Pleased to meetcha!

The eggs have hatched!

Spider eggs, that is; Fat Momma's babies that she left in the corner over the winter.

(This will be Part VII of a continuing series on the life and times of an Achearanea tepidariorum (American house spider) family. Parts I - Spider Watching, II - Fresh laid eggs!, III - Taking Candy from a Baby, IV - We Haz Babies!, V - Baby Pictures, and VI - Post-Coital Bliss, sort of.)

I bought a new camera today. The first one, a year old, was the cheapest, skimpiest beginners' model; I've upgraded. A bit. To a Canon A720 IS. Still a cheap model, but an improvement.

I spent the afternoon and evening studying the manual and trying to get close-ups of a carpet beetle, the one I'd photographed earlier with the old camera. I still have quite a bit of work to do to find the right combination of lighting and lenses, but I did get a fairish shot or two.

Relaxing, finally, I wandered around, camera in hand, clicking away at difficult targets. I ended up outside, in the dark (2 AM), for the last trial before I went off to bed.


Hey, it does pretty good; I couldn't even see this planter, just aimed where I knew it was. I took several photos: the rhododendron, primulas in the garden, the hydrangea, an old sign on the wall.

Above the sign is the corner where Fat Momma left her egg cases. A dark, dark corner; I took a practice shot at it, too.

I downloaded the photos to the computer and looked at them; the egg cases came out clearly.

But one is different now; faded and rumpled. And down below, what is that?


Achearanea tepidiariorum. Fat Momma's latest baby. And half grown up already.

He/she has been around for a little while. At least, the remains of two good meals are hanging in the web.

Two dead, dried-up flies. Or mosquitos.

Welcome to the world, little one! May you live long and happily. Eat dozens of moths. And lay many eggs.