Huntsman eating habits.

basin79

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My Heteropoda Lunula doesn't seem to be eating (much). She catches and kills the cricket. I've seen her eating it. But then in the morning I find the same thing.

A cricket hanging by a silk thread a la Predator with skinned humans with just its head crushed and mangled.

Is she just getting a drink from them? It just seems very weird that she's not consuming them.
 

basin79

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This is a (terrible) pic of her latest victim. The one before was hung from the top. Presumably because that's where she caught the cricket.

 

edesign

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Might just not be hungry enough for a full meal. Post a photo of the spider so we can look at the abdomen and all (and because this species I'd beautiful haha). I've got three lunula slings around a half inch and an adult, female venatoria.

Btw, the species part of the name is not capitalized. Save yourself an unnecessary keystroke :)
 

basin79

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Might just not be hungry enough for a full meal. Post a photo of the spider so we can look at the abdomen and all (and because this species I'd beautiful haha). I've got three lunula slings around a half inch and an adult, female venatoria.

Btw, the species part of the name is not capitalized. Save yourself an unnecessary keystroke :)
The abdomen pic will have to wait. She's not in a position for me to take one.

She did the same last week to a little male banded cricket. It was smaller than a blue bottle fly and she only mangled it's head and neck.

She looks healthy in herself all be it tatty as she was WC. Can't wait for her to moult.
 

edesign

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Can they eat beetles?
Pretty much anything they can overpower. The hard shells on beetles may be a deterrent but they love to eat roaches. Not quite the same though.
 

Salmon

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I don't know about huntsmen, but there are lots of spiders that will surplus kill, seemingly just for pleasure. She might just not be hungry and is killing the crickets just as a form of enrichment.
 

basin79

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I don't know about huntsmen, but there are lots of spiders that will surplus kill, seemingly just for pleasure. She might just not be hungry and is killing the crickets just as a form of enrichment.
She actually ate a massive adult male cricket last week. I thought I'd actually posted that.

EDIT.
I did post the news but on My Spiders thread.
 

The Snark

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I suspect Dr. Jaeger called Venatoria 'the sewer rat of spiders' for a valid reason. Their favorite haunts are effluent locations, the natural and artificial sewage disposal concentrations, and their favorite food, the commonest animals that live in those locations, primarily the cockroach.
So the rule of thumb for most of the Sparassid tribe diet would be what is naturally found in such areas. Beetles? Certainly. And just about anything else. The best way to determine the spider's preferred diet is to examine the population density of appropriate prey found in it's native haunts. Detrivores like crickets and roaches would be at the top of the menu.
 
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