Big Guy

            Fear of spiders is one of the most prominent phobias in the world, with good reason too, spiders are freaking scary. They bite with venomous fangs and spin those terrorist webs to trap everything in its path. They’re also even more scary when they’re big - the bigger they are the more frightening they become. One of the biggest and scariest of all is the tarantula. They’re hairy, gigantic, and have terrifying fangs. They’re extremely popular in Hollywood and in the movies for being the prime example of the fear of spiders.

Tarantulas have over 900 different species.  They are identified by their extremely large and hairy bodies. The different types of tarantulas are dispersed all over the world, from the tip of Africa to California. Although they’re very big, there are many predators to the Tarantula. Most wasps are trained to kill these beasts even though they are a lot smaller than the arachnid. The hairs on the spider’s body are one of their only defenses against wasps and other insects such as giant centipedes. The hairs create irritation on the predator.

            Now you might be thinking these guys are not that dangerous because all they have is some hair to protect them. Technically, tarantulas do have fangs to eat their prey but the venom is quite minimal and being bitten multiple times can only cause some minor hallucinations. They actually are the gentle giants of the spider kingdom.  They are very large and scary looking but not that deadly. They are so gentle that they have become domesticated and have become quite a common pet. Removing fangs and feeding them are quite simple.  And tarantulas are easy to find and catch which makes them an inexpensive pet.  So now you don’t have to quiver in your boots whenever you run into one of these giant arachnids, they are actually sort of nice creatures.