Preferably try to go easy on the bullying haha, but I know it's unavoidable

She was a wild caught Lactrodectus Hesperus (Western Black widow), and she was absolutely wonderful. She's gone now, but I'm raising one of her babies.

Widows are nowhere near as dangerous as people think. They're extremely docile spiders, and even if abused into biting, only around 1.4% of bites are life threatening, the rest are treated with pain management and regular wound care.

Apart from that, they're goofy little fellows. Their butts are so thick that they can't walk properly outside of their webs, stumbling around clumsily and blindly. Their webs are essentially a mobility and perception aid. Inside, they are extremely graceful and precise, able to "see" through the webbing via vibrations.

In this video, I was holding her after misting her enclosure. She was in a proper tizzy, flicking droplets off the web, cutting various lines. My hand was drier, so she hung out for a bit while her web dried off.

She was caught at a house that was planning to exterminate, laid one final egg sac, then entered a death curl shortly thereafter.

Just a little dingus trying to make it in a massive world. Hopefully she sparks your curiosity!

Biggest spider I've seen in Missouri, taking good care of an egg sack as well. If it hasn't hatched by the end of my shift I'm going to try and get it under a time elapsed camera

In Australia (of course...)