That said, earlier in the week I showed y'all a picture of a huge egg sac hanging under our wall-mount mailbox. After doing some research on Google (and seeing the mother!) I was able to confirm that the spiderlings were black widows. Brood I has since dispersed, as spiderlings will do, but this afternoon I found ANOTHER egg sac, just as big and as loaded as the first!
Between Brood I's dispersal and Brood II's hatching, I was able to get a halfway-decent picture of the mother. Here she is.
HER NAME IS ALICE!!! Despite her intimidating size and appearance, Alice is shy and prefers to hide behind the mailbox, just as black widows tend to do. The first time I saw her I was lucky, and all other times have been after dark, when the air is cooler and the mosquitoes are thick. Alice does have the hourglass on her belly, by the way, though y'all can't see it in my picture. I saw her markings the first time I saw her, when she was crawling back under the mailbox. It was like she was saying "Yes, I'm a black widow, and I'm minding my own business. Please don't hurt me."
Despite the appearance of the above picture I give Alice the respect and the space that I want from her. I keep a few steps away, don't poke my fingers into the web, and don't make a lot of noise around the front door. In return I get to admire Alice's glossy beauty, and her ability to mince around her web without getting stuck in it. I've always loved how spiders can do that.
Be forewarned: I plan on giving regular updates on Alice, so like I said in the beginning, if spiders aren't your thing feel free to skip these posts.
UPDATE, 9:55 p.m.: Alice caught some sort of beetle. Y'all can see the red on her belly plain as day now!
She'll eat like a queen tonight!
Sticky love,
RagingMoon1987
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