Animals can sense your fear, not just physical clues but also the emotional ones. They seem know your intent weather it's to squish (their default assumption) or set them free from the confines of your home.

I know you never will, but if you put your hand down next to a wolf spider, you can coax it to climb aboard and carry it outside. They will move slowly and I've never been bitten.

I have a story I don't expect anyone to believe. I had a Bar-B-Que at my house one hot summer evening and I had a few beers too many. My 6-year-old niece was in attendance and we were sitting on the porch swing when she looked up, "What's that Uncle Rob?" Heather said. There in the corner of the roof overhang was a Baldface Hornets nest about the size of a large egg. In my adjusted state of being I said, "I'll show you". There were two to three of the big monsters crawling on the outside of the nest at any one time and one or two taking flight to hunt.

You should know I've always had a substantial fear of being stung ever since ever since childhood when we use to stone, drench and burn hornet's nests in a "lord of the flies" type ritual.

I reached up and plucked the nest from the eve. About 7 hornets moved from the nest to my hands and crawled around busily. They did not sting. "These are hornets", I said to Heather. I proceeded to peel the paper nest like an onion until I found several larva. "And these are their 'babies' ". "Cool!" she said with a big smile on her face. I had the sense to place the nest away from the house on a rhododendron and the critters left my hands.

The only explanation I can think of why I wasn't stung was the fact that my intent was not to do harm to the hornets, but simply to educate my niece.

To this day if I find a hornet in the house, and it's not too agitated, I'll let it crawl on my hand and take it outside.