School Pictures

Who had to clean this up?

Timely article, given my last post. Read the whole article, and get the creepy crawlies. Lily and Mike had better come home soon so I can get back to cute posts about Lily.

Pet spider kills its owner

A MAN who lived in his own “zoo” of lizards and insects was fatally bitten by a pet black widow spider — then eaten by the other creepy-crawlies.

Police broke in to Mark Voegel’s apartment to find spider Bettina along with 200 others, several snakes, a gecko lizard called Helmut and several thousand termites had gorged on his body.

Neighbours alerted police after becoming alarmed by the stink.

And horrified officers were met by a nightmare scene.

A police spokesman said: “It was like a horror movie. His corpse was over the sofa.

“Giant webs draped him, spiders were all over him. They were coming out of his nose and his mouth.

“There was everything there one could imagine in the world of reptiles.

“Larger pieces of flesh torn off by the lizards were scooped up and taken back to the webs of tarantulas and other bird-eating spiders.”

Charlotte?

Look what was on my parents' front door yesterday! It spent all morning there. My mom says it was the size of a hand! Apparently, it's a "fishing spider," capable of walking on water and catching small toads. According to an article in Natural History:

Fishing spiders live throughout the United States, although they're particularly abundant in the South. They lurk along the edges of ponds and streams, and when insects drop to the water, these spiders rush across the surface to attack. They can also dip their legs underwater and grab swimming tadpoles and small fish.

Harmless to humans, but still . . .