She sat on a tuffet,
Eating of curds and whey;
There came a little spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frighten’d Miss Muffet away.
A few days ago, my son came to me saying there was a spider on the kitchen floor, “…and it looks like a tarantula spiderling!” Thinking I had an escaped spiderling situation, I rushed in and had a look. Well, it certainly did look like one of our baby tarantulas, so I placed a cup over it and took a quick inventory; all were accounted for.
So, I prepped a small enclosure with coco fiber and a piece of bark and moved it into the new home. My wife quickly identified the little guy as a Tiger Wolf Spider, Tigrosa aspersa.
Lupe, the Tiger Wolf Spider, checking out her new digs.
We fed it a cricket, provided some fresh water, and decided to keep it until spring. It had been in the house a while, and the season changes had become obscure. After a few days, it started tunneling, which most female wolf spiders do, and within a day, an egg sac was spun. Our little friend was a female.
As I write this, she is carrying the sac around with her abdomen and spinnerettes.
Lupe, the Tiger Wolf Spider, emerges from her tunnel with her egg sac.
So, what to do?
Was she fertile when she wove the sac? It’s also way early, and thanks to the indoor world, she thinks it’s early summer. But, no worries. If the sac is fertilized, the spiderlings will stay atop her abdomen until they are ready to go off on their own. Though keeping and observing this little spider we call “Lupe” is fascinating, we have decided to let her and her spiderlings, if any, go in Spring, when the hatching is due anyway.
Linkhorn Biosphere Log for October 6, 2025 This morning, I went outside on the porch to check on the Linkhorn biosphere, which I got from the bay out here. It was still dark, unlike yesterday, and not very clear. I had left the lid on a bit loose to allow some oxygen in, but this…
Linkhorn Biosphere Annex Log for October 11, 2025 It’s a beautiful, cool October Saturday. I decided to create a Linkhorn Annex, positioning it indoors near light for better observation and control. Whether this endeavor stems from a genuine scientific interest or simply a need for a project remains to be seen. The Annex is housed…
It’s been 21 days since we first saw these little eggs and now they have evolved into eggs with legs. This the clutch of eggs that I previously posted on my Facebook page Emay’s Critters and it is from one of my wife’s tan jumping spiders (Polycryptus undatus). Her name is Toto; she is the…
Linkhorn Biosphere Log for October 7th, 2025: The Apocalypse Well, it seems that the Linkhorn is dying—it’s turning black. There are probably several reasons: not enough oxygen, not enough light, and who knows what else, but it’s definitely declining. As noted in other entries, I did observe some micro-life in there, so it’s not totally…
I am creating a biosphere—arguably an ecosphere, but I’m calling it a biosphere because that’s what my old brain can remember. I’m using a jar that used to hold kimchi. I live near a branch of the Lynnhaven River, which stems from the Chesapeake Bay—Linkhorn Bay, I think, or something like that. Anyway, it’s a…
October 13, 2025 Coco is remodeling-and she scraped her butt! Our Mexican Red Rump tarantula, Tliltocatl vagans, “Coco,” is quite the character. She was one of our first tarantulas and has grown rather quickly over the past two years. Coco lives in a coconut shell that I repurposed as her hide. Lately, she’s been spending…
