Let me lay your mind to rest.

A moment of silence for Spaghetti Joe, the mature female mountain huntsman spider who took up residence in my home toward the beginning of autumn this year.

Spaghetti Joe - portrait
Mountain Huntsman Spider | Sparassidae | Isopeda Montana

Sadly, Spaghetti Joe passed away peacefully under the upstairs futon last week.

Her death appears to have been from natural causes and feline involvement is not suspected.

Spaghetti Joe getting snug in the corner.
My girl Spaghetti Joe getting snug in a corner of the ceiling.

She sulk.
Spaghetti Joe sulking behind the desk.

Spaghetti Joe was a sizeable arachnid, with a body length around 30mm and leg span over 100mm (though it is difficult to get an accurate leg-span when they prefer to keep their leggies curled inward), she must have been about as big as they can get this far south.

With a life expectancy of 2-3 years it is possible that she was already quite old upon entering the house back in March, and likely died as a result of the recent cold weather.

Her enthusiasm for running out from behind wall-mounted objects at top speeds will be sorely missed and I will never forget that one time when she fell down from the ceiling and then sulked behind a desk for 5 hours.

A sizeable sparassidaughter.
R.i.P. Spaghetti Joe, beloved sparassidaughter and friend.

In unrelated news: recently I signed up for an Instagram account. It will mostly be used for photos of fashion dolls, selfies, and maybe the occasional invertebrate when the mood strikes.

1/6 scale Khye
1/6 scale clothing is a convoluted exercise in externalised self-loathing.

Contact and social media information on the About page has been updated accordingly.

That is all.