed to ease or eliminate the fear of spiders. A combination of cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnotherapy, the course runs throughout the year. For details: 0844-225 1826, www.zsl.org – adults £135, concessions £94.50. Bristol and Dudley Zoos run similar courses.
Centre of Clinical Hypnosis: 05603-304 839, www.cch-hypnosis.com
HOW TO CATCH A SPIDER
Find a glass or clear plastic receptacle to enable you to see what you are doing and not harm the spider.Place it over the animal, taking care that legs and body parts are not trapped.
Slide a piece of cardboard under the glass.
Holding the glass and cardboard at the same time, lift up from the surface and remove the spider to an outside space or an open window.
Release the cardboard and let the spider to go.
There is no need to kill spiders!