A tarantula jumped into the shower with me this morning.
Of course I didn’t have a camera in the shower. This photo was taken by Maximilian Paradiz.
Eeks! I totally freaked out. Luckily, Julio was nearby to rescue me. This was my first experience with a GIANT shower spider, surprisingly, considering I have lived in Costa Rica for a year now. Apparently, tarantulas love dark, wet places, so they frequent showers. Right now it’s extremely hot and dry in Costa Rica and they are hard up for wet spots. What’s confusing to me is that I searched the shower for bugs before I got in (like I do everyday) and didn’t find any…WHERE did he come from?!
If you are in Costa Rica on holiday, be forewarned, and watch out for the shower spiders! If they bite, it might sting or even make you a little ill with hallucinations, but you don’t have to worry about dying unless you are allergic to their venom. At least medical care is cheap and easy to come by in Costa Rica.
This experience reminds me that beetle season is just around the corner. Last year, I had a giant flying beetle with needle claws attack my face while I was driving some friends to dinner. Just another day in Costa Rica.
OK, just YIKES. And “jumped?” Hopefully you mean sauntered. They don’t really “jump” right?
They jump, slither, saunter, slide, walk, crawl, and glide. At least they don’t fly. Nature left that special skill to the needle-claw beetles.
Ahh!!! I hate spiders!!!
LOL – I was just thinking the other day that April is June-bug season! Not especially looking forward to that, but at least they are not a really nasty bug. No *way* am I commenting on the spider experience!
Just the photo scares me!
OMG this is disgusting. I hate spiders and this one is way too big! I would be afraid to go into a shower now.
Yeah, I’m a little bit afraid to even go into the bathroom now.
so, what happened to the spider? u eat it?
I did not eat the spider. !!
Julio picked it up and put it outside in the garden near the road. They like to eat roaches, so plus one for team tarantula. Just not in my shower.
But I’m told that the giant jungle roaches like to eat scorpion eggs! So go figure!
omg, for a second there i thought you took that picture! still YIKES!
haha yeah that would be pretty impressive if I had the mind to grab a camera and snap a photo while being hunted by a tarantula in the shower. …although the thought definitely crossed my mind! 🙂
obviously that’s just a regular day in costa rica hahahaha
hahaha yeah obviously! The beetles were not too bad this year, though – right? No more incidences of getting attacked in the face. 🙂
I love spiders. At a distance. I had a pet tarantula (best Valentine’s day gift ever, but I’m weird). However, I do find arachnids & any other “bugs” disconcerting if I’m not aware of their presence in advance.
This would disturb me. I’m more terrified of giant flying cockroaches and I live in Bermuda & just had that happen to me tonight here, after we booked our tix to CR. Great. I’m in for a treat aren’t I? 🙁