That’s how you get spiders, you know

I was feeding the black widows in my lab (all neatly caged, of course) when I saw this little guy hanging out just above the benchtop. Pholcus phalangioides, obviously.

I imagine most people have a little internal debate — do I squish him, or do I gently scoot him out the door? I always take the third option. I had just come from the genetics lab, with a bottle full of redundant Drosophila, and I shook a bunch out over her web. She was showered with flies! She was so excited, scurrying about to wrap them all up.

This is how I generally treat these random spiders in the lab (I call them the Ferals, and I’ve got Ferals all over the place.) I guess I shouldn’t wonder how the got here.