such a mother!

My mom came to visit this weekend, but she is not the mother the title of this blog refers to. She stayed overnight here in Daytona Beach, and then we headed over for a stay with the Crescent City Gang.

And there I found this beautiful mother - a female wolf spider with her itty bitty babies. No, she's not furry, those are her babies!


My fingers in the upper left of this pic give an idea of how big she was - I'd say about 3-ish inches from the tips of her front legs to the tips of her back legs.


Female wolf spiders can carry hundreds of babies around on their abdomens for one or two weeks (after first carrying around the egg sac). She does this to give them protection, but it is also a means for dispersal.



For all you moms out there, imagine having to carry around your offspring until they could go out into the world on their own! Sheesh!