For Ecology class, Ryan was given the worst assignment ever given to any BYU college student (in my opinion). He had to catch web-spinning spiders to experiment on. If my teacher made me do this, I think I would be a college drop out.
This assignment was a challenge for most of May because it was so cold and rainy outside. He couldn't find any arachnids. It seems like you always find the little buggers when you DON'T want to, but when you try to, you can't find any. Go figure.
Well, the other day I went with Ryan, and we actually found a couple spiders in some bushes. I ran to the car not wanting to see my husband capture them in jars. I guess it is more difficult then it sounds. They use their spiderman senses to escape cature. Ryan finally got one and when he was closing the jar, the spider sent a web out trying to escape. Ryan, with his cat-like reflexes, was too quick.
He brought the little guy home (well, in the backyard. I wouldn't let him bring it in the house) and built it a nice little home in a cardboard box. An hour later, Ryan came in really upset.
"My spider escaped."
"NOT IN THE HOUSE, RIGHT?" was the first response out of my mouth. The answer was no. *Phew*
Saddened, he went out and looked for more spiders. Later on, he realized that the spider had not escaped, that it simply buried itself in the dirt to hide so when Ryan opened the box, it attempted to scuttle out.
Who knew spiders were so smart? I seriously think the directors of Spiderman examined spiders and their defense techniques while filming the movie.
Anyways, the spider still resides in the backyard, and we speculate whether it is still alive, breathing, and happy. If it dies, I don't think I would be too disappointed--not going to lie. I will be one happy camper when this experiment is over. Even if we have a little superhero in our backyard.
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4 Month Picture!
