Man With Arachnophobia Decides to Hatch 150 Tarantula Babies: 'Nightmares'

A recovered arachnophobe has shared how he went from having nightmares about spiders to breeding them in his bedroom.

Anthony Zurlo from Scranton, Pennsylvania, shared a picture of more than 100 tarantula spiderlings on Reddit on January 17.

In the picture, a pile of tiny pink-toe tarantulas amazed viewers as Zurlo revealed he bred them in his bedroom.

But he has not always been so interested in the eight-legged creatures.

"My arachnophobia was so deep I would even have nightmares of spiders crawling on my ceiling, or being locked in a closet with giant tarantulas," Zurlo told Newsweek. "Then when we moved into this house it was filled with basement spiders and I was terrified. So a friend recommended I get a tarantula as a pet, because I had recently got into keeping reptiles."

Research shows that arachnophobia, or a fear of spiders, is the most common phobia with an estimated 3 percent to 15 percent of the population suffering from the condition. People with arachnophobia tend to feel very uneasy in places that could harbor spiders or when seeing them.

Zurlo recalled how his grandfather used to keep reptiles—a hobby that he has been pursuing for two years now.

"I turned to the pet hobby when my son's mother left our household to fill that gaping wound in my heart, and it actually worked," he explained. "I could still talk to my son's mother, and I am not bothered or hurt by it, my animals helped me get over her. I started working in a pet store and working on myself. I am on a mission to become the best person I could be, the spiders helped with that so much."

Already caring for around 20 reptiles and a giant tortoise, Zurlo decided to take his friend's advice and try a pet spider.

"I got a pink-toe tarantula as my first and it was the sweetest creature in the world," he said. "I fell in love with the pet and have even handled it. His name is Goliath and he is the father to the 150 babies."

The pink-toe tarantula is native to rainforest regions of northern South America. The small tree-dwelling spiders are black with some green details and get their name from the pink coloring at the end of each leg.

Females have a leg span of over 4 inches while males have a leg span around 3.5 inches. With fangs that fold under the body, their venom is mild and not a danger to humans—although the hairs on their abdomens can also cause skin irritation as a secondary form of defense.

"I enjoy animals because they cannot hurt you emotionally like people will," said Zurlo. "Some of my tarantulas only react to me by trying to bite me, but i love them because they are the same every day and they are themselves."

Once terrified by the very idea of spiders, Zurlo now has around 200 tarantulas in his home by choice.

After sharing the post on Reddit, Zurlo received hundreds of comments from intrigued users.

"You live my worst nightmare by choice," said one commenter. But others seemed to understand the appeal, one Redditor said: "They're kinda cute," while another agreed, "They are really cute. Also I love that they are called spiderlings."

For others who want to get over a fear of spiders, Zurlo had a little bit of advice: "The best tip I could give is keeping a baby pink-toe tarantula to overcome that fear. Eventually you feel responsible for that life, and you will learn the important role they play in our eco system," he explained. "They are more important than humans technically, if you removed all spiders the earth would suffer a miserable suffocating death but if you removed humans the earth would flourish. We rely on spiders for the air in our lungs and people do not realize it or refuse to recognize it."