Lola Lives On

Last week I was saddened to find my pet black widow, Lola, dead at the bottom of her jar. I had caught her on the edge of my bathtub one evening in the fall of 2012. At the time I was taking an entomology class. We were making collections of insects and the professor said he would give credit for one arachnid if we found a cool one. I was stoked to have such a beautiful specimen!

Lola: The Instagram Version

After getting Lola in the jar and observing her I was at a loss as to what to do. I wasn't looking forward to transferring her to a vile of ethanol. She was so pretty. I watched her for a while and then set the jar aside. 

A few weeks later I still didn't have the heart to kill her, but I was also starving her. I obtained some crickets and fed them to her. The first time I watched her drop down and immediately start to throw her web around her prey I knew I was in love. It was fascinating to watch her.

This is a video of Lola building a new web in a new jar after I decided to give her a little more than an empty jar to live in. 

Lola produced two egg sacs. One in the old jar and one in the new. The sac in the old jar never produced anything. It eventually dried up and fell to the bottom of the jar. Shortly after her move to the new jar she produced another sac. I didn't expect it to produce anything either, but I kept a stocking over the lid just in case. 

After Lola died I disregarded the eggs, thinking they were unfertilized. It wasn't until today that I found dozens of tiny spiderlings! 

Lola is now lovingly preserved in ethanol and her progeny will live on to carry her genes as far as they can go. I plan to find some open space nearby where I can free the little spiders and send them on to compete in the world. I'm so happy that her DNA will continue for at least one other generation. :)