1 picture and a few text notes above!

If you've been visitng my stream for a while, you may know about the darling little spider that came to live next to our front door on our porch. I decided to have a naming contest, and the winning name was Roscoe Frank McCrawlerson! From a wee 1/4" in size, I have watched little Roscoe survive hibernation (brumation) through a freezing winter and then become active again in March, immediately capturing food! Soon Roscoe began to grow and shed skin after skin. It became evident by its size that Roscoe was not a male but indeed a female, and she has continued to grow to her present size, which is about 2" in diameter (her body is about 3/4"). She is truly magnificent and beautiful with lovely markings in shades of cream, orange and rust.

Though it makes me feel sad, I know that Roscoe will die this summer. However, before she does, I hoped that she'd find a mate and build her greatest masterpiece: a web eggsac that she will fill with her fertilized eggs. Since she seems to be full-sized now, I figured that she had begun sending out pheremones to attract a mate.

I've been looking every day for a male....and today I FOUND HIM!!!!! In fact, I wasn't even sure the spider I saw was alive, so I reached up to where it was above our door at the ceiling, and lightly touched it. WOO HOO, he sprang to life and moved a few steps!

Taking a careful look, I was fascinated to see that he is about one third her size, about 3/4" in diameter. More slender in shape, but the same coloring, he features the characteristic "boxing gloves" palps of a male spider. FABULOUS!!!

The pictures I have are not awesome...he was in a place that made it difficult to get a good angle, but you can see his palps in two of the images. (Roscoe is in the upper left picture and she's waiting for him in the corner of the alcove!)

As morbid as it may seem, I don't know if she'll kill him and eat him after they've mated. It's possible he'll get to leave afterwards. It's also possible that she'll reject him and kill him without mating. Time will tell. I'll keep an eye on them tonight...so far he's about 2 feet away from her, waiting for the right time to move in. Cross your fingers that everything goes well! I am hoping that in the end, at least one of her babies will stay here, just like Charlotte's babies in Charlotte's Web! Oh dear...I am going to get teary thinking about my friend dying... :( :( :( I know she's "just" a spider, but darn it...she's been a really cool little buddy...