Let me tell you, when I saw that thing I didn't know whether to scream, run out the open garage door quick, or stay calm, so I just froze. I guess I was waiting for it to crawl as fast as it could across the floor, but it didn't. Jim and I stood there for a minute, both shocked. We knew they had tarantulas around their place. (That's what you get for living up the canyon.) In fact, this is the 3rd one we've caught there. The first time they found one, my mom was doing dishes and it crawled out on the counter from behind the can opener. And it was bigger then this one! Gross!!!! (We think my brother John let it in. He came home late one night and forgot to close the door. Left it open for 3 hours.) The second one was smaller then this. We caught it in an ice cream bucket and Teegan took it home. And now this one.
When I finally realized it wasn't going to crawl after me, I ran out of there (yes, still freaking out a little that if I moved, so would he), and started yelling for the boys and Jared to come quick and see this.
Jared got there first and immediately put it in a cup. (By this time I felt like I had a million crawly spiders on me.)
Then we put him into this metal can.
Everyone checking hi out. Sorry it's blurry. This is the only picture you'll see of Jamie by it. She's scared to death of spiders. Cody and John showed their understanding of this and kept chasing after her with Henry in a bucket. At one point she used me as a bodyguard. Really thought I'd have hand print bruising on my arms from her, but I lucked out with just major red marks.
Mom on the other hand did really well. And this is coming from someone who wouldn't read Charlotte's Web when she was younger because it was about a spider.
Jared playing with Henry.
Cody loves insects of any kind. He was so excited for this. Cody decided the tarantula's name needed to be Henry.
Still a little unsure of his new friend, but that wasn't stoppin' him.
Transferred him to a 5 gallon bucket. He was pretty close to crawling out of that metal can.
So you remember the sand castle I was telling you about that John and my boys were making? Well, they decided to make a huge one, and then have Henry run through it.
But first Dad came out to check out the spider before leaving for work. He didn't believe us they had tarantulas up there. He does now.
Jared did some research on his phone to find out more about tarantulas. Here's what we learned...
If they bite you, it feels like a bad bee sting. But it won't kill you.
His thorax is bald, which means he's old. Tarantulas loose the hair there like old men do when they get old.
Tarantulas can live to be 35 years, and can be the size of a thumbnail to a dinner plate. Henry is about 4 inches in diameter. I'll take that size over a dinner plate.
Check it out. On the other side as well there was more mazes for it to run through. It was pretty cool.
Releasing Henry.
He didn't run though it like we thought. Actually, he didn't really like it at all. He kept trying to climb over to the brick and get out. But it was sure fun to watch. We'd move him into different places of the sandcastle and watch (and by "we" I mean John, Jared, and Cody. I'm trying to sound tough.)
Look at him! By this time he was fearless of that thing. He had a BLAST playing with that spider!
He'd get so close to that thing, almost to where it would crawl on him. Had my mom and Jamie freaked out a little. Ok, a lot.
On one run through the sandcastle he found the side of the garage to climb on. He liked that. So did Jared. That's when Jared touched him.
And you'll never guess who else touched him. That's right... ME! I was quite a bit nervous to do it but I have this thing lately that's pushing me to get over my fears. So, Jared carefully held the spider on something, I reached out, and touched his leg. Aaaaahhhh! Then I went in the house and washed me hands. My finger felt a little weird for a little while, but that was probably in my imagination.
I felt pretty proud of myself that day. :)
We had so much fun playing with this spider. I think we spent about and hour and a half playing with him before we could tell he was getting tired.
Isn't that cool? And creepy.
Jared being his typical self.
We brought Henry home to live with us. Cody begged me to keep him. It felt weird driving home with him in the truck. Cody put him in the cage he got from Mr. Blaine. It worked perfect. The holes were small enough that he couldn't climb through, but bugs could so he could eat. We put his cage in the middle of the garden.
It looked creepy to watch him crawl around in this thing. Jared's goal.... to keep him alive long enough so he can put the cage on the front porch on Halloween. He wants to see how many kids will notice and how many he can scare. Hee, hee.
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