The spider has been named Deuterium Cupcake. We're still not sure of its sex, but also still think it's probably female. As for the name: She just looked enough like a Deuterium Cupcake that we all agreed on the name. Some of the other labfolks call her "Deuter" for short, but I prefer "Cupcake" or "D.C.".

This morning, I came into the lab to discover that our little Cupcake had gone on walkabout. She was not in the terrarium, and the cover of same did appear suspiciously loose. This could have been a doubleplus bummer if she'd really taken a hike, but fortunately she hadn't gone far -- she just found a nice warm corner behind one of the Macs, not at all far from where she was supposed to be. With only minor assistance from one of the undergrads, I coaxed Cupcake back into her cage. One of the grad students brought her a grasshopper later, but we're not sure yet whether she's interested in it.

Rule #1: Never trust a bug.