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About SpidaTrap - Why an arachnophobe decided to catch spiders

SpidaTrap came about when I (Robin Watson) realised that there must be an easier way of coping with my arachnophobia than my usual tried and tested method of suddenly leaping on to my furniture whilst emitting a note only audible to dogs and bats. The embarrassment side was also a major drawback if I happened to be entertaining guests at the time. Like all arachnophobes, I tried every anti-spider device on the market with zero success. These included sprays, ultrasonic gizmos and catching mechanisms. Just to take the various spider catcher devices for a moment, these for me had two huge drawbacks. First, you had to take your eye off the spider whilst you sprinted through to wherever you kept the device and, after eventually locating it and sprinting back, more often than not the spider had wandered off to prepare for its next ambush. Second, and more importantly, arachnophobes were expected to actively pursue the thing that they would willingly have paid good money to be 100 miles from. And, in my opinion, these were the best anti-spider devices out there. No, no, no! Something had to be done - and then it struck me that the two things that these traps had in common were, (a) they did not work and (b) none of them as far as I could see had been invented by an arachnophobe. The philosophy was simple. If you were an arachnophobe, the last thing you wanted to think about was spiders and if you weren�t an arachnophobe, the last thing you thought about was spiders�. I had to become an arachnophobe who thought about spiders.

Armed with my new philosophy, I gritted my teeth and bravely faced my phobia head on. I concluded that it was the surprise element that caused 90% of my discomfort . Examples included watching TV when a spider the size of an umbrella comes sprinting out from under the TV right at me or turning round to put out my bedside light and finding an octopus-sized creature on my bedside table staring at me and, for all I knew, formulating an attack plan.

Realising that I couldn't permanently fix my arachnophobia, I knew that if I could stop the spiders from entering my immediate domain or at least just stop them running so bloody fast then I could eliminate a large part of my anxiety. They are so selfish these spiders; they don't stay still long enough to squish them. Some sort of barrier or force field was required.

With full support from my dad and business partner, Bill (who was always there to talk me off the top of the wardrobe when one of the many testing sessions went horribly wrong and a spider escaped) and various universities from all around the world, we eventually came up with a foolproof system that catches the spiders before they come anywhere near you.

This trap system has completely changed my life. I no longer fear leaving my bare feet exposed or lying down on the floor to watch TV or read. After several weeks I was only catching the occasional spider showing me that the traps were eliminating all the spiders that had been living in/inhabiting my house.