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Spider Excitement, Tasha, Lucky - UPDATE June 26, 2016

Yesterday the interns found a big spider behind the aquarium and put it in a viewing box. We think it is a striped fishing spider but are emailing the author of “Spiders of the Northwoods” to be sure. SpiderSpiderLate afternoon yesterday, the spider had not begun making a web. Actually, I didn’t know fishing spiders made webs, but it was just enough of a web to hold the egg sac that an intern discovered this morning as the spider was laying eggs in it. Then the mother added webbing to cover the eggs as the staff captured in this video https://youtu.be/lFHJduKu5fU. I didn’t realize they added many strands of webbing at once.

Carrying egg sacCarrying egg sacThis afternoon, the mother cut the egg sac free from the web and began carrying it in her mandibles as shown in one of the pictures. Does the fact that she is carrying the egg sac in her mandibles mean she will not eat until the eggs hatch? How long will that be? She ate a cricket yesterday when they first put her in the viewing box. She will have crickets with her constantly to see if she eats any. None of us has ever witnessed anything like this. It’s fascinating to some and eerie to others. We’ll be capturing videos and pictures. We’re looking for more information on striped fishing spiders to know better what to look for.

Tasha, meanwhile, played with her red toy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6ihPTbqZbQ while Lucky tried to grab his yellow ducky through Tasha’s fence, as a Lily Fan captured at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFlMMdYT8D8.

Thank you for all you do.

Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center


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