The Spider

So, the day had finally come and I was surprisingly calm and ready to face my biggest fear! Maybe, the fact that I was off work for the next few days or with the kids on half term, meaning I had to show face, whatever the reason, I was ready!

Longleat was a joy to drive round, watching the animals, especially the baby giraffes and zebras playing in the sunshine. Having finished the safari my apprehension became real, although the distraction of the Festival of Light Animal Creations helped.

I navigated the family to the Butterfly House to ‘get my challenge out of the way’ before enjoying the rest that Longleat had to offer including fireworks!

Surprisingly the queue to touch/hold the spider was a lot shorter than that for the snake, (which isn’t a fear having had a 6 ft boa constrictor named Priscilla as a pet for some 4 years and getting to hold it daily)!

Russ and the kids held Rose, (argh the spider has a name!). She is an 18 month old Chilean Rose Spider, (turns out its the breed not the name ha ah!), and the kids were fascinated by her, I on the other hand looked away and shut my eyes until my turn. The zoo keeper (or whatever you call people who handle spiders) said to the person next in line that they were shutting for the day as the spider was tired and needed a rest! Imagine that! Anyhow, Spider in hand Russ took a photo just as I opened my eyes – well you can see my reaction. All I can recall of the feeling of the spider was a very light imprint on my hands, bit furry but there is no way I was touching it to see how it felt like the kids did – holding it was enough! But! I’ve done it, held a Spider! Although not happy about it, I held it and felt quite proud of myself, not sure its cured the fear though!