The lab is significantly cooler, at 20°C (the spiders are kept comfortable at 30°C in incubators) and our Steatoda triangulosa egg case has had a few feeble little spiderlings crawling out. Here’s one:
What do you think, adorable or irresistible? It was moving slowly, so it’s alive but still kind of weak and uncoordinated. Give ’em time, they’ll be hunting prey and gamboling about soon enough.
Also, useful information: S. triangulosa takes 17 days from laying to emergence from the egg sac at 30°C. File that away somewhere.
Awww, little baby Shelob. For cute!
From one of my favourite movies:
Rob: The Big Sleep. Great movie, impenetrable plot.
I’m surprised they can hunt at all.
If poopyhead has been “hanging out” with the baby Shelobs, does this mean he’s been encased in silk and is being stored for a later meal, or (possibly encased in silk, and possibly stored), is a male Shelob ? In either case, he sounds like a meal…
The mildly deranged penguin suggests a chilled vin rosé to go with the vegetable-fed poopyhead, who perhaps should be served with an aïoli sauce containing plenty of garlic. Cheeses and fresh fruit to follow…
What do I think? I think it probably looks like a tasty jello treat to any adult spiders nearby and ought to get the hell out of Dodge while it still has a chance.
So I was wondering today, I bought my S.O. a chibi PZ t-shirt some years back (this chibi PZ one)
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/02/28/schwaaaaaaag/
Her shirt’s still fine. But maybe we could get a new version with a nice chibi spider someday. I think she’d wear it if I got her one. Granted, the ‘Pharyngula store’ doesn’t seem to exist anymore, at least not at that URL. I will watch for any new swag updates!