I am so terrified of spiders I can't explain it. I'm about to move to Oahu in August. I'm going to be staying in Kaneohe, and attending Hawaii Pacific University. Do these horrible creatures stay in the fields and mountains, or do they venture out into more populated areas? Are there any ways to keep them out of your house? I'll try ANYTHING! Dancing around nude with chopsticks up my nose is not out of the question, if it'll keep them AWAY!! Has anyone tried those machines that transmit some high pitched frequency that supposedly irritates critters and keeps them away?

-- Amber Quisenberry (quisenb2@tcnj.edu), November 03, 2003

Answers

My family and I were vacationing in Maui in May of this year. There were 11 of us in two big condos. One night one of the kids came running out of my bedroom exclaiming that there was a HUGE spider on the bedroom wall. I'm terrified of spiders so my husband and daughter bravely went into the bedroom to investigate. They both came running from the room exclaiming that was the biggest spider they had ever seen.

My daughter ran next door to their condo and got her husband to come do the deed of killing the spider. When he saw the spider he also came running out of the room.

By this time I was sitting on the back of a chair with my feet on the seat. I kept telling them they had to kill that thing.

Bravely my husband went back into the bedroom and I heard a lot of yelling and jumping around. That spider fought back until my husband landed the final blow. I'm sitting here shivering ... just thinking of how gross it was.

We had never heard or seen anything that big. By then I was freaking out saying that it had to have a family ... after all, spiders just don't create themselves. It had to have a mother and sibllings.

We went from room to room taking the sheets and blankets off all the beds (two households) and hitting all the flower arrangements with sock, just in case one was lurking there.

That episode from that time on ruined my vacation. I could not relax after that and would wake up several times each following night ... I would turn on the lights and look for another darn spider.

The days we left we were told by the owners of the condo's that the spider was a Cane spider and would not hurt you ... they were considered a helpful creature by eating the bugs and little lizard ... which also made me freak out.

We are supposed to return to Maui sometime in 2004 but I'm dragging my feet about it. Just can't look forward to these darling creatures.

-- Anna Maynard (sassyanna1146@cs.com), December 04, 2003.

Cane spiders in Hawaii rarely come inside of the house, but it does occassionally happen. They are not harmful, not poisonous. I am not an expert so I could be wrong. I do not think they are capable of inflicting a bite. The most obnoxious thing about them is that they have zero fear. If disturbed they charge at the disturbance instead of fleeing. I have seen them as large as four inches across but only ever encountered one two inside of buildings. One was in our operations room at a satellite station at Helemano and the other was is a rest room at Diamondhead. They remind me of an oversized wolf spider without stripes.

Tnx,

Barry

-- Barry Hoy (Barryhoy@cox.net), April 20, 2004.