See how thin she looks??? She's wasting away.
But that is the cycle of life.
Ariadne disappeared off her web on the stairs to the deck on Thursday. Larry found her today (Friday) in a rather skimpy web between the struts supporting the deck and a gardenia bush in the yard beside the deck. She's losing her strength and no longer able to create a properly "organized" web. But then she's not even expected to be creating webs at all at this point. So she's certainly hanging in there and performing "over and above" the standard for her species!
Still . . . . from what we have been able to find out via internet research, it is "her time" -- she has performed her purpose in life by procreating (though HER egg sac is the wrong shape . . . . don't know that that means). Larry emailed golf today that golf needed to "salt" Ariadne's web with bugs because Ariadne seemed to be losing weight and Larry felt she needed assistance in obtaining sustenance. But our research now indicates she is supposed to lose her appetite after laying her eggs and is then supposed to fade away and expire. This is also SUPPOSED not to happen till autumn. But Ariadne always seemed to be a bit precocious!
Well, golf's "R.I.P." may have been premature -- but apparently it was prognosticative.
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