So, last night, post freakout, pre beddiebyes, Mr Brown called me out to the end room to view a big huntsman he'd found. Not as big as his hand but pretty bloody big.
Ooo, he said, are those babies all over her?
Well, not all over her for long. They scattered a bit.
Turns out mummy huntsmen produce an egg sac and guard it, without eating, for about 3 weeks. Some even carry their egg sac under their bodies while moving about. My dad can confirm that, he once had to fish a spider egg sack out of the bin when mummy spider came back for it.
Then after hatching, the babies stay with mum for several weeks, going through several molts until they are hardened up a bit and disperse. 
That shot is as close as I could macro up on a baby, without risking mum jumping up an biting me on the nose.We didn't particularly want them dispersing throughout the Brown Mouse House, so we gently blew and swept them out the back door.
That last shot is actually a leaf-curl spider hanging her legs out of her carefully curled leaf and into the evening sunset.
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6 comments:
That mama spider reminds me of the cane spiders we have in Hawaii, only they are huge like that and _hairy_! At first, I thought you had spider-printed curtains!
cool spiders, although I don't think I'd like the wee bugger in the house....
Ooh, that was INSIDE your house! Just dreamy.
Zoomie, I'm not keen on hairy spiders, not at all. I've got dragonflies on one of my roman blinds!
Roo, we have a rule, spiders are fine but NOT IN THE HOUSE, we don't gererally kill them if they come inside though, if we can we pop them outside.
Cookie, yep, inside, we had to get her out (a) because no spiders in the house and (b) Ping likes to pat them with her paws until their legs fall off.
They creep me out but fascinate me too, they are so beautiful. I do the same, I just scoop them up (usually with a glass) and put them outside. Same reasons. Plus some sting, and spider stings give you those huge festering pimples.
E, stings or bites?? I've never suffered either, but I don't pick them up with my fingers either, a glass & some paper usually does the trick.
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