So the folks finished the construction this afternoon. The price tag came out below the quoted amount! They did a great job! It was time to set the spider free. I watered in the dust and cleared out the hole that Matilda had built . It was a bit destroyed and I had to do some reconstruction. At dusk we carried out the container she was in and scooped her out into her area. I think she had no idea where she was because she just panicked and ran to the edge of the water tank. We herded her back to the hole and left her there to calm down.

When I went to check on her about an hour later she was just hanging outside of her hole. I hope she makes it. We did the best we could so it’s just a wait and see kinda thing.

The spiderlings have hatched and are hanging out on mom's back.

A week later and the babies have hatched and what a great mom Matilda is! Our wolf spider with all her young on her body. It’s quite a creepy sight seeing her body move as the little ones crawl around for a better position. I watched them climb down mom’s legs to explore and then go right back up to her again. She’s like a spider RV for the kids.