[Gallery] 'Spider Snacks' at SM&NC

The Stamford Museum & Nature Center invited a group of kids to their first-ever live exhibit's first-ever live feeding Tuesday, and it was a creepy-crawly affair.

For the Tarantulas: Alive & Up Close exhibit's first installment of the Spider Snacks program, kids got to learn all about different species of tarantulas, see a whole bunch of them up close and even watch a few of them being fed.

Most of the children in attendance shed nary a tear at the sight of the various spiders big and small, fuzzy or not. They were much braver than this Patch reporter, getting up close and putting their hands or noses right to the glass.

Two brave Stamford Museum & Nature Center employees took the kids around to the different parts of the exhibit, from explaining spider anatomy to showing off a black widow to feeding the tarantulas.

Nicole Daurio and Lisa Manachelli patiently explained to the group how spiders caught their prey, explained different behavioral patterns, and gave the spiders their once-a-week meal of a vial of crickets. 

"Personally, I've always cheered for the underdog," said Manachelli. "I like all the 'icky' animals that get a bad reputation. Snakes, spiders, not just the cute and fuzzy ones— some of these are cute and fuzzy."

Manachelli said the only one that makes her even a little nervous is the black widow, just because "she's highly venomous and she's so small."

"The turnout was great," Manachelli said. "It was the first time we done this and first live exhibit. The art is great, but this kind of thing is passion. Hopefully we'll be able to throw in a live nature exhibit more often."