So we had a rabid wolf spider, soon in a habitat furnished with dessicated carcasses of crickets and grasshoppers.
Despite her initial hesitation, she wept for a day when we discovered he had died a few weeks later. First Son promised to catch her another, and did! He found this one outside. The kids were certain it was getting bigger and sure enough, she appeared one morning with a large egg sack.
Mom was not nearly as excited as the children. We watched her carry it around for a few weeks before Kansas Dad caught a replacement, so we let Mama Spider loose in the yard with her egg sack before anything hatched out of it. (Now you have solid proof I am not the perfect homeschooling mom because I did not allow my children to observe hundreds of wolf spiders hatching on my kitchen counter.)
We have since switched to a new spider. Apparently, we are going to just keep rotating through all the spiders that invade our house. I told the kids they should start a guidebook of Range spiders with drawings and notes but so far none have taken on the project. With winter approaching, we may need a spider break due to lack of a food source. (I am not purchasing food for a spider we would have squished a few months ago.)
Just because it's cute, here's a picture of a tiny frog Kansas Dad found outside over the summer. The pictures you find on the computer months later...
