Vegetarian Spiders

[Lil Paws]

When I was a kid my parents were friends with this oddball hippy lady who told everyone she not only made her dog and cat into vegetarians, but the resident spider in her house as well (I believe it was an orb weaver—it had a spectacular web).

She said she did this by putting tiny pieces of banana into its web and making them move. At first, I believed it, but later on I questioned it and wondered she had one too many smokes of weed or whatever her free-minded self did.

Well, I remembered it recently and had to google. Maybe she wasn't so crazy?

https://animals.howstuffworks.com/arachnids/spiders-eat-plants-nutrition.htm

https://www.livescience.com/5759-rare-vegetarian-spider-discovered.html

 

[Wolfspidurguy]

in my opinion a vegitarian spider takes one of the most fun parts out of keeping spiders which is the feedings

 

[Lil Paws]

in my opinion a vegitarian spider takes one of the most fun parts out of keeping spiders which is the feedings

Oh, yes! Unless you are a crazy hippy lady.

It does make me curious if some spiders could *like* certain things to snack on beyond bugs. I was just eating a cookie today and thought it's be funny if a tarantula ate one (I would not even try, but it was a random silly thing that went through my head).

 

[BoyFromLA]

It does make me curious if some spiders could *like* certain things to snack on beyond bugs.

A bird, a mouse, a snake, a fish, a lizard, a spider. After all, they are opportunistic eaters.

 

[Lil Paws]

A bird, a mouse, a snake, a fish, a lizard, a spider. After all, they are opportunistic eaters.

Oh, yes! They would eat us if they could...but so would cats and dogs.

Somewhere around here I remember someone had a T in ICU and was feeding it canned catfood.

 

[BoyFromLA]

Somewhere around here I remember someone had a T in ICU and was feeding it canned catfood.

That makes me wonder, if a tarantula would ever eat a canned edible tarantula.

 

[Lil Paws]

That makes me wonder, if a tarantula would ever eat a canned edible tarantula.

"Hey, Honey, can you please pick up a can of Arachno-Pro on the way home? Preferably the superworm flavored one. Snookums needs to eat."

 

[schmiggle]

I doubt this woman actually converted the spider into a vegetarian, but there's a good chance it could eat the banana. Fruits are basically packets of sugar with some vitamins and amino acids--there's nothing in them that's really challenging to digest. I know at least one species of orb weaver derives 25% of its calories from pollen caught in its web as a juvenile.

 

[Lil Paws]

I doubt this woman actually converted the spider into a vegetarian, but there's a good chance it could eat the banana. Fruits are basically packets of sugar with some vitamins and amino acids--there's nothing in them that's really challenging to digest. I know at least one species of orb weaver derives 25% of its calories from pollen caught in its web as a juvenile.

That's amazing! Now, I wish I had gotten to see her feed it.

 

[darkness975]

Even if the Spider did take banana pieces, it is not evolved to obtain the nutrients it needs from plant matter.

Additionally, animals such as cats don't just "prefer" to eat meat but actually must consume it if they are to remain healthy. Their biology is designed to require it.


I don't have a problem with people who choose to be vegetarians. It's their life, have fun with that. But, when they impose their ways on others then I have a problem with that. Giving predatory animals that are designed to eat meat peas and carrots is bordering cruelty if you ask me.

Humans are evolved to be omnivorous and do require protein and other things from meat products, but I don't care about people enough to bother worrying about them.

I am having Prime Rib for myself for Christmas. I could not imagine not eating meat.

 

[Lil Paws]

Even if the Spider did take banana pieces, it is not evolved to obtain the nutrients it needs from plant matter.

Additionally, animals such as cats don't just "prefer" to eat meat but actually must consume it if they are to remain healthy. Their biology is designed to require it.


I don't have a problem with people who choose to be vegetarians. It's their life, have fun with that. But, when they impose their ways on others then I have a problem with that. Giving predatory animals that are designed to eat meat peas and carrots is bordering cruelty if you ask me.

Humans are evolved to be omnivorous and do require protein and other things from meat products, but I don't care about people enough to bother worrying about them.

I completely 110% agree. Cats need taurine and that only comes from other animals. Without it, they can have eye issues (at the very least). Keep in mind this was a crazy (though sweet) hippy lady, and it was during a brief point in my childhood that I knew her. Hopefully, she figured this out quickly for her cat quickly, and the spider was probably "sneaking" prey on the side.

 

[darkness975]

I completely 110% agree. Cats need taurine and that only comes from other animals. Without it, they can have eye issues (at the very least). Keep in mind this was a crazy (though sweet) hippy lady, and it was during a brief point in my childhood that I knew her. Hopefully, she figured this out quickly for her cat quickly, and the spider was probably "sneaking" prey on the side.

Even if the weirdo was indeed getting it to somehow eat the bananas, you are correct in assuming the Spider likely caught its own prey. She probably did not use sprays or pesticides if she was that far off the rails so I can assume that, if the Spider was living inside of the house, it had plenty of choices for real food items.

Or maybe it lived for a week and died. Who knows.

 

[Lil Paws]

Even if the weirdo was indeed getting it so somehow eat the bananas, you are correct in assuming the Spider likely caught its own prey. She probably did not use sprays or pesticides if she was that far off the rails so I can assume that, if the Spider was living inside of the house, it had plenty of choices for real food items.

Or maybe it lived for a week and died. Who knows.

She had it about a year (unless there were others there she was mistaking for the same one). I think it's fascinating she was getting it to even try the banana. It sounded like she "trained" or conditioned it. Wish I had been older and knew more about spiders to find out more information about it—if nothing else, to know if it was actually true.

 

[Lil Paws]

Also... Even though she was strange and incorrect about her animal husbandry (at least for the spider and the cat), you have to admire someone who was an open-minded enough to want to feed rather than squash the stray spider in their house. Her heart was in the right place—even though she was clearly an idealist who needed to learn a bit of biology. Her influence helped me become more interested in spiders—thinking of them as more than just scary bitey things.

 

[darkness975]

She had it about a year (unless there were others there she was mistaking for the same one). I think it's fascinating she was getting it to even try the banana. It sounded like she "trained" or conditioned it. Wish I had been older and knew more about spiders to find out more information about it—if nothing else, to know if it was actually true.

Who knows if any part of that story is true, but even if it is I still say it caught its own prey. Spiders are not evolved to eat bananas, not even "Banana Spiders" with their rendition of "Banana Boat Song."

 

[Lil Paws]

Who knows if any part of that story is true, but even if it is I still say it caught its own prey. Spiders are not evolved to eat bananas, not even "Banana Spiders" with their rendition of "Banana Boat Song."

It is funny how I forgot about it (I was 9 or 10 when I met her) until a couple decades later. I find it amazing, though, that there are cases spiders consuming vegetation. The acacia-pod eating jumping spiders are particularly interesting—especially how they use hunting techniques to get their food. It reminds me of how pandas still retain their large canines and other carnivorous biology/behavior despite evolving into specialized herbivores.

 

[darkness975]

It is funny how I forgot about it (I was 9 or 10 when I met her) until a couple decades later. I find it amazing, though, that there are cases spiders consuming vegetation. The acacia-pod eating jumping spiders are particularly interesting—especially how they use hunting techniques to get their food. It reminds me of how pandas still retain their large canines and other carnivorous biology/behavior despite evolving into specialized herbivores.

Or sheep/deer that live on remote islands that attack birds and such due to mineral deficiencies.

 

[schmiggle]

When I was in the Dominican Republic a few years ago I kept track of a couple of resident egrets. One had figured out that a certain worker would drop bread in the water every so often and would go to that place to eat the bread. Was it nutritionally complete? No. Was it it constructed from the same sort of material an egret would usually eat? Also no. This egret also caught lizards (and presumably fish, though I never saw that). But at the end of the day, it's not going to refuse free calories. I, too, am sure that that spider was catching insects as well.

 

[Esherman81]

I never even heard of a spider eating a banana..my spiders only eat live bugs ..one of my jumping spider will only eat flies nothing else .. I'm pretty sure the spider got some kid of bugs in its diet ..I don't see how a spider could live just from eating a banana.

 

[Esherman81]

Or sheep/deer that live on remote islands that attack birds and such due to mineral deficiencies.

that's very interesting to watch .