ellenbw

I have been to Hawaii many times, mostly staying in condos and have only encountered one spider. It was outside my condo door and on the bigger side, but no where near the size that you describe. It was making a web near my front door so I took a broom and brushed it away. The thing jumped at me!! Which unnerved me a bit. I asked the condo manager about it and he told me that it was a cane spider. He said that they were burning brush in the hills nearby (Maui west shore) and sometimes they come down. He told me that they are harmless, but will jump if you swipe at them.

If you stay in a hotel, I can't imagine you will have a problem as i expect the hotels have a more frequent spraying schedule.

I do understand how you feel, I have a phobia of snakes and it has affected my travel plans and what i am willing to do on vacations at times. That said, if my fear was spiders, I would still go to Hawaii, your chance of an encounter is so slim, unless you plan to be in the middle of the cane fields while they are burning brush! Now geckos, I have almost always encountered geckos, on every trip, including in my car one time! But they are a symbol of good luck and pretty cute.

logandog

On my last trip to Maui I came out of my condo and found a cane spider trying to hot-wire my rental car.

kittyluv

I know many of you have said you have never seen a cane spider on your vacation, which is good. I have come across many stories on the internet of people seeing these in their rooms though. This was in Kauai in a 5-star hotel - THIS is what freaks me out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U__vmaB_jXk

Kealalani

yeah, that's about the size of the one I saw

It was surely not 5"
and that hotel was surely not 5*

why are you searching out these videos and stories?

kittyluv

I wanted to do a little research to see just how common it is to encounter these things; that's why I was searching.

suze

I think you are scaring yourself needlessly. I'm not particularly afraid of spiders but I wouldn't seek out watching frightening videos about them before going on a Hawaiian vacation!

beanweb24

Searching out videos will not prove to you whether something is common. It just proves that someone found something that was worth video taping. Most people post videos of the *exception* to something. Wouldn't it be odd for people to post videos saying, "all clear - no bugs in my room?" You'd need folks to do that to have any sort of confidence of what could possibly be considered "common."

I agree with suze. I think you're scaring yourself needlessly. I also think that if your fear is so great that you are obsessing about it and even considering alternate locations that it might be worthwhile to find someone to help you deal more appropriately with your fear. (And by "more appropriately" I mean dealing with your fear in a way that does not cause disturbance to your life and the lives of those you're with.)

Scootoir

Kittyluv,
Go to Hawaii! I highly recommend the Grand Hyatt Kauai--perfect for a honeymoon.

The posts here brought back fond memories of my first trip to Hawaii in 1980. We were young and traveling extra cheap. On Maui our condo was overrun by what looked like huge cockroaches. We tried to sleep in the car and checked out the next morning. At Hanalei Bay the public restroom had spiders up in the corners of the ceiling. They stayed right there and didn't bother us. They looked different than the spider in the video posted above however. In subsequent trips I haven't really seen bugs just lots of chickens on Kauai. Go and please don't worry.

iowagirl

kittyluv: if all of these replies haven't convinced you that the chances of your seeing a cane spider are about a zillion to one, then you probably won't have a good time. Searching the 'net for stories about them isn't helping - you're only feeding your phobia.

If you insist on searching the net, however, I just googled the words "how common cane spiders Hawaii" and found dozens of postings on other sites that are nearly identical to this thread - someone's terrified of cane spiders and gets dozens of replies from people who have lived on the islands for years or visited many times and have never encountered one.

I would respectfully echo what beanweb said, in that you might consider some way to work this out, and if you can't, then don't go - you'll only be miserable (and your new hubby probably will be too). That would be a shame, because Hawaii is simply ... breathtaking, enchanting, amazing and glorious - to put it mildly. ;-)

cat111719

kitty, I have been to Maui more times than I can count and haven't seen a huge cane spider since I was six and trust me, that is a long time ago. At that time, my mom and I got cornered by onein the bathroom and the housekeeper heard us screaming, came in, stepped on its leg with her bare toe and then carried it outside. I have never, ever forgotten it, and have always wanted to see one as an adult to see if it was really as big as I remembered but I just never have seen one.

Also, look into the Laws of Attraction, because if anyone is going to see one, it will surely be the person most focused on it.

jetset1

Just today, my nail tech was describing camel spiders, via a boyfriend in Afghanistan, talking about their many endearing qualities.

Don't look, if you are afraid of spiders!

http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/...mel_spider.jpg

lcuy

jetset...now those are the kind of spiders that would scare me! Although they actually look kind of like stuffed toys, don't they?

sharona

Now THAT'S a spider!

chepar

kittyluv-

I was born and raised in Hawaii and excepting an approx. 8 year period into my 20s, have lived here my entire life.

I have never seen a cane spider before and had to look at the video you posted to see what you were talking about.

You are much, much, MUCH more likely to run into cockroaches and geckos than a cane spider. Even the occasional centipede is more commonly seen.

I get the phobia thing (I have a gecko phobia which is unfortunate for me, living in Hawaii) but really, you don't have to worry about the cane spider.