Here little spider, time for your rat.

[Steve Nunn]

A genuine Aussie chicken eater....IMAGE

A true Aussie chicken eater:

Steve

 

[Crotalus]

A true Aussie chicken eater:

Steve

That is so..wrong
A friend saw a cow eating a roadkill in Australia..strange animals you got down there

 

[Steve Nunn]

You should see the "carnivorous" animals down under, lol

 

[Steve Nunn]

A friend saw a cow eating a roadkill in Australia..

Export quality beef right there

 

[syndicate]

A true Aussie chicken eater:

Steve

omg man haha.thats crazy.anyone remeber when scott on here fed a t.blonde a alligator?

 

[Bearo]

hhmm cow eating cow = mad cow, bird eating bird =
weird pic, did the bird like it?

Did she finish the rat, and if so, in how long time?
How big does this species get and in about wich size do they start to take down mamals?

 

[Steve Nunn]

hhmm cow eating cow = mad cow, bird eating bird =
weird pic, did the bird like it?

No clue, not my bird I'd never feed a cocky something like that, as Lelle said, it's just so wrong, LOL

Did she finish the rat, and if so, in how long time?
How big does this species get and in about which size do they start to take down mamals?

She didn't finish the rat, just WAY too much meat for her. She got through the head and shoulders. She had the rat for a day and a half.

I cannot say how big they need to be before taking mammals, but I have on the very rare occassion, tried feeding beef pieces to 5th instars onward and they take the meat happily. I think it would just depend on the size of the prey to some extent. But a full grown adult will take on prey much larger then itself, probably a development in the spiders behaviour to suit the prey in their environment.

Nothing that special, just an adaption they needed for survival in certain climates possibly some time after the breakup of Pangea. The change happened a long time ago in a distant ancestor, because several genera here show the same behavioural characteristics. Perhaps the change goes back further then that (originated within Africa before Pangea broke up), just that most species in our day and age have not needed to maintain the behaviour to survive. Would make sense, most of the worlds arthropods got smaller over time, which would explain perhaps a large loss in the behaviour.

To be honest I have no clue, but the fact the same behaviour is seen in several of our genera makes me wonder whether it originated here or in Africa???

Steve

 

[Sheri]

I've seen rat skulls in other burrows from adults of this species, Steve

Adult skulls?

 

[Steve Nunn]

Hi Sheri, Yep, full grown Rattus rattus skulls within the burrows, amazing. As I said though, I really don't know whether or not the prey was taken as carrion or live.

The first time this year the cat caught a full grown rat, same species (we have two introduced rat species here, R.rattus/ship rat, and R.norvegicus/sewer rat) and I put that into another full grown Sarina sp. enclosure, only about a foot away from her burrow, she came out and easily dragged it back to the burrow, that rat was huge, full grown.

Steve

 

[Sheri]

Impressive. That would be cool as all hell to see, I admit.

I need to come visit your homeland one day.

 

[Longbord1]

wow sweet pic! i know that you said that parasites from the rat won't hurt the T but what about pesticides?

on the cocky note, we feed my aunts parrot turkey on thanksgiving!

 

[rattler_mt]

sweet thread, very informative

for those of you worried bout parasites in situations like this, most parasites are quite specific about the critters they use for hosts, sure nematodes will affect both mammals and T's BUT they arent the same species of nematode. infact its generally a quite notable event when a parasite uses hosts from several classes(example reptiles and mammals playing host to the same species) of anamals and its not terribly common though some of the individual parasite species that do do it may themselves be common and there for well known

 

[Steve Nunn]

for those of you worried bout parasites in situations like this,

Hi,
Excellent post, all very good and accurate points about nematodes and other internal watnots.

Even among those rare species that do cross class levels of host species, 98% of those will not harm the host in any way. Usually, it's not beneficial to the parasite to kill its host, but, unfortunately, it does happen. Just not the norm

You find a nematode that crosses class and kills its host and you're dealing with a rare situation. Unfortunatley, we have noted that, there is a nematode that will cross from skinks to theraphosids, with the theraphosids coming out worst in the deal (Raven 2000, Obs. in Brisbane, Qld).

I should also point out that the skinks with the nematodes that kill tarantulas are not found in the tarantulas native habitat, interestingly enough. So, this situation might not been seen in the wild at all and so pretty much follows the above theory.

Steve

Steve

 

[cacoseraph]

No clue, not my bird I'd never feed a cocky something like that, as Lelle said, it's just so wrong, LOL



She didn't finish the rat, just WAY too much meat for her. She got through the head and shoulders. She had the rat for a day and a half.

I cannot say how big they need to be before taking mammals, but I have on the very rare occassion, tried feeding beef pieces to 5th instars onward and they take the meat happily. I think it would just depend on the size of the prey to some extent. But a full grown adult will take on prey much larger then itself, probably a development in the spiders behaviour to suit the prey in their environment.

Nothing that special, just an adaption they needed for survival in certain climates possibly some time after the breakup of Pangea. The change happened a long time ago in a distant ancestor, because several genera here show the same behavioural characteristics. Perhaps the change goes back further then that (originated within Africa before Pangea broke up), just that most species in our day and age have not needed to maintain the behaviour to survive. Would make sense, most of the worlds arthropods got smaller over time, which would explain perhaps a large loss in the behaviour.

To be honest I have no clue, but the fact the same behaviour is seen in several of our genera makes me wonder whether it originated here or in Africa???

Steve

you know, i was looking at some of my obts (who will bag roaches that look to mass more than them) and they have the sort of extended abdomen that many of the aussie species seem to have. not proof of course, but something to think about

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

you know, i was looking at some of my obts (who will bag roaches that look to mass more than them) and they have the sort of extended abdomen that many of the aussie species seem to have. not proof of course, but something to think about

Hysterocrates has the same look, and actually looks pretty much the same as Phlogius/Selenocosmia overall, except with the largest legs in the back instead of the front. The one I take care of will also attack just about anything, even my foreceps, and consume adult orange headed roaches without any noticeable change in it's abdomen size. I've noticed the similarity to the Australian spiders myself before, but I haven't seen it mentioned on the boards before.

 

[TarantulaLV]

I am going to say what everyone is thinking but has not said yet: AHHHHH!!! DISTGUSTING!!! I can only imagine the mess you had on your hands after this one!! I hate feeding my T's large animals with internal nervous systems especially live one's!! It is horrific! At any rate I am aware that for some species crickets simply will not do unless you want to purchase 1-200 of them at your local pet store!! And worse feed all 1-200 of them to your T. Anyways thanks for sharing.....I think

 

[Steve Nunn]

I hate feeding my T's large animals with internal nervous systems especially live one's!! It is horrific!

Hi,
Me too, um, that rat was dead before being fed to the spider, did you know that???

Steve

 

[Steve Nunn]

Hysterocrates has the same look, and actually looks pretty much the same as Phlogius/Selenocosmia overall, except with the largest legs in the back instead of the front.

Hi,
Yes, there is a relationship between the two groups and similarities like the abdomen are all indicators of this.

The Phlogius look like a lot of the African Eumenophorinae, it is hard to separate them from some of the Anoploscelus and Phoneyusa at first glance. Our Selenotypus more resemble the Hysterocrates types, but the close relationship between the Selenocosmiinae/Eumenophorinae is clearly evident.

Steve

 

[jarvisnake]

Jeez, Steve, maybe you should edit your original pictures with a big lettered caption that says : THE RAT WAS ALREADY DEAD! FOUND DEAD!
Just for the ones who won't bother to read the whole thread.

 

[nightbreed]

Very cool pics.

If your cat is anything like mine it would of got bored and abandoned that rat as soon as it was dead, nice to see it didn't go to waste.