Our newest pets

[tracilicious]

A few weeks ago, as we were cleaning the bottom of the sandbox, we discovered a gorgeous female black widow spider and a few egg sacs. We all wanted to get a closer look, so Michael caught her in Indi's bug jar and we brought her inside. We destroyed the web and killed the egg sacs, and had every intention of doing the same thing to the spider after the kids were in bed, but after spending some time watching her spin her web and move her graceful legs, I couldn't bring myself to do it. So, we named her Ursula. She's in a very kid-proof jar. Indi could open it, I'm sure, but he knows how dangerous she is and he has utmost respect for her. Jade can't open it, and she's kept out of reach of the kids anyways. So no one is in danger or anything.

I might be crazy, but I'm totally in love with her. She's so beautiful. We feed her a cricket every few days and it's fascinating to watch her eat. Last week we found a male black widow, and decided to complete our collection. We dubbed our spindly male Triton. The only problem is that he won't eat. He's built a paltry web. We put a cricket in with him, but he didn't touch it, so we gave it to Ursula. I don't know how much longer he can go without eating. We're considering putting him in with Ursula so they can mate, but I don't really want her eating him afterwards. Or maybe I do...might be kinda cool.

This week we're going to upgrade her habitat to something a bit bigger, but still equally escape proof (and duct tapable to prevent entry). I'll post pics in a week or so when we get our new camera.