It Finally Happened

All these months of training finally paid off.

After going through the subreddit, talking to interested people, and meeting these creatures face-to-face several times, I encountered a giant house spider on the white fluff of the dining room carpet. And I carried it to safety!

I don't know how my cat hadn't spotted it first - the spider is brown and stands out on the snow-colored carpet like a wine stain - but I was glad he remained oblivious as I froze in my tracks. He has a history of eating spiders, and I have a history of supporting his diet choices before I went on my spider journey.

My heart pounding fast, I went up and crouched over the spider. It had not noticed me, or it didn't move. Giant house spiders tend to freeze when in the gaze of other bigger creatures, and just as fast flee when touched. So I had to be careful.

I tapped it a couple times, holding my hand out flat enough to be inviting. After several seconds and a couple tries, I got it on my hand, rolling my palm and fingers this way and that to keep the spider from falling off. I had the spider; step one done.

Now for step two, getting the spider to the back door and opening it. This was harder, because not only was I hoping that this small creature wouldn't try to run up my arm and give me a heart attack, but I needed to be aware of my cat. He's an outdoors enthusiast, despite his size and my fears of him escaping and running away. Every morning he's meowing by the door, demanding to be let outside. Given the chance, he'll take it. And this was a big chance.

At some point the spider decided to try fleeing via a silk web from my hand, but it wasn't dropping too fast. Just enough to get my heart racing. I only had precious seconds.

I said sweet nothings to the spider "good boy, that's a good boy" as I unlocked the back door, barked out "no!" to my cat several times as he tried to fly past, and cracked open the door a bit to give the spider an opening.

Despite this help, the little arachnid tried to stay in the kitchen, fleeing from the doorway to freedom. Again, I'm pushing away the cat, muttering no's to him or the spider, I couldn't tell anymore, as I herd the spider with my hand past the rug and the doorframe.

It stayed put right outside the door frame, but that didn't matter. The door wasn't going to hit it. The cat pushing against my arms and protesting my every blocking move, I finally pulled the door shut and locked it.

Spider out, cat in.

I'd done it. My heart wasn't racing like I had run a marathon, my legs hadn't turned into jelly, and I wasn't screaming my head off for having touched a large arachnid.

In my not-so-distant past, any spider I encountered met the heel or toes of my shoe accompanied by my shrill screams. From the smallest ones to the big, the moment I spotted them I felt struck with absolute fear, imagining this creature hissing, running at me, jumping at my face and biting me. I thought them dangerous.

The subreddit r/spiders really helped me look past my fears and introduce a different perspective, one that appreciated the work and contribution of spiders to our ecosystem and marveled at their coloring and behaviors and intelligence.

Once a spider-killer, now a spider-ally, I am proud of my actions of this day.