The mysterious cricket dance ritual
- Thread starter JohnxII
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- Jan 14, 2003
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yes it is awesome isnt it alot of my t's do it
to name a few h.lividum,g.rosea,L.difficilis
to name a few h.lividum,g.rosea,L.difficilis
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- Sep 24, 2003
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yup, I believe they do that in order to make a food bolis which is basically a masticaded food ball.
they do that becuase in the wild, they dont know when food is going to be plentiful or not, so if they can grab 5,10,15 prey items at a time, they better. The bolis makes it easier for them to eat their food.
they do that becuase in the wild, they dont know when food is going to be plentiful or not, so if they can grab 5,10,15 prey items at a time, they better. The bolis makes it easier for them to eat their food.
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- Feb 22, 2003
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My speculation pertaining to this 'dance' would focus more on keeping struggling pray from damaging the spider in its final struggles by holding it 'away' from the body.
What looks like 'probing' is the first stages of the feast: physical digestion. If you look on the underneath of fangs you'll notice its serrated properties; these are used in conjunction with -forgotten the technical term but I'll edit in in tonight- 'teeth' thatface them to essentially mash up the prey, to reduce surface area and to increase the ease at which the spider can manage it. This also serves for easier application of digestive 'juices', then the sucking of it.
The bolus is the 'chaff' that'sleft over after the feast
One suggestion for the webbing on the floor is basically for sanitary purposes; a bolus soon attracts many scavengers, such as ants, which could attack and cause a wild spider to perish.
What looks like 'probing' is the first stages of the feast: physical digestion. If you look on the underneath of fangs you'll notice its serrated properties; these are used in conjunction with -forgotten the technical term but I'll edit in in tonight- 'teeth' thatface them to essentially mash up the prey, to reduce surface area and to increase the ease at which the spider can manage it. This also serves for easier application of digestive 'juices', then the sucking of it.
The bolus is the 'chaff' that'sleft over after the feast
One suggestion for the webbing on the floor is basically for sanitary purposes; a bolus soon attracts many scavengers, such as ants, which could attack and cause a wild spider to perish.
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- Dec 12, 2003
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Some of my Ts do that too. I refer to it as the "happy happy joy joy" dinner dance. But yes, many will do that and IME, they do it as a means of securing their prey. If you put one prey item in their tank at a time, they'll catch it, kill it and eat it (usually) but if you put several (some Ts) will catch and subdue them, wrap them up in their web they've just spun, then go and eat them at their leisure. They do this so their prey can't escape. As it was said, "in the wild" they don't know when their next meal is coming so yes, they will stockpile.