When it’s dead. Yes, just a few days after acquiring “Spiken”, it died a slow and, maybe, painful death. We tried our hardest to assure that it had the correct foliage and food to thrive in our care, but we think we have been mislead, all be it unintentionally.

On its arrival it was probably dehydrated and not in the best of health, being posted as a letter to us. We gave it water and a few sprigs of oak, which it seemed to appreciate. The oak was unlikey to have been sprayed with insecticide, according to the florist who sold them to Jo. We believed her, thinking that, rationally, it would not have been the case. Then we bought some ivy, under the same assurance. But soon after its placement in Spikens vivarium, it started to become less active.

Spiken and its ilk are good at playing dead. Ous worries about inactivity were assuaged by this knowledge, though it turned out that it was the beginning of then end. Spiken had most likely eaten forbidden fruit (i.e. Ivy sprayed with insecticide). Its condition worsened, and our nursing did no good. In the end, Spiken lived its (short) life fighting chemicals that were deemed to kill it. And we feel that we were, in some way, party to its death. Even though we should not.