Manic Kitty

Yay I found my new hobby.
Spiders.

Inspired by a post on Livejournal (which i've lost but will find later). And also by my spider in the bath.

The spider is supposed to be a Christmas tree decoration. There's some German tradition apparently about an old lady cleaning her house before christmas, all the spiders scurried into the roof whilst she cleaned and put her tree up. When the spiders came back they really liked the tree, so to thank the old lady they covered it in their webs. Father Christmas came along and thought the spiders had done a great job, and so made the webs sparkly, and now we decorate our trees with tinsel instead and all Christmas trees should have at least one spider on them.
I think that's right anyway.

Anyway, this spider in the bath. It's been there for ages. Since about June. It's about the same size as the one I made. He's got rid of a few moths for me, the cats have played with him, he's even had a few friends visit him over the months. They've stayed for a while, then he's eaten them.
His latest friend was a 7 legged spider which I found at the top of the stairs (I think he may have had a run in with a cat). I introduced them, and they seemed to get along well for a couple of weeks. Then one morning I noticed the 8 legged spider had found something to eat. It was one of the 7 legged spiders legs. The now 6 legged spider was alive, just slower. Handily (or leggily) it still had 3 legs on each side, which I though was very considerate of the 8 legged spider.
Anyway, things carried on as normal for a few more days. 6 stayed away from 8, everything seemed fine. Then 6 died. Possibly through natural causes, although I'm not sure if having 6 legs when you're meant to have 8 is very natural. Or Gonzo may have got a bit too playful, or there could have been another fight. Either way it died, 8 had another good meal so he's not going to starve for a while longer yet, but he's lonely again.
Poor spider.

Just a few notes.

• I'm terrified of spiders. Anything bigger than a money spider and I get chills down my spine and I run like a girl. What with me being a girl and all.
  
• I can't kill spiders. Nothing to do with the vegetarianism thing, just the idea of the crushing body is ewww. I do however at times get the cats to "play" with spiders, then I clear up the mess before the cats can eat it, which is also ewww. The usual method of spider disposal is the glass and cardboard trick.
  
• I don't particularly like putting spiders outside, unless I can put them a long way outside, I'm too worried about them coming back in. So if I'm upstairs I will put them in the bath as I know they can't get out. Around August time the spiders had started spinning webs up the sides of the bath. I gave the bath a good clean and polish so they could no longer get a grip on the sides.
  
• We have a separate shower. We are not dirty people who haven't washed since June, we just don't use the bath, we rarely have done. It takes too long to fill and gets cold too quickly.
  
• I am not cruel and evil.
  
• I am not conducting some wierd "Island of Dr Moreau" style experiment with spiders in baths, no matter what Porl says.