Silk strength among Ts

[Gogyeng]

How strong is the web of your Ts? It is known that in araneids, like the golden orb weaver Nephila, the silk is quite strong, enough to capture even small birds and random lizard, but that is perhaps the main purpose of the web there. In mygalomorphs that is not necessarily the case, although the webs of my avicularia are rather sturdy and at times during maintenance I need even to cut them with small scissors. What is your experience with these? Which species of T would you say builds strongest webs?

 

[Venom1080]

I can't say I've ever noticed a difference.

 

[viper69]

Which species of T would you say builds strongest webs?

How would you expect us to actually measure this scientifically? If it's not done that way, then any "info" is speculative.

 

[cold blood]

Females make the strongest webs when creating an egg sac.

 

[Vanessa]

I have had to cut the webbing for a number of different species with a scissors. Mostly to get to the water dish.

 

[Ellenantula]

Rosie's web is so thick it will come up like a carpet rather than tear apart. I've had GBB and OBT webs that were difficult to punch through to refill covered water dishes. I'm not sure if one type of T has a stronger web or not. I do know their webbing seems pretty strong.

I also have some old webbing leftover from a spider guest in my living room that nothing seems to remove. Not the vacuum, not a damp cloth. I did my best and just live with its remains.

 

[Gogyeng]

How would you expect us to actually measure this scientifically? If it's not done that way, then any "info" is speculative.

Yes, that is very true. Surely there is a protocol to measure silk properties,a tensometer seems to be the standard, but is expensive . basically takes a fiber of known diameter and stretches in a control way to obtain a mechanical property profile of the silk thread. Such things are being investigated to improve the properties of conventional silk-worm fibers, taking as a basis the golden-orbweaver silk of genus Nephila. I found a few threads in ncbi on the topic of spider silk and measurements. I must admit I don't know much about it myself.

On mechanical properties of Spider Dragline silk:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2098708/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3476422/

tensile strength apparatus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_tensile_strength

 

[Gogyeng]

perhaps measuring the thickness with a caliper and looking at how much it can stretch before breaking, that would give a measure of elasticity at least, I'll try it myself on my avics and come back later