The coolest thing EVER

Last week I was turning on my work computer. It was early and I was tired and sitting at the desk waiting the excruciating 25 seconds for the password screen to come up. A fly landed in the middle of my monitor. Not wanting to damage the monitor and never expecting to actually hit the fly, I gently flicked at the fly. Y'know, just to get the fly to go away. Well, the fly must have been dazed by the brightness of the monitor or something because I hit it! I hit it but didn't kill it. The fly was stunned and fell to the desk buzzing and fluttering its wings. I had a split second of amazement over what I had just done before a spider came tearing out from under the printer, grabbed up the fly and retreated to its printer sanctuary.

I was completely horrified! It was so unexpected! I spent a few seconds in shock before realizing that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen! I spent the rest of the day thinking about it, blabbing about it to anyone who would listen and generally building up this mini display of nature as the best thing that ever happened ever.

I wondered if I could recreate this spectacle? Could I intentionally reproduce the shocking event? Could I share the joy with my coworkers? I grabbed a flyswatter and went around lightly swatting flies until I managed to not actually kill one. I picked up the struggling fly and dropped it in the area the original fly fell. Sure enough, the spider tore out from under the printer and grabbed the fly! Sweet!

That started the feeding of the spider. Once or twice a day for the past several days we've fed the spider. It will only come out for struggling flies, not dead ones. I have no idea what kind of spider it is but it's about the size of a nickel and not hairy. We even tried giving it a mealworm one morning, but the mealworm was too big and the spider came out and checked it out but left it all day. I ended up removing it so our pet wouldn't be too stressed. Last night was the first time the spider didn't come out for her fly. Hopefully she's just full. Otherwise I'll have to believe she moved elsewhere because she was bored with not having to do any work. We did not overfeed her to death! Noooooooooo!

I finally remembered to pack my camera so if she does come back I plan to get it on video and post it. I have a feeling that's a blown opportunity, though...