Arachnophobia or a fear of spiders is the most common phobia known to man.

In the UK we don’t really have any spiders that are a great danger to us, last year there was a big scare surrounding the false widow spider but have you noticed that hasn’t been in the press so much this year?

So why are we so scared of such a clever and complex little creature as the common spider? 

Is it because they move quickly or perhaps because they may bite us? Is it because they are creepy looking or is it because we watched our parent’s / siblings freaking out when they see a spider?

Whatever the cause it has to be said that spiders are causing more screams at this time of year than Paranormal activity did when it first came out (and if you knew my niece that’s really saying something…..).

If you looked at a spider as something that serves a great purpose in nature rather than something that’s really scary would it make life easier? Maybe you would need someone to hypnotise you to think that actually they may not be great to look at but it’s OK to let them do their own thing whilst we do ours.

Here are a few spider facts

• They are 7th in the world when it comes to diversity among their populations.
• Antarctica is the only continent in the world where you can’t find spiders.
• They don’t have antenna which is what separates them from insects.
• Most spiders feature 4 sets of eyes. The pattern of how they are arranged though will depend on the species.
• In some species, males are often much smaller than the females in size.
• The number of eggs a female delivers can be up to 3,000.
• Arachnophobia is the fear of Spiders. It is one of the most common fears in the world. It affects approximately 10% of men and 50% of women.
• The smallest spider is the Patu digua and it comes from Colombia.
• The strongest material in the world is considered the silk that Spiders create. Scientists haven’t been able to recreate this design even with all the technology we have today.
• The blood of a Spider is light blue in colour.
• The stickiness of a Spider web makes it hard to keep dust and particles out. This is why they are continually being rebuilt.
• Spiders are short-sighted so they aren’t able to see items that are far away from them.
• Spiders don’t have muscles in their limbs, they use hydraulics!
• When a Spider is moving there are always 4 legs on the surface and 4 off of it.
• Very few people die or become seriously ill from Spider bites. However if anyone does get ill – don’t the media love it….
• There are believed to be at least 40,000 species of Spiders in the world.
• Spiders help the environment by eliminating volumes of insects that would otherwise be around in your garden and other locations.

So what is it that you find repulsive about spiders?