Spider update

Since you met all our spiders a few days ago (well, some of our spiders), I'm sure you're dying to know how life is going for them. So here's the update:
Big Mama - all her kids appear to have left home. Big Mama is still hanging around, but seems pretty sedate. Can't tell if she's about to pull a Charlotte (no, not writing things in her web), or if she's just resting up for her next brood.

Sheila - still hanging around and seems to be doing great. She might have more kids than we initially thought, and we still help her feed all those mouths by throwing various prey items in her web.

Priscilla - our little drama queen has had an eventful few days! A few days ago, we noticed Prince Charming trying to sweep Priscilla off her feet... without getting his head bitten off (maybe that's how all guys feel). He's been hanging around since then - either mate guarding or waiting for the right moment - so if everything continues to go well, Priscilla may have her own brood, soon. However, the same night that Prince Charming showed up, she also lost 2 of her front legs. Don't know who attacked her (bird? bat? not Mr.Right - she would have eaten him if he tried that). We're curious to see how she copes, but so far she seems to be doing OK. We've started feeding her, too. She just looks so pathetic there in our kitchen window, and Ani has trained us that food is always a proper response to the Pathetic Look.


And we have a new addition, although we won't give her a name because, as excited as we were to see her, we hope we won't see her regularly. But we saw our first Red-back!! These are considered one of the most deadly spiders in Australia, although that doesn't mean that much. I know what you're thinking "Doesn't mean much!?!? In that Land of All Things Deadly, this is one of the worst and that doesn't mean much!?!?" But here's the deal - there are very few spider-induced deaths at all. With red-backs, they suspect that venom rarely gets injected when they bite humans, and if it does, they've developed an anti-venom. There have been no red-back deaths since the anti-venom was created in 1956. Nonetheless, bites are supposed to be incredibly painful, so we'll leave her alone in the crawl-space under the house.