Vale Florence: on the demise of a valued household member

Florence est morte. Alas, poor Florence ...

I came out to the living room yesterday morning to find Florence, my resident huntsman (huntsperson?) spider in her usual position high on the wall above the bookcase. But instead of her typical noble bearing with legs outstretched, her legs were curled in towards her body. She remained that way all day, and this morning, there was only her little corpse, curled up on the floor. I'll miss her. I hope she left some progeny in my house to continue her good work.

Huntsman spiders are vastly underrated as household pets. They find their own food, don't wake you up at 2.00am because they need to go out, they're quiet and respectful of your personal space. They eat insects that might not be welcome in your house, small lizards, mice, birds, maybe the occasional chihuahua or other smallish dog breed ...

They're also playful, in their own way, sometimes appearing unexpectedly from behind curtains or under cushions. If you're wondering whether you have a male or a female huntsman in your house (this is handy if you want to give your pet a gender-specific name), they're both about the same size across - sometimes up to a handspan - but the female has a larger body size relative to the legs.

I don't remember when I first met Florence, but huntsperson spiders can live up to two years, so she moved into this house after me. A welcome addition to the family. She's lurked around the living room for so long that I just got used to having her around. There was only ever one altercation between Florence and one of the cats over ownership of a vagrant mouse that found its way into the house, but the cat was gracious in defeat and all was soon forgiven.

So, vale Florence. A queen among spiders. May her spirit live on in whatever form she takes in her next life.

The pic isn't Florence, I nicked it from the Australian Museum site.

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