15 July 2005

Spider Attack!

(by the not so elusive Lana)

David is away, so I get to handle spiders.

The boys were happily playing down stairs with their Lego. Eric ran up and announced, "We have a big problem! There is a very big spider with an egg sac." I wasn't too concerned because they have previously called smallish spiders "big" before. I sort of hurried down stairs armed with bug spray (and the camera).
Wow! They were right this time. It was BIG. Holding a very large, very full egg sac. It was approximately 15cm/6in from toe to toe. After taking the required picture for David we sprayed it white. We didn't really want it to fall and hide somewhere, with all those little spiders to hatch - after all, they too will grow that big one day.
I wanted to get it outside. I needed a flat-ish container, something it wouldn't get caught in and have trouble getting out again. Some of the small containers the children pointed out wouldn't have held it - and I certainly didn't want my fingers that close to it. Finally, I flicked it into a Lego bucket and James took it outside.
The boys inpected it. It was a bit sick from the spray - but it was still moving! James wanted to squish it and rip the sac open to see inside. This he did and he was a little shocked to see hundreds of baby spiders inside. Naturally he then used his boot to commune with nature.
Now, every little tickle makes us feel creepy.

2 comments:

Cay Gibson said...

Lana,
Thanks so much for sharing the Spider Attack. My dc are clustered around the computer on all sides of me taking it all in...picture and reading.

Our Nature Camp ~ H2O Study got rained out today. Ironic, isn't it?

Thanks for delivering Science for the day! : )
Cay

DavidofOz said...

If you click the photo you can get the fll size shot. Great for those that like that type of thing!