Fun Facts?

[Mitchel]

Does anyone have any tarantula/spider fun facts they'd like to share? I'd love to know more about spiders of any kind. Maybe even some other arachnids, as well! (I still want to learn more about scorpions, if I'm being honest).

I also like to have fun facts ready so that I can bring them up in casual conversation despite the fact that I usually weird people out with arachnid facts. Good way to weed out the weak ones, imo.

 

[Asgiliath]

Spiders have eight legs

 

[Mitchel]

Spiders have eight legs

My mind = blown

 

[chanda]

Not all spiders are venomous. Spiders in the family Uloboridae and in the genus Holarchaea lack venom glands.

 

[Asgiliath]

Not all spiders are venomous. Spiders in the family Uloboridae and in the genus Holarchaea lack venom glands.

Interesting! How do they kill and liquify their prey, then?

 

[krbshappy71]

They bore it to death with stories of their yester-years. Sorry, visiting family soon and you can tell how enthused I am....

 

[Vanessa]

Webbing is produced by spigots located on the spinnerets and not the actual spinnerets themselves.
Some species egg sacs are built with webbing that has anti-microbial/anti-bacterial properties to protect the eggs inside. That webbing differs from the more typical day to day webbing that they produce.
Not only does their setae act as neurotransmitters, but their exoskeleton does as well.

 

[Venom1080]

Heres my contribution.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/tarantula-fact-of-the-day.299309/

 

[ThorsCarapace22]

Cocaine is addictive, leaves you broke and slowly kills you.

Atleast the tarantula hobby won't kill you.

 

[DesertDweller256]

Some tarantulas and frogs have symbiotic relationships sometimes. I don’t recall specific species on either side but basically large spider protects small frog from predators, while small frog protects the spider’s eggs from even tinier parasites and inverts like ants.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Mod Note

Please keep the discussion about tarantulas. This is “Tarantula Chat” after all. Feel free to create additional “fun fact” threads for other spiders and/ or scorpions in their respective forums.

 

[FrDoc]

Tarantulas abhor being given names.

 

[Arthroverts]

A long time ago, an unwitting stranger gave a water dish to a tarantula in the wild. After many years, the water dish spilled over on top of the tarantula as it was molting; since that day, tarantulas have been locked in perpetual war with that unnatural evil, those traitorous water dishes...

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[chanda]

Interesting! How do they kill and liquify their prey, then?

They wrap it in silk to subdue it, then cover it in regurgitated digestive enzymes to liquify it.

 

[Tortuga]

Cocaine is addictive, leaves you broke and slowly kills you.

Atleast the tarantula hobby won't kill you.

I dunno man, maybe not directly, people are capable of some extraordinarily moronic feats. When I go to the gym and see the warning labels on machines that say 'Improper use of this equipment may result in injury or death', I always wonder. What kind of mouth breather ended themselves doing leg extensions? Who knows, maybe some fool tripped while cleaning their water dish sponge and accidentally inhaled it and choked to death...cuz they're a mouth breather.

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe" -Albert Einstein

 

[ThorsCarapace22]

I dunno man, maybe not directly, people are capable of some extraordinarily moronic feats. When I go to the gym and see the warning labels on machines that say 'Improper use of this equipment may result in injury or death', I always wonder. What kind of mouth breather ended themselves doing leg extensions? Who knows, maybe some fool tripped while cleaning their water dish sponge and accidentally inhaled it and choked to death...cuz they're a mouth breather.

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe" -Albert Einstein

I'm not gonna lie this is one of the funniest comment I have seen on here yet. The sponge! man I can say I have never used a sponge in a water dish. And I ain't gonna lie to ya man we do alotta dumb stuff around here. We recently swapped pulleys on about 6 or 7 riding lawn mowers and turned them into 40mph mud toys..... Yeahhh....so if you ever hear about 6 or 7 people dying from a brutal riding mower accident. Just remember what I said, so that way you won't think that a crew of suicidal yard clean up guys said F it.

 

[Tortuga]

I'm not gonna lie this is one of the funniest comment I have seen on here yet. The sponge! man I can say I have never used a sponge in a water dish. And I ain't gonna lie to ya man we do alotta dumb stuff around here. We recently swapped pulleys on about 6 or 7 riding lawn mowers and turned them into 40mph mud toys..... Yeahhh....

That's just rednecks having fun! Count me in lol

 

[ThorsCarapace22]

That's just rednecks having fun! Count me in lol

Come on down to ole Kentucky and we will ride! Woo!!

 

[ThatsUnpossible]

Fun fact: Spider silk is of superior quality to silkworm silk. However, it has (so far) proved impossible to farm spiders for this purpose due to their cannibalism.

NB
Someone told me that many years ago and before posting this I thought I’d better check it was true. It turns out that it is and also there is a company who have genetically modified silkworms to make spider silk. Who knew?

 

[Asgiliath]

Cocaine is addictive, leaves you broke and slowly kills you.

Atleast the tarantula hobby won't kill you.

Now I’m ready to brainstorm weird ways that it could actually kill you....You could always trip over an enclosure and break your neck. T escapes and crawls in your mouth in the middle of night. You choke to death.