You know what that means: I am welcoming all the spiders to come in from the cold and find a cozy place to stay in my house, like this Pholcus in my shower.

I stepped out of my house and started walking to work, when I noticed a dot moving out of the corner of my eye. There was a tiny spider dangling from my eyebrow! This is a bit surprising, since it’s a bit windy and cool here, but maybe they were desperate for shelter. I walked all the way from my house to the lab with a tiny spider on a silken thread hanging from my hand — I might have looked a bit odd. But I made it all the way and snapped their picture.

Isn’t that an adorable little orb-weaver? Now I’m not sure what to do with them — the outside is a bit inhospitable. I might have to adopt them and raise them in the lab.

Every year, around this time, as the weather gets colder, we get an influx of mice moving into our house to find refuge. Our cat is useless — she makes a lot of noise, usually in the middle of the night, but she can never deliver the coup de grace.

It seems I already have a potential solution at hand.

Warning: the videos below show mice meeting a horrible end in the webs of black widows.

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Remember, pretty does not mean it doesn’t have a savage bite.

Today was the day I was going to try breeding a new generation of black widows. I gently introduced some males to some females, but then chickened out. No way were these males ready for the overwhelming majesty of a fully grown female.

That immensity is the female, on the left. The little guy on the right is a male, who I think is bit young for this exercise. He’s game, though, scurried right up to female and made a few tentative taps. It’s a bit like watching a mosquito getting the hots for a passing zeppelin.

I think I’ll have to tank up the males for a few more weeks.

Phase 1 was moving the young black widows to new, spacious quarters and giving them a day to get comfortable. Phase 2 is giving them a big meal so they aren’t hungry when meeting their beaus.

Here’s one female who has just been given a hearty breakfast.

The splotches near the center are spider poop, I’m sorry to say. I’ve been keeping them well fed, so they had to, ummm, relieve themselves immediately after the move. I dropped a large mealworm in this morning — it immediately scurried under the coconut fiber on the left. The spider was very excited, though, and has one leg on its butt, and although you can’t see it, has a silk line attached to it already.

I expect the ladies to be fully satiated and ready for love when I introduce them to some males tomorrow. Friday should be exciting!

This is one of the black widow females I just moved into roomier quarters.

It does not have a red back. Our North American widows are a solid black, with a red hourglass on the underside of the abdomen.

This is one of the males, currently separated.

Seriously dimorphic, which is why he won’t be introduced until the female is fed again, and I can keep on eye on her shenanigans.