A few weeks ago I moved Binyek into this cage:
At first she was reluctant to web, spinning herself only a small hammock to sit on that was not functional for catching food. After a few days of uncertainty, however, she molted:
Freed from her old subadult exoskeleton and now fully mature, Binyek now seemed perfectly fine. She began spinning large, lovely webs and eating voraciously whenever I placed a cricket in her web. I began misting her every other day, and she’d lick the droplets off her silk or scrape them off her legs into her mouth.
Suddenly I noticed another spider nearby, and realized it was a hot young man Argiope aurantia. I fed Binyek a large grasshopper and placed him inside a few hours later, hoping that a full meal would discourage her from cannibalizing him before mating:
Success! He eagerly set about wooing her, drumming on her web and then on her legs and body, which I guess is very sensual in spider culture:
However, in their enthusiasm, they somehow... fell out of the web, onto the cage floor. It happens, I guess. It took a few hours before Binyek returned to her web, apparently shocked by the rude interruption to her passionate coupling.
In the meantime, I noticed ANOTHER MAN SPIDER had arrived, lured by the scent of Binyek’s virgin silk. He was bold enough to climb up on the terrarium itself, so I opened the door and let him inside, too. My lovely girl deserves her choice in suitors!
By the next morning, both males had disappeared, and Binyek was glowing with satisfaction. Argiope aurantia males always die spontaneously immediately after mating and remain attached to the female; sometimes she eats him, sometimes not.
Anyway, Binyek is as happy and healthy as a big fat yellow garden spider could hope to be. Now I just have to keep her warm, well-fed, and hydrated; she should lay 2-6 eggsacs over the next few months, and her offspring will populate my garden in the hundreds:
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