The Eeensey Weeensey Spider...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

and 20 of his closest relatives are living on the ledge outside my office windows AND I’M ON THE 17TH FLOOR.

This is really quite fascinating. How do you suppose the first spider got up here? I’m more than 200 feet in the air - what’s the matter, he couldn’t find better habitat down around the 2nd or 3rd floor?

What about the weather conditions? It must bake out there in the summer and freeze in the winter. The wind is almost always blowing around the building and the I’ve seen rain pelt these windows like nobody’s business. Yet, still they stay here.

They seem to catch a few flies and gnats to eat, but they also prey on each other quite a bit. It must be a spider eat spider world out there.

I’m guessing that they are all related because this is a pretty isolated location for a spider colony - do you suppose they’ll start mutating as a result of in-bredding? Could I be witnessing the evolution of a species that will one day dominate the globe? As Kent Brockman so eloquently put it, “I, for one, bow down to our spider overlords.” That last bit was just in case any of them are reading this over my shouder as I type.

More details as things develop - I believe that the largest (I’ve taken to calling her Charlotte) is on her last legs. She gave her all so that the other Spiders from Floor 17 could live.

2

They probably got there by air (no kidding). Young spiders disperse by climbing up on a blade of grass or whatever and spinning out a long thread, which is then caught by the wind. The spider, which weighs almost nothing, is lifted into the air and can float around for a long time before coming to earth miles away. The behavior is called “ballooning.”

3

Hi plnnr.

Look closely and see if they’re spelling out any messages in their little webs. Maybe you could get a few stock tips.

I’m guessing that since you’re that high the windows won’t open, but if they do, reach out there and flick a few off into the air. They could plummet to earth and slam into someones head down on the street below, like the stories of pennies thrown from the Empire State building.

4

Maybe she climbed up the water spout?