Bed and breakfast fail

Laurie caught this western conifer seed bug, out for a stroll around the house while the weather was warm. I housed him in a gallon jar with a tiny spider I've been watching since she was a pinhead. He liked it there; a comfortable, even temperature, a few dry leaves to hide in when he wanted to sleep, an interesting view out the door. He wandered over there every day to look at me, ask for a drink. He wasn't hungry; eating can wait for summer and running sap in the trees.

The spider wasn't a problem; she hangs out in a miniature web at the top of the jar, rarely moving, waiting for some tiny flying insect. A skinny mosquito is a week's meals for her.

I took the bug out when I cleaned the jar, and he walked tamely along my fingers, then without any fuss ambled back into his leaf litter. A friendly guy; these bugs usually are.

When the light was right, I took a photo of his underside as he walked on the glass.

That long needle-like tube is what he uses to bore into the trees for sap. He's missing one leg.

I planned to bring him out and get some good photos; face shots, back shots; he wouldn't mind posing. But I was busy, and I waited. And yesterday, he turned up all wrapped up in spider web, upside-down and dead.

They do like to come inside for the winter, but they are so vulnerable to spiders! But I never expected his quiet jar companion, no bigger than this guy's head, to have done him in.

So sorry, pal! Next time, when your cousin comes by asking for a warm corner, he'll get a whole jar to himself. No spiders, not even minispiders.