Spheksophobia or Entomophobia thread (Wasps/bug phobia)

[Death Adder]

I have a phobia of self diagnosed phobias that aren't actually phobias.

At least you're funny.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

I have a phobia of self diagnosed phobias that aren't actually phobias.

trust me, I'm a doctor trust me, I'm me

I'm afraid of snakes and all the kind of worms which can grow outta food gone bad, just google cat food worms or something...

 

[Vinz]

I have a phobia of self diagnosed phobias that aren't actually phobias.

Has the term phobia not evolved into something more general?

 

[Nuclear]

bored?

As always.

Has the term phobia not evolved into something more general?

I hope not. I hate when words are used incorrectly so much that the definition of the word changes.

OCD is another example of incorrect phrasing, i.e. "lol I'm so OCD, I couldn't stand my room being a complete mess".

At least you're funny.

Not something I hear on this website often.

 

[gorillabull]

here is a picture of a bug carrying its swarm

 

[Death Adder]

oh god that's gross

 

[Roland]

I hate buzzing bugs. (Except bees) Like.. Mole bugs..

 

[Nuclear]

@gorillabull

Imagine stepping on that.

 

[Roland]

oh god that's gross

Opened human organs is more gruesome than Insects, It's not disgusting at all :/

 

[Edge45]

here is a picture of a bug carrying its swarm

Aw sick, its better to squash it with a concrete rather than a rock.

Well, i only hate bugs and insects that are disgusting and somewhat annoying. Like those pesky mosquitoes who keep stinging your skin which may involve, SPLAT!!!

Spiders, are actually not that bad, unless its poisonous. They protect our homes from damn insects, I used to breed them in my home and my neighbors aswell(Imagine how angry they were).

Ants, sometimes annoying, sometimes good, when some dog/cat crap or some dead thing is lying in a ground which is so stinky, the ants started collecting them until theyre bones. But, when I open a sugar case for just 2 minutes, this guys started to flood the case, annoying.

Moths, some of this guys, like those White Moths, are my second most hated insect, when it goes flying just 5 inches above you, it spreads this white looking feathers, and just about 10 sec, you started scratching this and that.

Cockroaches, they're harmless, and quitely, a good taste in my cats mouth. So I'd gladly like them to be invited in my house for a dinner.

Flea, annoying insects, they just fly anywhere and make a landing in someones dinner. So I sprayed as punishment

 

[gorillabull]

Aw sick, its better to squash it with a concrete rather than a rock.

Well, i only hate bugs and insects that are disgusting and somewhat annoying. Like those pesky mosquitoes who keep stinging your skin which may involve, SPLAT!!!

Spiders, are actually not that bad, unless its poisonous. They protect our homes from damn insects, I used to breed them in my home and my neighbors aswell(Imagine how angry they were).

Ants, sometimes annoying, sometimes good, when some dog/cat crap or some dead thing is lying in a ground which is so stinky, the ants started collecting them until theyre bones. But, when I open a sugar case for just 2 minutes, this guys started to flood the case, annoying.

Moths, some of this guys, like those White Moths, are my second most hated insect, when it goes flying just 5 inches above you, it spreads this white looking feathers, and just about 10 sec, you started scratching this and that.

Cockroaches, they're harmless, and quitely, a good taste in my cats mouth. So I'd gladly like them to be invited in my house for a dinner.

Flea, annoying insects, they just fly anywhere and make a landing in someones dinner. So I sprayed as punishment

ಠ_ಠ



well i could say i dont like flies

 

[Nuclear]

Mosquitoes are the bane of humanity, true spawns of hell.

They're actually the most lethal animal in the world (with humans being the second one ) due to the diseases (malaria, dengue fever and others) they spread.

And even worse than that, their buzzing keeps me awake every night.

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

Sometimes, when I slap mosquitos with my hands and kill it, I wonder if it sucked my blood in the process D:
Humans are pretty scary too.

 

[N.Knight]

Sounds like a bunch of rich kids who never spent some time in the outdoors.
If one has grown up playing around in dirt, climbing trees or swimming in the local lake or river, one would have a higher psychological resistance against the so called 'creepy crawlies' because one would regularly encounter them.

I spent my early years at my grand dad's farm, where I had mostly animals for company. The surrounding area is predominantly rock and bush with lots of wildlife. Insects and reptiles abound. I would often catch some weird bug or lizard I found and bought it home. Then grandpa or some staff explained to me what it was, should it be avoided or if it is edible or not. Yes, edible!

Years later I still cherish those memories. Today besides regular farm animals we also breed reptiles and ornamental insects as a side business. Its also a hobby of mine. Most reptiles and predatory insects require live feed, so at any given time I have colonies of thousands of worms, crickets, roaches, mosquito larvae, tubifex etc.

Once I had received some giant Burrowing Cockroaches from a friend in Germany, they make interesting pets. I have also kept tarantulas, poison dart frogs, electric eels, scorpions, giant millipedes, among other freaky creatures.

It is my personal opinion but I think that we are not born with these 'creature fears' but develop them according to our societal conditioning.

 

[Nuclear]

It is my personal opinion but I think that we are not born with these 'creature fears' but develop them according to our societal conditioning.

Fearing "creatures" is a natural survival mechanism.

 

[chobibo]

Doesn't matter if you're rich or not, people will still respond differently from others. I've been living on a rural area since I was a kid, but I still hate roaches.

EDIT: To add, I've got no problems with worms, snakes, lizards, spiders, leeches, crickets, moths, etc. I've worked on the soil too, yet I still hate roaches.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Moths also freak me out. I don't like killing them because you can "feel" them when you kill them (if the material is thin enough). I usually have to resort to throwing something, but they fly around and are all furry and junk. It creeps me out. If you stare at it too long before striking, you'll get more and more hesitant.

Use a Jar of Ultimate Entrapment against them. Then release them back into the wild. They disappear permanently just like Pokémon do!

It made me more afraid than I normally was. Just yesterday I shot a wasp nest down in Legend of Zelda, and I freaked out as I heard the buzzing. It is like I have war flashbacks. I mean, I certainly don't have a fear to the extent of some people, but I definitely have a weakness when I'm face to face with bugs.

Merge spin attack with the bug net. No more wasps.

Lol what cuts? Here in California, we have teeny tiny ants who like to eat my kit-kat.

Here in Scotland we have midges which like to suck your blood. They are clearly the product of crossing a mosquito with a vampire and a bacteria. They are virtually indestructible, easily surviving the mighty hand and fly swatter. Your strongest net force fields are no match for their super smallness. They also have inbuilt cloaking so you need 40:40 vision or better to even see them before it is too late. Their only known weakness is sunlight and dryness, both of which are considerably lacking and cannot be depended on for help.

I'm afraid of snakes and all the kind of worms which can grow outta food gone bad, just google cat food worms or something...

Someone clearly did not pay attention at school. A snake is a reptile, in fact it is a descendant of some kind of Lizard. It is uncommon that Snakes eat carrion, they prefer live food. Carers have to shake pre-killed prey in-front of them to imitate live food for them to even bite. Some times snakes will consume freshly killed prey based on smell. I do not know of any snake eating people food (only of snakes eating people as food but that is a different topic).

A worm on the other hand is totally different from a snake. Where as a snake has bones, worms do not. I think they do not even share the same kind of oxygen carrier (Snakes use Haemoglobin like humans seeing how we were related at some stage long ago where as worms probably used some kind of copper based oxygen carrier like most insects and invertebrates).

Confusing the two would be like thinking that humans and flys are the same, although they do seem to have resemblance as far as irritation and persistence goes. Damn humans ruining my plans of universal domination.

Mosquitoes are the bane of humanity, true spawns of hell.

That diagram is missing politicians. Well I guess they had to otherwise it would either overflow the scroll bar or the other stuff would be insignificant (unresolvable). Bad country leadership results in millions of people dying every year. Be it here in the UK because old people cannot afford to heat their homes so freeze to death over winter to the The United States of America where their foreign policy, especially in South America, has resulted in on going un-reset for at least 100 years.

Insects and reptiles abound.

Sounds more interesting than here. In all 7 good days a year (days that you do not need more than 1 layer of clothing on) you will see a massive abundance of insects, birds and livestock. If you are really lucky you may see a wild cat, or maybe it was just the neighbours... As for reptiles, seeing one here is as likely as seeing a dinosaur! You better be fast though as the dreaded midge would soon hunt you down and devour your blood before you realise what is happening, and there is nothing you can do to stop them.

Fearing "creatures" is a natural survival mechanism.

Only for some people. Most civilized people unfortunately seem to think that they make good test subjects for their latest weapons of mass destruction. One can never be too sure how effective weapons of mass destruction are, after all you do not want to fire one to realise it did not kill anyone.

 

[sethmachine]

I hate roaches.

But you seem to have a thing for noses.

 

[Gismo359]

I panick if I see an insect anywhere no my body, different from an ant. For some reason when I was a kid I had nothing better to do but play with ants. Well, by play I mean torture. I would be thinking I'd expect payback from them.
I've also had a number of strange 'phobias'. Like, from bikes and cats. And from people touching me...

 

[Dr Super Good]

And from people touching me...

Yes Rolf Harris did touch a lot of people. Today is your lucky day as you may be entitled to compensation. it does not mater if you were born before or after Jimmy Savil or Rolf Harris call claims direct now! Sorry just with what has been going on in the news the last few month it seemed appropriate.

 

[N.Knight]

Fearing "creatures" is a natural survival mechanism.

I simply cannot agree with that. Firstly because survival mechanisms are not natural at all but are always taught by the parents\ elders to the younger generations. There is natural stimuli or flight or fight reactions but humans are not born with 'survival mechanisms'.

For eg: if you place a snake before an infant who has not learned to talk yet, she will more likely show curiosity. Will try to explore it or even try to take it in its mouth to taste it.

Second eg: The children of the Kalahari aborigines, who rely on scavenging and gathering food from the bush, learn to tackle scorpions from an early age. Showing no signs of fear they will pick up a scorpion, slash off its tale and eat it raw.

As for reptiles, seeing one here is as likely as seeing a dinosaur!

Haha! Northern Hemisphere woes!

Very nicely put about snakes and worms. Would have added rep if I could, but it seems to be turned off in this section. Regardless your reputation has increased for me.

For some reason when I was a kid I had nothing better to do but play with ants. Well, by play I mean torture.

Seen the movie 'Ant Bully'?

 

[chobibo]

But you seem to have a thing for noses.

I do.

 

[Nuclear]

I simply cannot agree with that. Firstly because survival mechanisms are not natural at all but are always taught by the parents\ elders to the younger generations. There is natural stimuli or flight or fight reactions but humans are not born with 'survival mechanisms'.

For eg: if you place a snake before an infant who has not learned to talk yet, she will more likely show curiosity. Will try to explore it or even try to take it in its mouth to taste it.

Second eg: The children of the Kalahari aborigines, who rely on scavenging and gathering food from the bush, learn to tackle scorpions from an early age. Showing no signs of fear they will pick up a scorpion, slash off its tale and eat it raw.

Nope. It's part of a thing called "self-preservation", which has been a pretty important thing during the course of human evolution (and in evolution of all things).

I would argue that your examples of babies not fearing snakes would be a case of a baby's limited mental capacity to realize the threat instead of "not having been taught to fear snakes". And various hunter-gatherers not fearing dangerous insects would be the opposite of what you claim; them learning not to fear insects instead of them not learning to fear them.

If fear had to be taught, how would creatures survive when they moved to a new environment, or encountered a dangerous creature they haven't seen before? And how would organisms that can't teach their offspring like humans can then learn to fear dangerous organisms and situations?

Source: school.

But I assume that's not good enough, so here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear#Causes

Still others, such as fear of mice and insects, may be unique to humans and developed during the paleolithic and neolithic time periods (when mice and insects become important carriers of infectious diseases and harmful for crops and stored foods)

 

[Dr Super Good]

I would argue that your examples of babies not fearing snakes would be a case of a baby's limited mental capacity to realize the threat instead of "not having been taught to fear snakes". And various hunter-gatherers not fearing dangerous insects would be the opposite of what you claim; them learning not to fear insects instead of them not learning to fear them.

Babies do not fear snakes as their parents do it for them. Babies were never meant to be left around on the ground without someone carefully watching them. A snake could hardly get a baby while it is being carried by its mother could it? Also I am pretty sure if they saw it coming they would scream so maybe they do?

Modern babies are so under stimulated and told nonsense that it is easy to think that they are not smart.

If fear had to be taught, how would creatures survive when they moved to a new environment, or encountered a dangerous creature they haven't seen before? And how would organisms that can't teach their offspring like humans can then learn to fear dangerous organisms and situations?

A lot of humans die every year for stupid reasons. Be it that they were doing a wildlife program and a stingray gets them or that they decided it would be fun to jump out an aircraft at several thousand feet and hope they land safely.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

A lot of humans die every year for stupid reasons. Be it that they were doing a wildlife program and a stingray gets them or that they decided it would be fun to jump out an aircraft at several thousand feet and hope they land safely.

Our doctor doesn't know the meaning of YOLO XD

 

[N.Knight]

Nope. It's part of a thing called "self-preservation", which has been a pretty important thing during the course of human evolution (and in evolution of all things).

I really don't know what to say to you. You are not at all sure what you are talking about and you have used such confident words at that. By any standards the mere mention of the Kalahari natives would have warranted atleast some internet research before replying.
To begin with I was talking about 'survival mechanisms' (quoting the words that you had used to describe the universe knows what). Human babies are not born with any survival mechanisms and these are always - always taught. You can't just argue with that unless you are some rare inbred monster born with horns and hoofs to protect yourself while mama was away in the working in the fields. (and frightening New Jersey inhabitants as an adult)

I would argue that your examples of babies -snip

An utterly useless argument. Holds no merit to even replied.

If fear had to be taught, how would creatures survive when they moved to a new environment, or encountered a dangerous creature they haven't seen before? And how would organisms that can't teach their offspring like humans can then learn to fear dangerous organisms and situations?

There is difference between 'creatures' and humans, you should have known before pretentiously quoting that wikipedia article about fear. I don't know whats up with that stubb but it needs some serious revisions. Perhaps it has not come under anthropologist scrutiny because they simply don't refer to a site which has become a playground for ostentatious school children.

If you have posed questions to me then you must have put some faith in my understandings. Now, I being no hedge wizard from the dark ages won't make you run on a errand quest for cryptic items of lore before answering your questions. Although I wish I could and make you repent before letting you to your salvation. But you are no Hero, no warrior of fame, you are simply an arguing machine, an instrument of fear, who cannot fathom the idea of losing an argument. You will continue regardless you are right or wrong, regardless of the disservice you will cause to society and humanity with your fear of losing. Were you born with this fear gentleman or has this fear developed within you. Did you argue as a babe, with your mother, over which teat will you suck?

Fear my boy is not so simple, as to be painted into shades of black and white. Fear can induce pleasure, it can enthrall and seduce. Fear. Fear is also adaptive. Fear, it can change into any color, it can mold itself into any shape.
Fear is not dogmatic. You are.

Source: A very drunk Anthropology student.

P.S I will get back at you, just let me get rid of this hangover punk. Promise.

Also I am pretty sure if they saw it coming they would scream so maybe they do?

Scream? Babies scream? Like the harlots of Babylon? Like pussies? I didn't know that. Usually they shit in their pants and freeze. Thats the one 'survival mechanism' they are born with. Shit in your pants and freeze until mamma comes. Screaming draws attention of the predator.

 

[Nuclear]

How wonderful that a great beacon of knowledge and enlightenment has descended from the heavens to meet us poor mortals and illuminate our souls with holy revelation and clarity.

Now source it or get out, you drunk bastard.

 

[Celaquil]

Curious development.

A harmless thread surrounding the subject of fears and phobias develops into a
bloodstained battlefield between debaters. Both of you, tone it down, I don't want
any throats ripped out under my watch.

Personally, I'm extraordinarily afraid of spiders. Something of which I hate.
Being arachnophobic limits my ability to study such fascinating creatures.
Spiders, scorpions and fleas all are very interesting arachnids, I can find
myself watching a documentary on either one of the three, but never have
one crawling on my arms. Oh, and, I have absolutely no idea why I'm afraid
of them. Considering there's no venomous spiders in Norway.

 

[Nuclear]

I wonder how much trouble spiders are to maintain. One would make an interesting pet.