Housewife conquers her fear of spiders by living with more than FIFTY tarantulas
A housewife who was once so scared to leave her own home due to a crippling fear of spiders has conquered the phobia – by living with over 50 tarantulas.
Gemma Wright, 42, has boxes of her eight-legged furry friends piled up in her living room despite once not being able to even look at a spider.
She now owns 58 tarantulas after taking action against her anxiety , which stems from her father chasing her around the house with spiders when she was a child.
Now she has conquered her life-long fear, Gemma, of Chelmsford, Essex, said keeping them as pets has turned into a hobby.
The housewife said: “You become sucked into it, but apart from the tarantulas, I’m just a normal middle-aged housewife who likes Dr Who .
“It is just like any other hobby but all my life I had been scared of spiders. “My mother was always frightened of them and my father used to chase me around the house with them. I was terrified.” Gemma began to nurse the fear six years ago and started researching and learning about spiders by looking at pictures to desensitise herself. She then tried to get used to being in the same room as one but decided the best way to beat the phobia was by owning one as a pet. The curing process culminated into 2013 with the purchase of Nightshade, the first of 58 tarantulas. She also bought one false widow spider and more tarantulas followed soon after which found their way into Gemma’s front room over the next couple of years. Gemma said: “Once I knew I was OK holding a spider, I thought it made sense to buy one and keep it in the house, so I could completely desensitise myself to it and get rid of the phobia. “They are so low maintenance, you kind of forget they are even there, and they are absolutely fascinating to watch. “In the summer of 2014, I had a stay in hospital and when I came out I needed cheering up, so I got another spider. “That was tarantula number nine. It is kind of like an addiction.” Gemma now regularly receives spiders in the post from across Europe, drawing interest from her post-man, who frequently pops in to see the latest delivery. “Some people own lots of snakes or lizards, and it is like that for me with spiders, but because they are small, you can get a lot more of them,” Gemma said. “I understand why people are scared of them, but they are defensive, not aggressive. “The gas man isn’t too happy, I don’t think, as he has to walk through the living room to check the meter, but he just doesn’t look at them anymore.” Each of the 58 tarantulas, which vary in shape, size, breed, age and gender, has their own personal name, which Gemma takes from her love of science-fiction. She continued: “Spiders don’t have personalities as such, they don’t have emotions or feelings, but they all have their own little quirks. “I have got a few that are very food-centric, so they pounce on anything that goes into their enclosure. “The males are normally very laid back, but they will stalk around looking for females, and then there are a couple that don’t really move and are just like pet rocks.” Despite her substantial collection, Gemma insists that the hobby has never become a burden on the lives of her or her husband of four years, Dom, a development and operations engineer. She added: “We can go for long weekends away, even for a week at a time, and they will all be fine when we come back. “The younger ones need feeding slightly more often because they are still growing, but once they are adults, it’s normally once every month, if that. “Some of them I have known to go anywhere between nine and 14 months without a meal.” Gemma even has a ‘beware of the tarantulas’ sign stuck in the window to warn any arachnophobic visitors and she is discussing whether to build a custom house unit.
(Photo: SWNS)
(Photo: SWNS)
(Photo: Getty)
(Photo: Sean Hansford)
(Photo: PA)
(Photo: Getty)
Housewife conquers her fear of spiders by living with more than FIFTY tarantulas
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