19 October, 2006 - Published 08:40 GMT
Rare spiders move home
If building work is done in your home you might have to move out but would you consider taking the spiders in your house with you! That's what's happening in Cambridgeshire where a colony of rare spiders was found in a property due for reconstruction. This report from BBC Cambridgeshire.
About 100 rare cave spiders are being moved to a new home after being discovered on a derelict site earmarked for housing.
The cave spiders had taken over a disused air raid shelter near
He said: "Maybe these spiders have come from the ancient woodland we have here in Papworth. There may have been relic populations in large hollow trees or a juvenile spider may have found a suitable habitat here and found a mate and established a population."
The spiders are being moved one by one because they are likely to eat each other if they were all moved together as they are highly predatory.
Cave spiders are large, dark bronze arachnids that spin small open webs. The spiders have only been found in a dozen places in the
A South Cambridgeshire District Council spokesman said the spiders are to be put in separate boxes and moved to a new shelter on the other side of the hospital.
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derelict: empty and in a poor condition
earmarked for housing: if a site is 'earmarked for housing' it means that it has been officially decided that that area will be use for the building of houses
air raid shelter: a building for people to use at time of war to protect them from bombs or missles
mimics: copies, has the same qualities as
predatory: with the habit of killing and eating other animals
arachnids: formal word for spiders