Creatures that give you the heebie jeebies

[tyrantqueen]

Yes, it's from Pokemon, 4th generation, to be precise.

[AnimalToyForum]

Here's our old friend Cyclocosmia ricketti from the identify that critter thread.

[tyrantqueen]

How about the hagfish?



This gecko looks a bit scary, but personally I think it is cute.

[Takama]

Ever seen a Dead hairless sloth?

[tyrantqueen]

Reminds me of all those alleged "chupacabras" photos that popped up a while ago...but never mind that since it is not a real creature anyway

[Quendrega]

Large, fast-moving spiders, bees and their kin, any insect crawling on me uninvited, ticks, definitely ticks, fleas, leeches, lice, anything of the sort that lay eggs/larvae on living creatures. I actually really like snakes and I don't mind rodents, lizards, or most amphibians.

[widukind]

Admittedly, Pipa pipa is not really among the most beautiful anurans. Really june bugs? The only nasty thing about cicadas (at least those of warm countries) I can think of is their call that can give you a headache. I was collecting dragonflies in the Kaokoveld, Namibia, in 1996 and the cicadas nearby were so loud I found it hard to concentrate.

Well, I'm not supposed to dislike any animal species. But I think triatomine kissing bugs (those neotropical ones that are vectors of the Chagas disease). Our department has a parasitology study group that focuses on them (as far as I know they are rearing all species that are known as Chagas vectors, they are fed on chicken) and they are colourful but incredibly big for haematophagous insects.

In fact the world's largest haematophagous insect is among them, Dipetalogaster maxima:

The photo shows a nymph with a swollen abdomen from its meal. Adults grow to over 40 mm and drink several ml of blood at once!

UUUaaahh

[widukind]

Spiders , and i will never meet this

[Battatitan]

I agree with the earlier posts about parasites. Last summer my chicken coop became infested with red mite. The thought of the hapless hens having blood-sucking mites crawling up their legs every night made my stomach churn. Any contact with the coop resulted in itchy hair and limbs and they were an absolute nightmare to eradicate. 

[AnimalToyForum]

Spiders , and i will never meet this

*shudder* You'll avoid the Cyclocosmia ricketti pictured above, too.

[Takama]

Worst is when the surinam toad babies start to emerge. There are videos on youtube I think.

I need to install the 'yuk' smiley!

BTW I actually found a picture of the skin on a human(view at your own risk)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/3403915208_95a967b148.jpg

[imodelhorselover16]

Spiders of any kind!

[Newt]

No, no animals creep me out.  Large crabs make me a little nervous, though.  A blue crab punched a hole through the center of my fingernail once - it would have been pretty funny if it hadn't hurt so much.  A stream of blood shot several inches straight up through the hole.  I had a divot and a little round bruise under my nail for weeks.  So now, I'm perhaps over-cautious when it comes to crabs.

I think I've finally overcome a similar situation with red paper wasps.  I got stung on the throat by one when I was a kid and it made me very leery of the things.  Back a few years ago I was helping with a cottonmouth study.  I was much more scared of the wasps we occasionally encountered than the pitvipers.  Oddly, my phobia seemed to be specifically attached to the red, orange, or brown paper wasps.  Yellow-and-black paper wasps, and all other wasps, bothered me not at all.  I've made it a point to at least pretend they don't scare me, though, and it seems to have paid off.  The fact that they're so awesome has surely helped.

[mermaidgrey]

Is there any particular animal that you find personally disagreeable? Spiders? Snakes? Bats? Rats? They are the usual suspects. For me, just thinking about the Surinam toad makes my skin crawl. The Surinam toad's skin, of course, crawls literally, when its babies emerge from their little pockets. Fascinating, but urg!

It's wasps for me. The reason being that when I was in primary school (aka kindergarten to some) a boy in my class had one fly into his ear, sting him repeatedly and get stuck! I think he had to go to hospital. Ever since then, me and my sister have both been terrified of wasps flying anywhere near our ears. My reflex action upon hearing that ominous drone is to cover my ears for protection!

Incidentally, as you mentioned rats, I find rats to be pretty much the most adororable creatures on earth I've had 6 pet rats over the years and they make such wonderful, friendly and intelligent pets. I'd love a giant pouched gambian rat. Anyone seen those before?
here's a pic:
http://www.stopbuggingmenow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/rtxn1ux.jpg

[mermaidgrey]

No, no animals creep me out.  Large crabs make me a little nervous, though.  A blue crab punched a hole through the center of my fingernail once - it would have been pretty funny if it hadn't hurt so much.  A stream of blood shot several inches straight up through the hole.  I had a divot and a little round bruise under my nail for weeks.  So now, I'm perhaps over-cautious when it comes to crabs.

I think I've finally overcome a similar situation with red paper wasps.  I got stung on the throat by one when I was a kid and it made me very leery of the things.  Back a few years ago I was helping with a cottonmouth study.  I was much more scared of the wasps we occasionally encountered than the pitvipers.  Oddly, my phobia seemed to be specifically attached to the red, orange, or brown paper wasps.  Yellow-and-black paper wasps, and all other wasps, bothered me not at all.  I've made it a point to at least pretend they don't scare me, though, and it seems to have paid off.  The fact that they're so awesome has surely helped.

That crab must have been very strong to punch through your nail! No wonder you are a bit wary of them now. I must try your technique of pretending not to be scared of wasps, to see if it pays off for me too!

[Newt]

Yeah, crab claws are powerful!  They crush molluscs with those things; a fingernail is no barrier.  I deserved the crab pinch, though.   

Where I grew up, there are no crabs, but plenty of crayfish.  If you grasp a crayfish's body properly, it can't reach you with its claws.  So I picked up this crab by the rear of its body, foolishly assuming that it also had a convenient handle I could hold it by with impunity.  In retrospect it seems obvious: if you don't want a crab to pinch you, hold it by its pinchers. 

Re: wasps - fake it 'til you make it!  I petted a paper wasp today.  Soon you will too!

[KaraWildsong42]

Nothing really gives me the heebie-jeebies anymore. I have the same caution towards poisonous animals and such that any intelligent person would have, but snakes and spiders don't particularly creep me out. I LOVE tarantulas and would own one if my husband could stomach it. Protecting the temporary fuzzy-spider residents from his wrath has become a hobby though. However, when I was a little kid, the one thing that would send me running for the hills was an earwig:


In reality, their name is extremely misleading. It's rare to actually find them burrowed in someone's ear. But when you're a little kid playing in your sandbox and they're everywhere, and all you know is that they've got pincers and they're called EARwigs.... Yeah, scared of nothing for years....

[mermaidgrey]

Yeah, crab claws are powerful!  They crush molluscs with those things; a fingernail is no barrier.  I deserved the crab pinch, though.   

Where I grew up, there are no crabs, but plenty of crayfish.  If you grasp a crayfish's body properly, it can't reach you with its claws.  So I picked up this crab by the rear of its body, foolishly assuming that it also had a convenient handle I could hold it by with impunity.  In retrospect it seems obvious: if you don't want a crab to pinch you, hold it by its pinchers. 

Re: wasps - fake it 'til you make it!  I petted a paper wasp today.  Soon you will too!

Wow, yeah I suppose they must be strong to crush molluscs. Fingernails don't stand a chance!

You PETTED a wasp? How? did it just sit there and let you? Amazing!

[John]

How about THIS 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEkAAK_NuBQ

[stargatedalek]

sorry for the bump, but I figured with this sort of topic/section bumps don't especially matter(?)

I don't mind large spiders, in fact I adore them, its the smaller ones that make me nervous, because they are so much harder to recognize, and more likely to be dangerous (statistically speaking, obviously there are still large dangerous spiders too)
fortunately none of our native spider species are dangerous to people

deep sea fish, I am probably one of a few people who would actually describe deep sea hatchetfish as "cute" (I love their little sad faces)
creatures such as viperfish, lancetfish, and wasps I tend to find a sort of sublime elegance to them (even if in person I would be reluctant to approach a wasp)

the only animal that I consider myself to have a phobia of would be dogs