Woman Overcomes Fear And Raises A Whole Family Of Asiatic Jumping Spiders

Everyone has their own fears and anxieties around different things, but one thing a lot of people share in common is a fear of spiders.

Some people find the fear to be silly given how tiny spiders are compared to humans. But their eight legs and furry bodies are more than many people can handle, including Emily Hess!

As Emily, esthetician from Iowa, shared with The Dodo, she used to be terrified of spiders. But all that changed when an Asiatic wall jumping spider showed up in her life.

After realizing that the spider was probably more afraid of her than she was of it, Emily started to come to terms with the idea that spiders are actually pretty neat.

Not only did Emily end up befriending the spider, who she named Gretel, but she ended up raising it and living with it as well!

She told The Dodo:

“I have always been really afraid of spiders. I realized I’m the big scary thing and she didn’t want to touch me either…We were both very nervous and worked on that slowly together…so after quite a while I learned I need to let her come to me….it wasn’t scary at all, it was adorable. After quite a while she genuinely seemed to enjoy just sitting and hanging out with me.”

Gretel and Emily became fast-friends, but given that jumping spiders don’t live that long (1-2 years on average), Gretel quickly began to “slow down” in her old age.

The sweet spider struggled to climb around her habitat like she did when she was younger, so Emily went out of her way to create an accommodating space that Gretel could thrive in!

Eventually, the sad day game when Gretel passed away. Emily had offered Gretel the best life possible and Gretel had taught Emily a lot about spiders, love, and pet ownership.

Not wanting to lose her love of spiders, Emily went on to purchase a whole family of Asiatic jumping spiders! She even created dedicated social media accounts to her spiders and their lives. How neat is that?

Check out the video below:

You can see more of Emily and her spiders on Instagram or TikTok!