Here little spider, time for your rat.

[Bearo]

nice to see it didn't go to waste.

Well said.. Why arnt the "Bad Steve, your T isnt worth food"-people thinking like this?

 

[CedrikG]

The first time I saw the picture I knew there was going to be 40 reply or +++ on this post

 

[danread]

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

Unfortunately this isn't really the case with nematode parasites of invertebrates, more often than not they tend to be pathogenic, that is, they kill the host. I think this may have more to do with the fact that invertebrates are generally a less 'stable' host, there is a high chance at any one time of an invertebrate host dying due to age, predation, disease etc. Because of this it makes more sense to have a short generation time, kill the host and get out quick (or at least the offspring). Nematode parasites of mammals don't have this problem to the same extent, so it makes more sense to lead more of a benign lifestyle.

I do agree with the fact that a parasite of a mammal is unlikely to infect and invertebrate, so the relative danger of passing on an infection in this case is low.

Cheers,

 

[TarantulaLV]

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

Steve

I knew it was dead from all the conflict at the beginning of this thread re: that very issue, it's still somewhat creepy though.

 

[Steve Nunn]

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

Hi,
Pesticides ingested via a rat are really no concern. The only way the rat would ingest pesticide is through it's prey, an insect that may have ingested some. 99% of the insects that would ingest pesticides are capable of breaking those toxins down within their bodies in a remarkably short period of time (whether this is a quirky evolutionary trait I cannot say, I would think unlikely, because of the short time commercial pesticides have been around). The chances of those toxins that remain effective lasting until the spider ingested the rat are virtually nil.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Steve Nunn]

Hi,
Just for the record, here's a conspecific being fed an adult mouse (yes, another the cat dragged in, bloody cat). This might give you some perspective of size in Aussie "Selenocosmia"

(and yes, you can see a small patch of mites on the abdomen and carapace)

Steve

 

[Austin S.]

How big is the gal? Looks pretty big to me!

 

[Steve Nunn]

She's about 18cm/just over 7" 7.5cm b/l, they get bigger than that too

Steve

 

[Nate]

Hold up, that’s not fair. Your cat gets the kill and your T gets to feast! When was the last time your one of your Ts feed the cat?

 

[lychas]

sheri, if you ever come 2 aus and need a place 2 stay, let me know, we can go visit steve together, never tried feeding my t's meat, might do before i breed em

 

[dannye]

bump......................................

 

[Arietans]

Steve, that is impressive!!!

As you said, waste not want not

 

[Tropical T's]

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

I have to say all animals including crickets have an internal nervous system. As Steve said the rat was dead and it is part of the normal life cycle.
Australian T's are big and aggressive and there has been a report of one dragging a turkey chick away to its burrow so it does not surprise me that they would take on a rat. I have been keeping these guys for a few years now and I treat them with more caution than I do Australia's snakes and we have 9 of the top 10 venomous snakes in the world! To say everyone thinks it is disgusting is a big assumption. I see no difference to feeding my dog beef bones and chicken necks.
Cheers
Brendan

 

[Varden]

Hi,
Just for the record, here's a conspecific being fed an adult mouse (yes, another the cat dragged in, bloody cat). This might give you some perspective of size in Aussie "Selenocosmia"

Oh WOW! Beautiful, beautiful girl!

And don't be too hard on the cat. She's doing her best to make sure those rats aren't living in your kitchen!

 

[Tegenaria]

I hate seeing mammal's get eaten

I dont see the difference between a mammal being eaten and a locust or other large invert.
Take the fur off a rat and its like a reptile, ugly and scaly,(not that i find reptiles ugly) put fur on and its cute and cuddly.

 

[Gigas]

Its nature, its the same reason people find cats sooo adorable etc.
I saw some of these at the spider shops stand this weekend im so angry i didn't buy one.

 

[demode]

Theres mites on your tarantula

 

[Arachnophilist]

the mites look like tarantula poop