Taranthula, before and after

dasdassmuhraz

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 21, 2022
Messages
1
Hey, first post. About a week ago I was walking my dog and it stopped to smell something on the crosswalk. I thought it was some others dog's poop, but then I looked at the object: It was a tarantula! Amazing creature: I got a jolt of fear, for it to be immediatley followed by an inmense sense of fascination.

I took a few pictures and then got worried about it being stepped on. -The little information that I know about tarantulas is that they are predators & notcurnal animals. This encounter I had was around 6 PM when the sun is starting to come down, so it was still daytime pretty much.-

As I said, I was afraid of the creature but wanted to help it at the same time cause I just knew this insect was not in an optimal place to be (on this crosswalk many people run). I grabbed a decent sized stick and tried to push it towards it with a smaller twig for it to grab on and move it out of the way. After a few failed attemps, this tarantula got very angry (its abdomen was erect; it looked like it entered aggressive mode); so I gave up on my "mission" to save the lovely creature.

The day after, I woke up at around 7 am and walked my dog again through the same sidewalk... My heart was struck when I saw a squashed tarantula very near where I saw the little guy the day before..

I laughed it off under the thought of natural selection doing its job, but at the same time I felt around 20% guilt for not handling it correctly the daybefore.possibly saving its life.

My question for you, fellows, is:
"Was it natural selection that gave thisnone spider such an unfortunate event: was the spider wrong on coming out of their hiding spot too early (humans, which we are nocturnal, being its causal reason of its death), OR is coming out of their nests at daytime a normal behaviour for spiders?" If it were, Id attribute it to some sort of mating behaviour

Id like to know what you guys think about this experience I had! Ill attach pictures of the before and after of this one tarantula.
 

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viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Not natural selection IMO,

its not natural for these animals to expect a road….
 

Hardus nameous

Yes, but only on Tuesdays!
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Feb 24, 2018
Messages
274
Nothing you could have done; it probably just would have crawled back where it was had you moved it.
 

coolnweird

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 20, 2019
Messages
512
You fought through your fear and discomfort in an attempt to save a life! You should be proud of yourself. Tarantulas can be incredibly stubborn, I'm not surprised it didn't want to move. You did your best, it's not your fault the next jogger didn't notice a 4" spider in their path!
 
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