What insect/bug do you hate with a passion?

[rodymanners]

The cutest thing tarantulas do (in my opinion) is when they slough off their leg/abdominal hairs as an irritant to ward off any perceived threats.

the tarantula, hell of an insect

 

 

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Edited September 17, 2021 by rodymanners

[Aniia]

I had a study partner in college who raised tarantulas in her dorm 😛

 

In regards to the title, I can't stand.... worms. I don't get grossed out easily, but simple earthworms freak me out in a major way. They have no face!

[Astreya]

I hate these with a passion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

[Aniia]

Ohh, those used to freak me out too until I realized they eat the mosquitos outside my door

[Astreya]

@Aniia

Um, crane flies don't eat mosquitos (that's a common wrong assumption) - they can only eat nectar, and some ofthem actually don't eat anything in their adult form. (Due to my phobia, the psycho therapist made me research them very thoroughly. It didn't help, I'm still freaking out whenever I encounter one of them. -_-' )

[Arcy]

I came here to post crane flies too lol. why does something so harmless and dumb have to look so terrifying ;_;

[Astreya]

@Arcy

Maybe it is the erratic way they move? And probably because people might have a problem with mosqitos as they can spread diseases and they look like monster mosquitos?

 

In my case one of these things actually almost killed me as I was swimming in a sea when I was a little kid and one of these things landed just in front of my face and I was so startled that I swallowed a lot of water and sank under where I got tangled in some seaweed. I still have no recollection how I got out again, but ever since I react with total panic whenever I see one of them and not even two lengthy psychotherapy session with two different psychotherapists could help me.

 

 

[Tiira]

I'm terrified by mosquitoes. It's because of the sound they make. I have so many childhood memories from our summer house when I stayed awake all night, alone in my bed with all blankets wrapped tightly around me, listening to those flying insects. I've always been a bad sleeper and I've only recently learnt to accept that; when I was younger, I hated the nights because I could never know if I'd be able to sleep or not. Those nights at our summer house were worst. Even if there were just two or three insects inside, my imagination made them a huge swarm of tiny flying monsters.

 

So I don't hate them, I can't hate any living being, but I'm still scared of them. Sometimes when I'm stressed I continuosly hear their sound in my head when at home, even if there are none (the noisy species are not common in urban areas here). If I get very anxious, I start seeing them in places. Every tiny fly or dust particle becomes a mosquito. Don't worry though, I do realise it's just my imagination and a symptom of stress.

[Aniia]

I still tell myself they eat mosquitos lol, otherwise crane flies are just too weird!

 

Varislapi, I don't have a phobia of mosquitos, but I do have some pretty darn creepy memories growing up with them. My grandmother lived in a warm climate, and every summer that we went to their farm we'd have to lather up with bug spray lol. When I walked through the raspberry patch, then turned and looked behind me, there would be a literal cloud of mosquitos that had been hiding on the underside of the raspberry leaves.

 

But the creepiest thing of all was that if you went to the attached garage and looked at the screen door, there would be a blanket of mosquitos sitting on the window screen, just waiting for someone to exit the house. *shudder*

 

As a kid I was really afraid of killer bees, thanks to all those scary videos of them mobbing people.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Aniia

[TCA]

Ticks aren't insects but they are the worst.

[Tetelestai]

Freaking earwigs. I mean I hate mosquitos because I'm insanely allergic to them; I hate stinging insets that are just bad tempered. Terrified of spiders, but I know they are good. But earwigs.....they need to burn, baby, burn!

[Tiira]

@Tetelestai Oh! In the apartment where I lived until March this year, I had all kinds of bugs. My mom kept saying it's a real zoo because almost every time we spoke on the phone, I started with "Guess what, I found a new..." Anyway, I thought earwigs were the coolest! 😹 I hadn't seen anything like that before here in the city, at least not inside...

[HeatherMarie]

Almost didn't look at this thread because I have serious anxiety about bugs, even just talking about them, but.... Crickets. We currently have a cricket issue in our apartment, we've had the bug-people come out and spray 3 times now and we are still seeing an average of 1-2 crickets every few days. They really freak me out, like seriously shutting myself in a room and trying not to go into a full-out anxiety attack type of freaking me out. I think it's mostly because they are fast and can jump... I can deal fine with the little black things we sometimes get that move so slowly I can easily kill them myself, but anything that hops around and moves fast I'm totally freaked. 

(Strange note, growing up I heard crickets outside my bedroom window nightly and they never bothered me, when I moved here I didn't see or hear any crickets for years and then suddenly the last few years they've seemed to be everywhere.)

[Ewianking]

On 9/17/2021 at 7:35 AM, rodymanners said:

The cutest thing tarantulas do (in my opinion) is when they slough off their leg/abdominal hairs as an irritant to ward off any perceived threats.

the tarantula, hell of an insect

 

 

Tutuapp 9Apps Showbox

Wasps and Female mosquitoes 

One chases you for getting 1cm too close the other is constantly thirsting for your blood and can potentially give you diseases

[Omen]

While I've only seen a handful of them in my life, centipedes creep me out something fierce. They're not technically an insect, but they are invertebrates and are usually seen as a creepy crawly.

 

They've got too many legs, nasty looking mandibles and the body segments look disturbing (to me). Despite having even more legs, millipedes don't really bother me. I think it's mostly down to the longer legs on centipedes and the knowledge they're usually venomous. House centipedes are straight up weird though, like, how did evolution even come up with that?

 

I'd rather find a huntsman spider under a bush while gardening than a centipede. 😂

[Aniia]

Do house centipedes bite or is that an urban myth? I ran into one once only, when I was a toddler, but the memory has stuck with me lol - now I know NEVER to go looking under furniture again without goggles, gloves, and some sort of weapon.

[Omen]

On 9/23/2021 at 4:42 AM, Aniia said:

Do house centipedes bite or is that an urban myth? I ran into one once only, when I was a toddler, but the memory has stuck with me lol - now I know NEVER to go looking under furniture again without goggles, gloves, and some sort of weapon.

 

Seems like they can, but since they don't see humans as food, bites are defensive in nature and occur mostly due to handling them.

 

The few I've come across tried to avoid any contact and moved away from me when trying to catch them with a container. Since they eat other bugs they'll take care of some pest control, but they can do that outside, away from me. 🤣

[soullessheartofsteel]

FLEAS. I took in some stray kittens once and had a mighty battle against their fleas, which had gotten EVERYWHERE within the house. One horrible incident I remember was the time I was going to wash the little bed I'd gotten for them, and when I turned it inside out, SO MANY -ing flea eggs scattered all over the floor. It looked like someone had emptied their sandals out at the beach. It was so disgusting, and just about everyone in the house got so many flea bites. Thank god we managed to get rid of them, and find better homes for the kittens. But I couldn't stand the sight or thought of fleas after that. Especially since the ones in my city are known to carry medieval type stuff like typhus and yellow fever.

[Pasifeon]

i like bugs but man mosquitos and flies are the worst

[cutiesonic]

House flies. Absolute buggers. 

[Aniia]

13 hours ago, soullessheartofsteel said:

FLEAS. I took in some stray kittens once and had a mighty battle against their fleas, which had gotten EVERYWHERE within the house. One horrible incident I remember was the time I was going to wash the little bed I'd gotten for them, and when I turned it inside out, SO MANY -ing flea eggs scattered all over the floor. It looked like someone had emptied their sandals out at the beach. It was so disgusting, and just about everyone in the house got so many flea bites. Thank god we managed to get rid of them, and find better homes for the kittens. But I couldn't stand the sight or thought of fleas after that. Especially since the ones in my city are known to carry medieval type stuff like typhus and yellow fever.

 

OMG YES. I had a college room mate who adopted a cat with fleas. They spread Everywhere. Later, there was a flea outbreak at my work, I had big scabby bites on my ankles for months.

[greatguy]

On 9/24/2021 at 2:45 AM, Omen said:

 

Seems like they can, but since they don't see humans as food, bites are defensive in nature and occur mostly due to handling them.

 

The few I've come across tried to avoid any contact and moved away from me when trying to catch them with a container. Since they eat other bugs they'll take care of some pest control, but they can do that outside, away from me. 🤣

 

If I have centipedes or spiders in my house I view that as a sign I have other bugs in my house, and so I'm grateful for their presence. Centipedes I'll take outside since they're quick and move around; I don't want them to come on my bed or to accidentally squish one. Spiders are welcome to stay, depending on where they are (for instance, a dark corner or a closet).

[Omen]

2 hours ago, greatguy said:

 

If I have centipedes or spiders in my house I view that as a sign I have other bugs in my house, and so I'm grateful for their presence. Centipedes I'll take outside since they're quick and move around; I don't want them to come on my bed or to accidentally squish one. Spiders are welcome to stay, depending on where they are (for instance, a dark corner or a closet).

 

Spiders are cool and welcome to stay around as well. The ones that'd cause my cats problems (since they like to play with them) get escorted outside, but ones like daddy long legs can chill up in the corners of the ceilings as much as they want. Compared to some other pests they're quite unobtrusive and they do take care of the more annoying bugs.

 

I am quite glad I haven't encountered centipedes inside, that'd be a big nope from me! Taking them outside where they could stay in nature and not the house would be the preferred move there. Plenty of birds around that'd probably try to eat them too, like kookaburras, magpies and ravens. Might be why I haven't seen any around this house, the birds are always foraging in the gardens.

[Painted]

So many. I am decidedly not a bug person. Off the top of my head, stink bugs, centipedes, silverfish, and spiders 

[PsyberConqueror]

Ticks, mosquitoes, flies and gnats. All necessary for the environment in some way (mosquitoes are actually pollinators!) but still annoying to deal with.