The last time I mentioned my spider work, I had sad news: the eggs were dreadfully dessicated, and I hypothesized that the declining humidity was not good for their health. I have no new egg sacs, but I did increase the humidity in the incubator, and have other good signs to report. There has been zero mortality among the juveniles this week, and the adults were extraordinarily lively — so lively that I had to deal with 3 escapes while I was trying to feed them.
I had spiders crawling all over me, which was a delightful feeling, but also made me a little panicky — I had to get them back into their nice safe vials before they got injured. All were rescued, no harm done, and they also immediately chowed down on the juicy flies I’d given them.
I felt all paternal and warm inside, as one does when dealing with affectionate pets.
Did they leave their safety lines all over you too?
had spiders crawling all over me, which was a delightful feeling,
No comment .
davidc1.
Wonder how many people ran away screaming after reading that.
@2, 3: Indeed. Trigger warnings for arachnophobes? (Or should we just read “spider” in the title and go on to something else?)
Wonderful news! who’s a good spider-daddy? You are!
=8)-DX
PJ. 45 years ago my sister had a pet tarantula. She called it Paula. Then Paula’s backside went bald, so she started calling it Paul. She would let Paul crawl around in her hand, lording her bravery over me, and he never bit her. But once, Paul got out and sis was out. I found Paul in the kitchen (of course), and tried to capture him, but was warded off when he put up his front legs and exposed his fangs. So you’re going to have to do better than a few measly spiders on your arm.
P.S. Sis married a man named Paul and has been happy ever since.
Sorry about the initial misspell.
Are spiders who attempt to escape but are recaptured sent to the cooler as punishment? Do they have little spider mitts and balls to bounce off the walls while there?
The weird thing for me regarding this post is that I get a far greater sense of feeling creeped out by hearing you describe spiders crawling on you, than I do from your photos or videos. And those bug me as well, pun fully intended (I still view them as a tool for desensitizing me a bit.)
#8: No. Do you kick kittens who play?
I don’t know about affectionate. I think they regard humans as moving landscapes.
The description of them crawling all over is worse, for me, than any pictures would have been.
That said, glad you were able to rescue them all and continue your experiments. It sound like fun (if you’re not me).