Yeah, vacuums won't reliably kill spiders, and you're right that it depends on the spider bodies. If they survive the initial vacuuming-up there wouldn't really be anything in the bag or plastic containment parts that would cause them to die, except starvation, and that can take over a year for some species.

Rarely, but yes! The genus Anelosimus is pretty famous for this. The cute jumping spider at the top is not the same thing, though, and would eat another spider if given the chance (like most spiders)

One of the premier social-spiders researchers is Icelandic. Pretty sure this genus is more or less worldwide. ...there's always Antarctica?

No use? Blog posts aren't a zero sum game, the use is that somebody found out something new, and somebody else thought that other people might want to know about it, too. Also, this article isn't actually about matriarchy, which can't be very accurately applied to animal systems, the vast majority of insects are not…

...and what does this all have to do with spiders? ;P

I... love this.

If you ever think about trying again, with most wolf spiders you can pretty easily rescue the male afterwards, especially if you feed the female before introducing the male.

Oh, yeah, doctors are amazing, I meant that as no criticism of doctors. Thing is though, lots of people see doctors as authorities on things outside of their field of expertise, and that's where people run into trouble. My standard response is along the lines of, "I can't diagnose (specific medical condition), why…

I am not entirely sure what you're asking, but yes, the distinction is behavioral, and yes, they're all one species.

Avicularia can throw poop though!

Parthenogenic species.

...and here I was all set to troll the comments in defense of spiders only to realize that Ari Schwartz is ON THE CASE. I approve.

Most of their diet is a high-quality dog food (same thing I feed the dog) and organic salad greens. Basically any fruits or veggies that I let go a little too long without eating myself, which makes me feel better for not wasting it, I guess? Every so often I'll also get one of the widely-sold cricket food products,…

Yeah, people use egg crate flats to give them enough space, so stacked vertically, population in one bin (which is what I have, plus a large Kritter Keeper for babies) maxes out around 5000. I think serious breeders generally have at least a room in their home designated for that purpose.

Ha, I can live with that.

Okay, so, full disclosure: this is A Thing That I Do.

It's never been shown that fear/aversion to spiders, insects, snakes, lions, or whatever else in the animal kingdom is anything other than learned.

Caterpillars, are you kidding? Exponential amounts of poop. EXPONENTIAL. Caterpillars are cute and all, but way more work and so, so much poop.

Huh. As an entomologist I politely disagree. There are probably some species of roaches that smell, but the popular ones to keep are pretty odorless.

Come smell my house. I dare you.