Black house spider

I have a 'pet' - a black house spider - 'a common species of cribellate Australian spider, found throughout much of Australia and New Zealand' (Wikipedia). She (I presume) is 2 years old (I presume) and has been living in the corner of the bathroom window for that span of time. They are not supposed to live for much longer than that but she has had a relatively stress-free life - no kids, no partner - so maybe that explains it. I allow her to live there because I always know where she is - she never leaves the window. A huntsman that wandered all over the place I would struggle with. She can be relied on to stay where she is. She has remained unfound by a male black house spider. Why I don't know. Now if she had chosen the shed....

However, she must sometimes be very hungry. Not much edible food wanders into that part of the bathroom, or into the bathroom at all. What was she thinking when she chose that spot? It isn't location, location, location. Although they like habitating around light sources (eg a window) that may attract insects.

Over summer there were blowflies in the house for a while and that must have been feast time for her. Every time I caught one I would fling it into her expansive web. She would wait a polite (cautious) amount of time before heading out of the corner to get her catch. The fly, once in the web, would stop struggling - a survival strategy probably. But there was no hope. She is big, about the size of my thumb and about the same shape (body and legs included) and she knows what she is about once the food is in the larder. Lately though there hasn't been much happening. I caught a moth the other day and flung it into her web. She didn't wait a seemly amount of time but raced out to get it. She seems to be able to survive on not much food.

Sometimes when I am in the bathroom cleaning my teeth at the basin, she will come out. I think she has realised that I am not going to hurt her, and might in fact be her main source of food! In the middle of the night if I go to the bathroom, I sometimes see her well out of the web, looking as though she is smacking herself on the bum. In fact she is producing the stuff her web is made of (so I'm told). It's a very cute-looking activity for a creature who would not normally be described as 'cute'. Studying her through living with her has made her a 'person'. She is a spider like no other, because I 'know' her. She is not really my pet of course - I don't own her - but we have a relationship.

There will come a day when she dies. Not sure what the signs will be but it might be a 'curl up' affair. I will be sad; she has become part of my life in this old house.

Meanwhile, my black house spider is not only in the web, she's on the web!