SoldierHawk wrote:

Neutral-bob wrote: That does sound interesting. I've heard alot about Lovecraft's works, but I've never gotten a chance to get into them. Did he write novels or short stories? Could you reccomend a few that interest you? He did both, actually. Most famous (and probably best, although its debatable) are "Call of Cthulu" (there are things in there that really WILL haunt your dreams), and "At the Mountains of Madness." Both good starting points, although Cthulu is probably the most famous. Like I said, while I don't advocate killing things out of hand, Thorinair, if it can seriously hurt you, you are more than allowed to be afraid of it. So leave the tarantulas alone unless they're in your house, but kill those widows. I know too many people who have lost pets to those things crawling in from the garden or garage.

You kill black widows. The toxin is dangerous and like soldierhawk said, they are bad for your pets.

Tarantulas are ugly but so unaggressive(in american deserts at least) that you can let them crawl on you with no ill effect. That goes double for vinegarroons (stinky giant black scorpions with no stinger but a stanky vinegar smell). Utterly and completely harmless and they eat crickets and cockroaches. I've never had a tarantula enter my house, and Vinegarroons are the only insect I will actively protect, though it helps that killing them leaves a skunky smell that wont go away.

Camel spiders (we call em "Mother of earths" around these parts) are not dangerous but have an appearance that taps deep into the lizard brain of humanity, triggering that part of the brain that recoils from the crawling things of nature. So they're inexplicably and powerfully creepy. I had one on the wall of my house and smashed it. Its abdomen was tough and rubbery, not hard like many insects, and when I crushed it it squirted out a tar like substance like a devil zit, of which a small amount hit my face.

I freaked the holy fuck out, and couldn't calm down for 15 minutes.