Today was cricket-feeding day. I am still learning things, and one of the things I have learned is that I hate crickets, those jumpy, twitchy, annoying little beasts. I have to struggle to confine and catch the things, but I chortle evilly when I finally slide them down into a vial. They’re two or 3 times larger than my spiders, but it’s no contest. They’re doooooomed. Bwahahahaha!
Also, spiders have personalities. Amanda is shy; she gets a cricket, she ignores it, and me, and just hangs out in her corner placidly until I leave the room.The cricket will be dismantled fragments the next day, but a lady does not make a spectacle of her murders.
Xena is timid. She notices the cricket for sure, but she runs away — where it is, she is not, and she scurries about rather frantically to avoid it. She lays down lots of webbing, though, and I think she waits until it snares itself thoroughly before going in for the kill.
Vera is a beast. Put anything in there, she does not delay sinking her fangs into it. I’d just put the cricket in her vial when she charged up, lassoed its hind limbs, and was making quick bites into the leg joints. She reminds me of Gwyneth, a real killer. Especially that bit about first knee-capping her prey before getting into the serious business of liquefying its guts.
Vera also escaped, briefly, and marched up onto my hand and stood there, gently tapping on my knuckle like she was getting impatient. Once the cricket was in her vial, though, she quickly rappelled down and made short work of it.
I’ve got to get them some mates, but I’m worried that the juvenile males are just too small — I may try tomorrow, though, when the females are fat and sated with cricket juice and might be willing to tolerate a conjugal visit. I’ve got a son of Gwyneth I’d like to pair up with Vera — what beautifully voracious slayers their progeny might make!
(I might be getting a little too close with my arachnid brood, I willingly confess.)
I’m not looking forward to the day when I become an empty-nester, but it’s coming up fast, whether I want it or not. I guess now I know what kind of mentality I have to look forward to once the kids are all gone.
You need to come up with a catchy name for this little soap opera, like Meerkat Manor but with spiders. Get some reality TV money and leave all your funding woes behind.
No MIGHT about it doc.
How long is the sabbatical?
Should we be worried about your wife and your cat?
You know, that description almost makes a body drool.
Almost.
“(I might be getting a little too close with my arachnid brood, I willingly confess.)”
When my oldest tarantula died of old age after I’d had her some 20 years I wept like a baby. We have weird brains in that we can become attached to creatures like tarantulas that do not reciprocate our feelings. That some creatures are cool and interesting don’t mean we might not also one-way bond with them.
For anyone keeping track, my arachnid shower buddy has gone. I am concerned and a bit put off. I guess I am not good enough as a fly attractor. I was wondering how it was faring given lack of bugs in my bathroom.
Good luck to you little buddy. 😪
Is it an insult or a compliment to call a spider a beast?