WOBURN -- Timothy Langan and his son, David, spent their Christmas break with a South American tarantula named Cleopatra.

Cleopatra is currently the size of David's fist, but will grow to the size of his father's fist if she continues her steady diet of two large crickets a week. Langan, the seventh-grade science teacher at St. Charles School in Woburn, is pretty sure he gave Cleopatra an extra cricket as a holiday present.

Cleopatra is the class pet, and she spends all school holidays with the Langans. Mrs. Langan needed some time getting used to the arrangement. Thanks to Cleopatra, David having his dad for a teacher is no longer the most unusual thing about science class at St. Charles.

"I was a little bit scared of it," David said. "I still kind of twitch a little bit when moving it, but I think it's growing on me."

In Langan's class, care for creation extends even to a creature that most people find frightening or even dangerous.

"It's teaching, you know, the old saying, don't judge a book by its cover," he said. "You might fear things about it, like it's scary or hurtful, but the facts actually don't support that. It's actually very kind and gentle. So she's a friendly spider."

Most of the seventh graders said they aren't scared of spiders and that they find Cleopatra cute. Soft and fluffy, she doesn't bite, but instead uses her prickly hairs as a defense mechanism. She was shy when she first came to Langan's classroom.

"I would say she's opened up, right guys?" He said.

It was the seventh graders who convinced Langan to get a class pet. Without his knowledge, they created a 60-page slideshow in which they used the scientific method to prove why they should get a class pet. Langan said the presentation was an example of how kids at St. Charles, a school with 195 students from pre-K to eighth grade, know how to apply themselves. His students analyzed the pros and cons of getting a gecko, tarantula, rat, frog, and other critters. The final slide included a promise that the class would not eat the class pet.

"You don't have to feed them as much, because hamsters, you have to feed almost, like, every day," said seventh grader Mae. "And tarantulas, you don't have to feed only every, like, two or three days. And you can leave it here over the weekend, and they last really long, and they're pretty sturdy."

Langan is not afraid of spiders, though his fellow teachers were worried that Cleopatra would find a way out of her enclosure. The spider came to St. Charles on the first day of school in fall 2025. The class debated on a name and narrowed it down to three choices: Cleopatra, Cinnamon, and Fuzzy Nugget.

"It was a very heated discussion, and eventually they chose Cleopatra," Langan said.

They originally wanted to name her King Tut, but settled on Cleopatra after it turned out the spider was female. Langan plans to decorate her enclosure with pyramids or a Sphinx. Cleopatra is one year old and can live anywhere between seven and 13 years. In a few weeks, Langan wants to teach the students how to feed her and clean her cage.

"It really brings a sense of responsibility," said seventh grader Cara.

At the end of the school year, Langan wants his students to know how to take care of Cleopatra and understand that even a humble spider has a crucial role to play in the global ecosystem. He tells the class never to kill spiders they find in their homes, because they eat household pests.

"I think the act of caring for something else, feeding it, cleaning it, making sure it's well cared for and nurtured, is a good example of our Catholic teachings," Langan said.

When The Pilot visited St. Charles on Jan. 22, Langan put Cleopatra on his hand, allowing her to crawl up his arm and onto the back of his neck. The class was in an uproar, worried that Cleopatra would climb down Langan's shirt or hop on one of them.

"They're a really rambunctious, animated class, but they're fun to work with," Langan said.

He never expected that raising a spider would be on his list of duties as an educator. His whole class is like a family -- a family that now includes a tarantula.