クモ
 

=|
i have kind of a weird question for people who live in Japan (recently or your whole life it doesn't matter)

I am a MASSIVE arachnophobiac and now some idiot has told me that there are a lot of spiders in Japan like.. everywhere

and there's really only one evil beastie to worry about where i live (apart from the really tiny ones =p)

to make it worse i found this site on japanese spiders with all these colourful and BIG spiders and it's basically driving me crazy for a couple of days now :rolleyes:

is it really that bad?

There are quite a few spiders and other bugs in Japan, and they do get quite big, but they aren't so common that you need to worry about it.

If you live out in the countryside, you can run into quite a few of them (among other nasty critters), but in the city it's not really bad. I found a huntsman spider on my screen door once (leg span was nearly the size of my hand), but they are rather timid and rarely bite.

Ok Samurai007's answer made me feel a lot better
but seriously.. :P huntsman spider
you named the spider I am most scared of! you even got lucky it was the size of your hand, they can grow MUCH larger?! xP
If i'd ever run into one of those inside my house i'd.. i'd have to just move to another house ='|

I was trapped inside a room for over 3 hours once coz there was a garden spider (2 cm.. :rolleyes: ) next to the door. I didn't go any closer than 4 meters, can you imagine what i'd do when i see one of those huntsman beasties :eek:

anyway thanks for the replies, i'll just have to try and get over it i guess ;P

... o___o
I hate... hate spiders. I'd freak out and scream if there was a spider as big as my hand.
Oh boy, I didn't even think about that when it came to Japan.

Yeah I know T_T
I wish no one had ever mentioned it then at least I would already be there when I'd find out the spiders there are friggin monsters =p
but at least we have the luck that it isn't common in the city!
I was also planning to work as an intern next year in Australia but I saw a documentary about huntsmans in Australia, how they are able to pop up from ANYWHERE so I decided not to go =( those things are going to give me a heart attack one day!
Biggest spider you can get near you where I live is no bigger than 7 to 10 cm (barn funnel weavers) and they already scare the life right out of me ='3 and they're babies compared to those others!

I'm going to have quite a few hair raising moments, then. I want to live somewhere outside the city.

Ah, where I live the biggest spider is a daddy long leg. At least, that's what I think it's called. Too afraid to look it up. Pictures. :eek:

And those aren -- Oh boy, I look up and there's one up there. T.T;;

If you think Japanese spiders are big, wait until you see the lizards!



:eek:

Seriously though, when I was living in Japan, a neighbor once came pounding on my door, shouting that there was a lizard in her apartment. I went over and sure enough, it was a cute little guy, maybe 2 inches long. She was terrified of it though, so I caught it (it was fast!) and took it outside for her.

Daddy long legs are not spiders. They just look like them. :D
They have no fangs and no silk glands - and no way to hurt you. They`re also omnivorous and will eat plant material just as readily as insects.

I don`t like bugs in general, but for some reason like those guys. They really are totally harmless, and kind of cute (to me) with that tiny little body and long awkward legs.

I have yet to see a single one of them in Japan - but supposedly there are types of them living here.

I have seen some pretty scary spiders though - and I`m not really afraid of them unless they`re freaking huge. I even LIKE the ones with webs outside our place - cuts down the number of bugs that get in. But if it`s the size of my hand, I`m pretty likely to scream. :D

As for the little lizards, I love them. They are incredibly cute. They`re actually a type of gecko, and are also totally harmless. The in-laws have tons of them inside during the fall and winter (they don`t like the cold), and I`ve even had one fall on me from the ceiling.
I usually catch them (with my bare hands) and put them outside. Their jaws are small and weak, so even though they often try to bite me in defense, it`s like a very weak pinch with zero pain involved.