Grass spiders

Location: SE WI

Hello!

My name is Justin, and I live in SE WI with my wife, Amy. I happened to see some information you have online about grass spiders, and I knew you would be the place to reach out to.

In the fall, a friend of my mom's called me over to remove a grass spider and her egg sac on her patio table umbrella (she knows I'm an animal lover and protector, haha, and I'm thankful she called me instead of killing her, which is sadly what most would do). I delicately brought her and her egg sac back to my house, and I gave them shelter in a wooden block with a just-big-enough hollowed out tunnel in the middle.

She ran right to her babies and covered them, which was touching to see (attached a picture). This was in September. I considered bring her in, but I knew she'd want to be by her babies, and I knew her lifecycle was predetermined. However, I will wanted to try to help her as much as I could. I wrapped the wood block in roadside insulating blanket wraps, I kept them in a larger outdoor shelter wrapped in tarps, and I tried to give her water using a cotton ball.

I went out today to change her water cotton ball, and sadly, she was gone 😔 And most touching, she even died with one appendage on top of her babies, which, truthfully caused me to tear up. I was actually just tonight going to order a heating pad to put underneath the wood block.

I know about the lifecycle, and I know she probably outlived expectations, but in the back of my mind, I just wonder if there was more I could have done. This is why I wanted to contact - is there a scenario through which I could've helped her survive even longer, or was it just a foregone conclusion no matter what I tried? I suppose at the very least, I got her a few extra weeks with her babies 😢 I will certainly leave them outside in the same protected area and check on them regularly. The least I can do is ensure all her babies get a safe start to their lives in the spring.

Like you, I have a deep appreciation for all of God's creation, even the tiny things that most people fear irrationally like spiders (I always protect them where possible). Thank you for what you do,for bringing awareness, and for caring about that which society has seemed to unfairly cast out. God Bless!

Location: Lindstrom, MN, Chisago County

Any suggestions how to get him out as it will probably run right into the seam where the window and window frame meet. His fangs are about 1/8th “ as I was able to get a good picture of those last night.

Location: Inbetween my windows, Lindstrom, MN/Chisago County. My AC unit

It is about 3/4” body with the main part that has two black parts with a white stripe down the middle, the abdomen is dark grayish. Has very long legs, two antennas next to the weird eyes. The legs look translucent except it has dark markings on the legs also. I sent three pictures to this email address also today.

Please I would appreciate if this is not a grass spider to let me know asap, as I have to take out my AC units and have the window edges taped up heavily because I don’t want that coming into my house!! I am deathly afraid of spiders and may have to move if that comes in until it is found!!

At first I thought this was a brown recluse because I could not see close enough if that was a violin on its main part. But today I was finally able to shoot a picture and zoom in enough to see it did not appear to be a violin and was thankful that it was not a brown recluse...from my uneducated guess.