Thursday, August 11, 2011

Crib Notes - the Tarantula saga part ewwww.

As I mentioned, life has been very horse free lately, but it has featured an arachnid. Here's part Ewww in the tarantula saga.

The Cobweb in the Sky

The tarantula saga continues, thank goodness.

Fuschia, the pink-toed tarantula we are arachnid sitting for the summer, is a casual eater, dining on her crickets only periodically. I have yet to see her dine on her buggy entrees, a lucky coincidence I earnestly hope to continue experiencing.

But as a result, I can’t just dump a load of crickets every other day in her terrarium/condo, but have to peer in to see if any of the doomed hoppers remain. She usually moves a bit, a tiny leg wave as if she’s annoyed that I’m blocking her light.

Then, on Thursday she didn’t move. I came back later and checked again. Nothing. I blew gently on her, which is a sure fire way to get her moving. Still as a rock. I was horrified. Somehow we had managed to kill the third grade class tarantula. The kids were out of town for the night with dad, so I decided to spare them the bad news.

The next morning my guilty conscious required me to send a message to Mr. Herzog, the teacher who had entrusted us with Fuschia’s care:

Bad news. The tarantula has gone to the big cobweb in the sky.

While Fuschia has been a relatively quiet member of the household, I was not looking forward to breaking the news to Mireya who would be mortified that we had managed to fail arachnid sitting. She’s been a dutiful, if distant, guardian of the eight-legged summer guest, regularly filling her water bowl and reporting on her location in the web.

When they arrived back home I realized it was time to break the news. I checked on Fuschia one last time.

I did a double take. It looked a little crowded in there. Like Fuschia had a guest.

Certainly we had not invited over any gentleman suitors to her condo. And, as far as I knew, no one else was bringing in more “pets,” although around here you can never be sure.

I peered in for a closer look, and sure enough, there were more legs in there than there should be. I left the room to… er… get some air.

Then it slowly dawned on me. Fuschia has molted. And apparently she has learned from my daughters that the best place for a discarded outfit is right in the middle of her room.

I sent an update to Mr. Herzog. He had been out of town, but had surmised that we were witnessing molting, not expiration.

He then suggested we could keep Fuschia’s outgrown shell, to which I sent a message back:

Ewwww.


13 comments:

Allenspark Lodge said...

"And apparently she has learned from my daughters that the best place for a discarded outfit is right in the middle of her room."

OMG. Still laughing!

Bill

Dan and Betty said...

I agree - Ewwww.

Dan

Maia said...

Eeew is right. Double eew. Who is going to retrieve the shell? Ick, ick, ick. Better you than me.

KarenTX said...

ewwwwwwwwww.......too! ~~shudder~~

Christie Maszki said...

So funny! First time my spider molted I was worried too...I still need to keep one of the exuviae to put in a shadow box. They are useful to scare people though...as I learned by placing one on a collegues microscope...lol!!!!

Shirley said...

There is No. Way. A spider would be welcome in my house. Especially one that I had to feed. Double especially one that big.

Allenspark Lodge said...

Oh come on, guys. You should have seen the size of our snake-skin-castoffs when Retread, the bull snake changed outfits! He lived in my dining room for over 10 yrs and was over 4 1/2 ft. long; went to school more often than most people's kids - as a show & tell item.
Juanita

Captain Bailey said...

Greatest story ever!! I'm still laughing. Spiders aren't my favorite critters either, but it's hard for me to feel the same way about tarantulas as I do other spiders. I think the (hair? fur?) makes them look more like mammals, and therefore more loveable!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Funny!
But......
*shudder*


~Lisa

Anonymous said...

Wow! I don't know from tarantulas, but glad she's at your house instead of mine!

Grey Horse Matters said...

Well look at it this way, when she goes back to school you'll have something to remember her by. She's leaving you a part of her.

Captain Bailey said...

For some reason, tarantulas have always seemed OK with me--I think the fur (or hair, or whatever you call it on spiders...!) makes them seem more mammalian--and therefore OK. Black widows are another story.

LOL at "Cobweb in the Sky!"

Leah Fry said...

Yeah,I'm on the side of "Ewwww". Arachnids ain't my thing. I sure as hell didn't know they molted, which is triple or even quadruple EWWWWW!