Jubilation as white fuzz becomes brown fuzz

Mma Spider, heroine of spot http://www.ispot.org.za/node/248563 deposited what was believed to be her 2nd batch of eggs in the canopy of a Jacaranda tree on the 2nd May http://www.ispot.org.za/node/254974 ,since that date the protective green canopy has withered and fallen leaving just a few brown remnant attached by web to the fuzzy white egg ball, initially with dry leaflets but then just a few leaf stalks, and so it has remained for months so imagine my amazement and delight when a passing glance (more out of habit than expectation) revealed not the familiar, forlorn-looking, white fuzzy ball but an elongated brown fuzzy mass.

I don't know precisely when they hatched but some of the tight mass of spiderlings observed at lunchtime were already into their second skins. The mass spread out a little during the heat of the afternoon but appeared to contract again, to a certain extent, as evening approached.

Moral of the tale - one should never abandon hope