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Being afraid of roach infestations makes sense. Being afraid of cute harmless spiders that eat other bugs such as mosquitoes doesn’t make sense.
Sorry Reb Yidd, but you err. There is NOTHING cute about an infestation of ANY type. Spiders especially gross me out, yet I am the designated de facto spider-getter-rid-of-er. We once had an infestation of triangular shaped small flies in my shower. I had no idea where they were coming from, but they were there in copious numbers AND leaving larvae on the shower floor, whioh I discovered to my dismay.
Apparently it was something going on in other homes as well and whatever I tried did not work for nearly a year! Finally I got the brilliant to pour a gallon size bottle of Clorox down my shower drain. Never saw another one again. Liquid Plumber and Draino, btw, did NOT do the trick, prior to that.
I am literally TERRIFIED of roaches, and have rarely seen them in my house in 26 years kinehora (though our old apartment was another story entirely), but we have once in a shmitta seen HUGE weird looking beetles, bigger than Israeli jukes, almost the size of a mouse, and that sent me screaming for my husband (my son actually took care of it). I know HAshem has a purpose for ALL of His creatures, but just keep them away from me. PLEASE!
Oomis, “Hashem has a purpose for ALL of His creatures.”
YES, apparently the sole purpose of roaches is to gross us out beyond words! Yuck!
rebyidd
spiders bite too
curiosity
actually i saw an article once about trying to figure out a cure for diseases through the way cockroaches live the way they do
While i cant stand bugs in general, I do have the guts to step on small roaches and spiders that are in my house. However, water bugs, i cant deal with! I cannot stand the hot weather for this one reason only, the outbreak of water bugs! EEEWWWWW! I saw one this shabbos while my husband was in shul. Before my kids saw it, Hashem gave me this huge pump of bravery and before i could think coherently, i got a placemat and a large salad bowl, put the placemat in front of the waterbug, as soon as it got on the placemat, i put/threw the salad bowl over it, upside down so as not to kill it on shabbos and also because i didnt have that much guts to hear the crunch, got a plastic bag and slipped it under the placemat and ran with it outside to the garbage – placemat and salad bowl too!
My husband was so proud when he came home from shul and i told him the story! Although he did bring the placemat and salad bowl back inside for me to wash out…which is another whole story….!
RebYidd23,
Spiders don’t seek human blood. They don’t bite you if you don’t bother them.
Tell that to the one that bit me while I slept!
Miritchka: Tzeidah.
Correct, DY.
Which brings me to my next question.
I am deathly afraid of insects. The last two sentences of oomis’ post are a Tefillah tailor made for me (Thank you oomis!!!). If I should ever find myself in a situation similar to miritchka, and am unable to vacate the premises faster than the speed of light as there are children with me, what should I do?
Ummm… call an exterminator before Shabbos?
DaasYochid: I realized that after I dropped it in the garbage can…
Miritchka, there’s at least one poster here who understands you.
The sight of a horrific insect like the one you saw can induce immediate brain paralysis.
I know.
That’s what happens to me.
If you had not been with your kids, would you, like me, have run all the way to the next borough without stopping for breath or red lights?
golfer: lol! yup!
Most the responses on this thread indicate true phobia (irrational fear or loathing). Roaches are relatively clean, don’t carry any disgusting diseases and don’t bite. Why would you be afraid of them or have them gross you out? I wouldn’t want one as a pet although some folks do (if you really want to be grossed out, go to the pet shop and take a look at an Indonesian hissing cockroach. The thing is as big as your hand). If you don’y want them in your house, (and who does?) put out baits, pick ’em up and flush them.
I figured that cockroaches that inhabit buildings carry germs because they go in dirty places. Still it’s not so pleasant to see roach droppings in one’s dishes or drawers, not too sanitary. I loathe cockroaches.
It is also creepy if one gets on you, that’s a phobia? to have a fear of the feeling of a roach running along your arm in a dark room?
Hornets that enter your succah are not a phobia, their stings hurt and swell.
As far as big bugs, it depends on the kind and place. Getting startled by it’s presence is the main thing, when you already know it’s there, it’s easier to deal with it.
A bug that is very interesting when outside, somehow becomes somewhat unpleasant when trapped in the house. Not crickets, ladybugs, true bugs, crane flies, all those types are interesting no matter where, but I’d hate to have a dragonfly flying around inside the house.
I tried to teach my children that insects are interesting and the outdoors is really a good place to start. Inside, though, another matter.
PS, the “daddy long leg” type of spiders don’t bite humans so they’re fine to have in the house. Still, I don’t want one over my bed at night before I go to sleep, the feeling of something creeping on my arm is very unpleasant.
Hi Reb Yidd,
The ones that I’m referring to are spiders. They are in the Family Pholcidae Class (Arachnida).
Crane flies, fly and don’t look anything like spiders, 6 legs.
I haven’t seen the harvestmen in a house before, although with the 8 legs that are long, superficially I guess one could be easily mistaken, without looking that the body is one piece, rather than a constricted “waist” like the spiders.
The article also mentioned that their “fangs” are too small to puncture human skin.
link removed, sorry
“Pholcidae, commonly known as cellar spiders, are a spider family in the suborder Araneomorphae.
Some species, especially Pholcus phalangioides, are commonly called daddy long-legs spider, granddaddy long-legs spider, carpenter spider, daddy long-legger, or vibrating spider. Confusion often arises because the name “daddy long-legs” is also applied to two distantly related arthropod groups: the harvestmen (which are arachnids but not spiders), and crane flies (which are insects).”
You guys haven’t seen anything til you’ve been in a parasitology lab with someone really eager to gross you out…
Parasitology lab, now that was some 40 years ago.
We used preserved specimens, not so bad, but reading about the diseases caused by the parasites was pretty disgusting. Lots of those diseases are transmitted by insects. Many are only found in other countries besides the US.
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