When I got home from my week in Denver last night, the very first thing I did was rush off to the lab to check on the spiders. They were fine! Completely unperturbed by a week of neglect! They even produced egg cases for me! Well, one healthy egg case. Vera continues her habit of dumping dessicated dead eggs in ill-formed egg cases, which you may recall was something Gwyneth did before she died, too.
Oh, yeah, then we checked on the cat. She was fine, too.
Granddaughter much cuter than egg case but good to hear your spiders (and the cat) are okay.
Are there no arachnologists at Morris or elsewhere who you could consult with about your observations? You can’t be the first person to see such behavior, can you?