Steatoda triangulosa Observations

Steatoda triangulosa crawling on the side of my bathtub

Currently as of right now there are 2 of them 1 in the bathroom and 1 at the bottom of one of my closets. Both are females and appear to be a "dark form" (they are very variable in color and patterns). The one in my bathroom which is living under my sink has currently made 2 eggsacs and the first one is going to hatch any day now.

Keeping my eyes on them. Have been doing so since the entire "saga" began around late September.

Sept 17th: Male was found wandering around and had presumably mated with both females (there were 2 in my bathroom for the longest time) and this particular morning I had watched the latest drama unfold whilst having the most epic of bubble baths while I watched the male mess around with the female and then apparently run like hell..... :P

Poor thing was running around all over the place and eventually settled for a while above the light fixture and built a web. He stayed there for a couple of hours and then proceeded to vanish and was never seen again after that. No idea what happened.

The male. Pic was cropped for better viewing for ID'ing because at the time I had no idea what they all were just that they were obviously the same species. XD

Now I'd like to know what possibly could've happened to this fella? Remember I said there were 2 females at the time in my bathroom? Apparently he mated with both of them because both females produced eggsacs. The second female had moved from her original spot which was in the corner of my toilet and was crawling up the side of my bathtub (see photo) and eventually moved over to a corner behind the door and made her magnum opus........

........which proceeded to hatch as I had found 2 of her children in the most unlikely of places after they hatched. In my toothbrush holder and behind the hermit tank O.o

Any way she had stayed behind the door for quite a while and just recently I've noticed she too up and left. Just vanished......poof. WTF? What happened? Where'd she go?

Mean while Charlotte #1 (I've named them all Charlotte ^^;; I couldn't help myself ^_____^) has stayed underneath my sink, made 2 gorgeous eggsacs and proceeds to make me ridiculously happy along with all the other lovelies in my house.

I feed them evil little pests.....I wonder if that helps them along in anyway?? 

Oct 18th: 1st Eggsac will hatch any day now.......officially crunch time to their arrival. *Crosses fingers* I anxiously await the day.

Also I would appreciate if any one could elaborate on this more as there are things I don't understand and I have only theories on. Thank you.

Ichneumon Wasp (Pimpla sp.)

Pimpla sp. Photo from Bugguide......copyrighted to Tom Murray please don't sue. :P Link here for personal reference only. 

First off I want to say LONG TIME NO SEE!! I haven't been here in so long. Life's been crazy......but for the first time in a long long time I'm quite content atm sitting here blogging away about my lovelies listening to Lepidopteran Anthems (you know what I'm talking about ^^) and I haven't felt like this in quite a while so I'm happy.

Looking forward to being reunited with my Lepidopteran friends at you know where ASAP. And the spiders......I'll rant about those later. ^^

So anyway I found one of these lovely little wasps today on my terrace door window......shocking because it was soooo cold out today (Autumn is most definitely here people!!) and proceeded to take videos of course:



Was there for quite a while....went out came back and took this one (had gotten 2 vids, this was the better of the 2). So I wanted to see if I could ID it. These are very common here. I've seen these quite a bit along with  Ophion spp. & something that looks like Torymus spp. on steroids, all almost on my terrace windows or in the lobby window.

I wonder what they prey on? While trying to ID this to species I was forced more or less to simply leave it at Pimpla sp. because once again they're TOO MANY similar species. @_@ It could be:

Pimpla aegualis
Pimpla punicipes
Pimpla annulipes
Pimpla aquilona

or something that's not even within the guide yet. *Shoot me* Don't you just love it when they fuck with your mind? I know I do. I love the research. Perhaps one day I can narrow these down to species should I be blessed to buy micro cameras........one day.......

Off I go to write more entries. Good Lord I have my work cut out for me....but there's so much to tell ^^