Deadly widow seeks new home
2004-02-12 22:11
Charles Smith
Bloemfontein - WANTED: A home for an extremely possessive, snake-eating female button spider.
But, a word of warning, this "black widow" spider has more than likely consumed her former mate.
In addition to this, no one, not even a fly, is allowed near the carcass of her present prey - an Aurora house snake.
Tania Robertson, a secretary for an electrical firm in Bloemfontein, is behind the "wanted notice".
She claims she has had enough of sharing an office with the "black widow" spider and her slithery prey. Now, she's looking for a good home for her.
"There is no way that I can accept her as my second child. She can sit there and look pretty and relaxed, but that's all.
"Someone who wants a button, must come and get her," said the mother of a baby, Dominique.
The button spider moved into the office after catching her latest prey, a 14cm-long snake, early on Tuesday. She spun a tight web around the snake - only 1.5m from Robertson's desk.
Since then, she has managed to curl the dead snake up and eat it. All that's basically left is a shrivelled snakeskin.
The hungry arachnid has snacked on the snake continuously in the past few days and has taken little notice of the people around her.
Robertson said the spider was a lot quieter than she had been in the past few days. "No wonder - she probably feels as big as a rhino (after eating so much)."
She said that unless someone came forward to offer the spider a home she would release it, along with the snake carcass, in the veld.
- Volksblad