Sad news to report today: my pet funnel web spider Peter (pictured above) is dead. He had been my pet since late May 2006 (when I caught him in the laundry area of my old apartment). To date, this is the longest inside pet I have ever owned (my first hermit crab lived for a year and a half). Over the past one and three-quarters years, I had kept him alive by giving him live ants, flies, miscellaneous bugs, and smaller spiders I caught, as well as putting small amounts of water in the bottom of his jar.
I was getting ready for work this morning and noticed Peter was bunched up on one side of the jar. The smaller house spider I had put in the jar with him back in December (or maybe it was one I put in there in February? I'm not 100% sure) was feeding on him. Given that Peter is twice as big as the house spider (whom I now call Peter II), this was quite a surprise. The smallest spider (between a third and half the size of Peter II) I had thrown in there this past weekend was just looking on.
Another reason this morning's discover was a surprise was because Peter and Peter II seemed to be avoiding each other since the day I put Peter II in Peter's jar. Peter II seemed to have a small web going on the lid of the jar (which isn't screwed on so I can open it in a hurry when I have something to feed the spider). Peter himself would just wander around the jar, sometimes in his funnel and other times on the side of the web. Sometimes, he was closer to the top of the jar than others. I did see Peter II farther down in the jar earlier this week than I had ever seen him before. When I opened the jar to put something in (either the tiny 3rd spider or maybe an ant, I forget which) this past weekend, Peter II raced back toward his usual spot just under the lid. Up until today, I had just assumed Peter would eventually catch and eat Peter II, not the other way around......
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