Our Home in Arivaca, Arizona

First Night in the Sonoran Desert

All that needs to be said is arachnophobia. Those afraid of spiders should not reside in rural Arizona. When Megan and I arrived in our new home for the first evening, we were welcomed by two huge spiders….one of them a tarantula. It took way too many times for me to approach the small spider, but after quite a number of attempts we got it in a yogurt can with a piece of paper covering it to transport it outside. The next spider was more daunting. First of all it was huge. Definitely a tarantula. Secondly it was on the ceiling, much higher than we could reach. We came up with all kinds ideas of how to capture it. We thought of putting a sheet down on the floor and knocking it down, of leaving it, of trying to trap it with a big trash bin (credit goes to Madalyn for that one!), or standing on a chair with a broom and flinging it across the room. I think the darkness of the desert, being in a new home, as well as our tired bodies lead us to believe that the best option was to stand on a chair and hit the tarantula across the room where we could trap it. Megan was the cheering squad, which entailed her standing on a chair and screaming. I stood on a chair with a broom and flung the tarantula. I used a bit too much force and we heard a clunk. We proceeded to shuffle the chairs across the floor towards where we thought it had landed. We would move the chair a little bit and then hop back on top of it to look for the tarantula. Within a few minutes we were quite worked up, having no idea where it had landed. That’s when the miracle occurred. I saw the tarantula in an old plastic spinach container…..it had landed in the only open container, the only spot where we could easily trap it and bring it outside. Our enthusiasm was overpowering and we celebrated so much, that we almost forgot to cover the container. Luckily I think the tarantula was stunned, so we had time to cover the container with a pan and bring it outside. Of course, the lid came of when we were transporting it, so we both dropped it and ran inside. Our heart rates were up, and we were both sweating --- our exercise for the day. We slept well.

Also, for all of you that know anything about tarantulas, we found out that they are utterly harmless and need to be treated gently. I can testify to the fact that our tarantula survived a forceful fling some 15 feet, and still moved with ease. He survived and so did we. An exciting first night in the desert.