It’s Friday, feeding day in the lab, and I went in this morning to throw wingless flies and mealworms at the horde, all the Steatoda borealis and Latrodectus mactans. I also have one adorable little Bold Jumper, Phidippus audax, that I keep around not because I have experiments in mind, but because she’s cute. Jumping spiders are always adorable. Of course I have to feed her, too.

I tossed in a mealworm, which she instantly devoured, when I noticed…hey, what are all these little dark dots all over the place? She had a silky refuge that she often disappeared into, and now I know that she was nurturing an egg sac. I hadn’t seen it, but apparently it popped in the last day or two.

Here’s a baby Bold Jumper.

Suddenly, I have lots. I put a whole lot of fruit flies into the container to keep them entertained for now…later I’ll have to separate them out into vials.