For the traditional Christians out there » « Conflict of interest

Not a good day

The current spider egg case I was hoping to see hatch out with a new generation of spiders isn’t looking so good. I opened it up to find way too many dead eggs, and then made a time lapse to see babies just fading away. It’s sad and miserable. I’m putting it here to document my dismal Christmas eve.

I’m gonna have to cancel Christmas. There is no reason for anyone to celebrate.

For the traditional Christians out there » « Conflict of interest

Comments

  1. John Morales says

    Not for everyone.

    In Oz news [with stock photos]:
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-24/funnel-web-spider-warning-as-numbers-increase/10666344

    Sydney’s Australian Reptile Park has put out a festive-period warning after reporting a record number of “massive” funnel-web spiders handed in to its keepers.

    The park said the funnel-webs, the deadliest spiders in Australia, were mainly males and had leg spans of up to 10 centimetres, some of the biggest spiders the keepers have seen.

    The venom of the male Sydney funnel-web is six-times [sic] more potent than that of the female.

    Australian Reptile Park head of spiders, reptiles and venom Dan Rumsay described the creatures that were handed in as “massive”.

    “They’re even scaring me and I have to work with them,” he said.

    (Cheers!)

  3. jrkrideau says

    @ 1 John Morales
    I have often thought that my Irish ancestors made a mistake and came to Canada rather than Australia. Suddenly, a grizzly bear or polar bear looks cuddly after hearing about funnel-web spiders.

  6. marcoli says

    I am sorry for this! Is it possible that opening an egg sac puts the embryos at risk? Besides possible desiccation, a separate factor is introduction of pathogens. I have a vague recollection that spider silk has an anti-microbial effect.

  7. says

    Yes. Mold, parasites, bacteria…all are candidates for this problem. The complication is that I’ve opened egg cases before, and they’ve been fine; the last couple of egg cases I left alone for weeks, only to open them to discover all were dead.