So Long Sienna...

Well, when last you saw "Sienna the spider" she and her babies looked like this.

That was July 14th and she and her egg sacs remained double bagged...
and at our home until yesterday. Over those five days I would move the bags between the backyard and the garage to keep them out of the sun and would refresh the air inside several times. On the 16th we tried to give Sienna something to eat by putting a dead bee inside the bag with her.
She never did much with it, perhaps because it was stuck to the spikes on the egg sacs or because it had been dead for a day and was undesirable.
Anyway, after contacting neighbors I found out that one of them had seen a news piece about someone studying Brown Widows in Southern California. Perfect!! I went on the website for the research being done at UC Riverside and learned just what to do with Sienna and her babies. First, I had to get a medicine bottle for her transport...
and then I went to work making a safe transfer.


Once she was safely in her bottle I put in a piece of napkin for her to hide in and hold on to during her travels. Then I took the bottle and the bag with the two egg sacs...
and mailed her away. It's funny, last night when I came down from putting Everett to bed I caught myself heading outside to refresh her air - I guess I got used to taking care of her too.

I am really happy that she is going to be used in research. There are two studies actually - one for her and one for her egg sacs. Among other things, they will be testing possible pesticides that are effective against Brown Widows. I am also happy that Emily was able to see all of this. She talks about Sienna and knows why it is that we can't have her here at our house anymore and that spiders, while interesting, (okay, maybe only to me) are to be left alone because they could be harmful.

During all of this, I learned several things. First, that there is such a spider as a Brown Widow! Second, that their venom is twice as potent as that of a Black Widow. But, I also learned that they don't inject as much venom in each bite and they don't protect their egg sacs as fiercely as a Black Widow. In reality, Brown Widow bites aren't much different than a bite from a regular household spider. I also read that if I want to help them collect more Brown Widows for research I should go hunting at night... anyone have a flashlight and want to join me? HA! Just kidding.