Cricket dance?

[Grael]

ok i read a little on this and never did understand what it was lol

bt nova has done it a few times now, given her a cricket, twirled around on the spot while what looks like wiggerling her abdomen

is this the "cricket Dance" or whatever you call it lol

 

[sunnymarcie]

Sounds like the cricket happy dance to me
All of my T's do it a little different, it's kinda cute

 

[Professor T]

Originally posted by Grael
ok i read a little on this and never did understand what it was lol

bt nova has done it a few times now, given her a cricket, twirled around on the spot while what looks like wiggerling her abdomen

is this the "cricket Dance" or whatever you call it lol

Yes, this is the "Dance of Joy", in fact I named my B. smithi "DOJO" which stands for Dance of Joy.

In reality I think the tarantula is moving in a circle to tie its prey in a nice web pack, to make feeding easier. This web pack might hold enzymes from the mouth that aid digestion as the tarantula uses the teeth on its chelicera to chew up the cricket. Either that or, its dancing for joy.

 

[TheDon]

I always thought she was just adding to her web when she did that. When I feed my Rose Crickets she would put them in her fangs then start spinning her carpet web in circles... is this what u mean by happy dance? or something else?

TheDon

 

[krystal]

some of my tarantulas use their webbing from their "feeding waltz" as a way of containing all of the crickets (or whatever) that they caught. others use it as a "place mat".

 

[luther]

My G.rosea does this every time, with lots of web. My B.smithi is a little more restrained.

I have hi-res photos of the G.rosea's feeding rituals at:
http://www.team17.com/oldbrowsermenu/sp/

 

[MizM]

The Schultzs' covered the "feeding dance" in their book.

My H. lividium does it too, crickets in fangs, up on tippy toes, rotates slowly in a circle with wiggling spinnerets. That's ONE HAPPY T!!!