Love is in the Air

If you thought the cockroach was huge, how about this baby?

Don't fire 'till you see the whites of their eyes, boys!

I guess this is one of the problems with living in the dry forest: bugs, and plenty of them! We get lots of geckos (I like those, actually), other spiders, giant cockroaches, several species of ants, centipedes, scorpions, and these crazy hairy black caterpillars that seem to pass through the house once a year, though this is the first tarantula I've seen. Esposo tells me they are not really dangerous (just big and hairy and yucky, OKAY!), yet he won't pick it up to take it outside. Two-and-a-half-year-old son is first to alert us to the tarantula, saying "Stider, look Mommy, a stider!"

Um, yeah, that's one big stider all right! Esposo thinks he will get a mug (a MUG! can you believe it? the thing was too big to even fit in a mug!) to get it outside, but I sort of think a dustpan and broom will work better. Rather large and hairy tarantula, however, has other ideas, and rears up on its back legs, waving its fangs and front legs threateningly at esposo. Just lovely.

I remember to grab the camera before said tarantula is out of our lives for good (hopefully!), and really, it is so big that it gets redeye from the flash! Later, esposo chides me, saying, "Oh gee honey, you should have set the anti-redeye on the camera." Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking about right at that moment!

Finally esposo manages to get it out of the house and dump it unceremoniously over the side wall. I hear, however, that tarantulas only come out of their hidey-holes to look for mates and eat, and if it was in the house, it's probably looking for a mate. Does this mean tarantula love is in the air and I can expect the pitter-patter of baby tarantula feet someday soon?