Dang, Jeff, that's a great story.

Okay, my spider story: I had a sculpture studio south of Market St. in San Francisco (years ago), and I found a Latrodectus species in the corner. I captured it and put it in a large containter. It built its web as predicted, and I began feeding it the annoying flies that came by (very satisfying). It grew bigger and I began to do some research on this genus, and others at the library (pre-internet by about 25 years). Result: Spiders are one of the most fascinating organisms on the planet.

Fun facts that I remember from that research:

They can weave a strand of web the thickness of a protein molecule.

There have been attempts to use their silk for for cloth, but they can't be raised in big enough numbers to make this possible. (They eat each other). However, one ambitious entrepreneur managed to collect enough silk to make a pair of gloves. Jeff, how'd you like to put your hand into one of those gloves? heh-heh

It has been documented that a black widow spider has captured and eaten a mouse just by using its web to remove the leverage of the mouse's legs and then bite it to immobilize it.

A single web spinner produces several types of web, sticky to capture, stong and thick for contstruction, etc. It changes from a liquid to a solid by the speed at which they draw it out from their spinnerets.

Balooning is the spider's way to distribute the species. They send out strands of web to catch the wind and when there's enough to pull them into the air, they let go. Hence their distribution world wide, even to the most remote island in any sea.

We're really very lucky here to not have some of the really bad boys. Check out Australia if you want some real arachnophobia. YIKES!

Back to my "pet"; I found a male and dropped him in to the container. I watched him do the dance and they eventually mated, afterwhich he became a meal (hence the name). She laid a ball of eggs which successfully hatched. I watched as she actually cared for the babies by letting them eat the insects that I supplied and she killed. She soon died and the babies ate her as well, nothing to waste.

I saved one of the babies which grew up to be another female. Repeat above story times 3 generations.

Bill