Who Hatched the Basilisk?

[Susan]

No: HPFGUIDX 99928


> > Potioncat:
> > 
> > I wonder if there is any chance that the legend was just that?  
> > Perhaps there was a chamber, but no monster. Tom Riddle found it 
and 
> > hatched a basilisk in the chamber?  There are chickens on the
> > grounds and lots of toads or is it frogs that's needed?
> 
> bboy_mn:
> 
> While we don't have the exact details of how to create and grow a
> Basilisk in JKR's world, I think it's safe to say that it didn't 
grow
> to a length of 40 to 60 feet in just a few years. This seems to be 
an
> ancient long-lived creature, so my vote is for Slytherin to have
> indeed hatched it.
> 
> Given my opinion, I will also agree there are reasons to be
> suspicious. If Slytherin himself hatched it, that would make the
> Basilisk 900 to 1,000 years old, and it seemed to be healthy and
> thriving when Harry killed it, so no apparent signs of old age. That
> would appear to imply that it had easily another 500 to 1,000 years 
of
> life left in it. That's quite a long life for a creature that is not
> immortal. 
> 
> Then there is the problem of food. There seemed to be a lot of rats,
> mice, and other small creatures to eat, combined with the fact that
> reptiles don't eat that much or that often. But in the course of 
1,000
> years and given it's enormous size, one must ponder just how much 
food
> it takes to satisfy a creature that big. 
> 
> Then there is the problem of Basilisk 'waste'; you would expect the
> Chamber to be knee deep in Basilisk Dung.
> 
> To the original question of how and why Slytherin would have had
> and/or left a monster in the castle, I don't think he did. If the
> Basilisk was indeed hatched by Slytherin then despite it's obvious
> dangers, it probably would have only been a few feet long. 
> 
> One could also assume that Slythering could talk to it in 
Parsletongue
> and control it in much the same fashion that Tom Riddle did. It's
> clear Slytherin had an affinity for snakes, and what better snake 
for
> a powerful parsletongue than the king of all serpents, the Basilisk.
> 
> Admittedly, it may not be wise to have such a dangerous creature, 
but
> on the other hand, where's the fun if there isn't a bit of danger
> involved?

So here's my question.  Why, if the basilisk had been in the Chamber 
for so long, were the spiders just then fleeing?  Wouldn't they have 
fled long before the Chamber was open? Surely as spiders, they could 
have gotten out long before now, and if not, wouldn't they all have 
been eaten by the basilisk?  Isn't that why they were fleeing in the 
first place?

Susan, who's just really curious about all those fleeing spiders.