I scoop you up, put you in a cage, take photos of you, and give you flies to eat.
She’s very tiny. I’m going to have to fatten her up a lot.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I scoop you up, put you in a cage, take photos of you, and give you flies to eat.
She’s very tiny. I’m going to have to fatten her up a lot.
You may be pleased to hear that my initial test of my new spider cage architecture didn’t kill my test subject, and she actually looks a little more lively and relaxed this morning. She has started filling in a web and was hangin’ upside down and chillin’ like a boss — now that she has a bit of a cobweb, I’ll toss some flies in this morning and see how she reacts.
Then this weekend I’ll have to assemble another dozen or so frames. It takes about 5 minutes to cut sticks to size and tack ’em together with hot glue, so that won’t be too time-consuming.
I’ve been getting worried about the spider colony lately — I saw a phenomenon last year that I’m seeing again, where elderly female spiders begin hoarding the carcasses of their prey, and building thick, tangled webs that they hunker down in and don’t move. They wrap up all these dead flies into a mass and also scrabble up random debris to make a nest (the latter is probably normal) and they cease being productive. I also see the production of dead egg collections, often without even bothering to build an egg sac. Here’s an example:
Yuck. Filthy. You might spot the yellowish egg clumps at the top right and near the center. I’ve never seen this in the wild — usually the webs are regularly purged of dead prey — and it could be that this is a normal consequence of aging (senile spiders!) or I could have cause and effect reversed…maybe it’s the accumulation of filth that makes for unhappy spiders. I should just clean up the cage and see if it makes them happy and ‘normal’ again!
You share, obviously. Mary found this handsome bold fellow in the house, and saved him for me.
It’s good news, too, because I’m desperate for more males.
I had to go to the hardware store this morning to get a little craft saw, and as he was ringing up my purchase, the clerk cheerfully asked, “What are you working on?” In my newfound spirit of sharing my scientific interests with the community, I said:
“I’m cutting bamboo strips to make artisanal cages for the spiders in my lab!”, with a smile.
Ftzzt. Short circuit. No comment. Silently handed me my receipt. I left.
Maybe it was the smile. I’m not very good at the smiling thing.
It’s a handsome Aussie fella, and they named it Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson should be flattered. I’ll tuck it below the fold and when you’re ready to achieve full consciousness, read on.
There hasn’t been much fertility in this lab, and I don’t know what’s going on. The spiders are getting weird and lazy. Here’s Yara (last seen here), who has been building thick clumpy cobwebs and also assembling debris into a nest — she’s partly obscured by a wood shaving here. The strange thing is above her, and to the left.
Those are unhappy looking eggs enclosed in a thin web, not an egg sac. I can say with some confidence that they’re not going to develop.
This is awkward and annoying. Next week I’m going to sterilize cages with alcohol and set up new frames and repopulate, hoping this problem will go away. Maybe they’re stressed? Maybe they’re just old and lapsing into decrepitude?
I was just admiring this S. triangulosa that I found in the science building — an escapee returning to home? — and had to take a few photos. She’s very striking, with this high contrast black & white coloration.
I’ll tuck it below the fold for the arachnophobes.
I politely informed this little grass spider that I was not interested in a ménage à trois.
