Our new neighbor
or
That’s a big spider!

spider close-up

Close-up of the big spider in the bathtub

About a week ago, we noticed a very large spider in the kitchen, right by the hole where the old tap for the cookstove used to be. Clare told me to come look at it. Indeed, it was very large. It was so still I thought it might be dead, so I tried prodding it with an extended tape measure, and it scurried off at lightning speed.

spider perspective

A little more perspective on the size of the spider

The next day, Clare informed me that the spider had taken up residence in the downstairs bathtub. I confirmed this, and continued to check on the spider a couple times a day. It seemed like it hardly moved at all in the tub. On Saturday, a few of our friends came over for dinner, and we showed them the spider as part of the house tour. They hypothesized that the spider might not be able to get out of the tub and that we should try to put it outside. This seemed like a reasonable idea. I don’t like to kill spiders, since they eat other insects like mosquitoes.

releasing the spider

Rob releases the spider outside

Sunday morning we mulled over how we should take it outside, and we decided on trying to get it to climb into the dustbin. That was actually quite easy, and the spider did not seem anxious to leave it, so I carefully walked outside with the dustbin, had Clare take a picture, then set it out by a tree. Hopefully he is doing better outside.