Arizonatears
Arachnopeon
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Will my wolf spider eat freeze dried crickets?
Wolf spider
- Thread starter Arizonatears
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Doubtful. Wolf spiders are very tuned in to movement and while you can move the cricket around to mimic movement, I still don't think the spider will take it and eat it. It might grab it and move it around a bit, but I don't think it would actually settle down and eat. You'd also want to make sure there wasn't any salt or funky preservatives on the crickets if they're freeze dried if you did decide to give it a try.
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Freeze dried I doubt it, just frozen though yeah. Wolf spiders will scavenge for dead prey.
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Love the replies: Yes! No! Will you two go off to a corner, duke it out then get back to us?
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Well, that was rather snarky 
Wouldn't it being freeze *dried* get rid of all the edible parts of it as well?
Wouldn't it being freeze *dried* get rid of all the edible parts of it as well?
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It's my job. My obligation to the planet to help keep it from getting all gooey.Well, that was rather snarky
Wouldn't that depend on the slobber ability of the individual arachnid?
Smokehound714
Arachnoking
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most arachnids in general will accept dead prey, so long as it's fresh enough. As a rule, spiders are opportunistic predators, and in the wild, passing up a dead bug can mean starvation. Every spider or scorpion ive ever had ate fresh-dead prey the instant they came across it.
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Agreed with Smokehound. I've had some of my less picky species take food that was even a day or two old. Widows will kill insects and sometimes go back to feed on them again for weeks after if they need a little snack.
I will say, I'd be curious to see if they would eat an insect that had been frozen for a day or two and then thawed out. Once it got back to room temp I could certainly see it working. I can't see freeze dried working out though since the insect might be a bit crispy and too far gone to be worth it to the spider unless it's starving.
I will say, I'd be curious to see if they would eat an insect that had been frozen for a day or two and then thawed out. Once it got back to room temp I could certainly see it working. I can't see freeze dried working out though since the insect might be a bit crispy and too far gone to be worth it to the spider unless it's starving.
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This is academic. It will depend upon the condition of the prey, the species of spider to some degree, environmental conditions, and predisposition of the individual spider.
Affix chelicerae or mouth part on prey, vomit onto and into the prey, drink the resultant soup of vomitus and what it has liquefied, and repeat - continue until no further proteins become available. A spider may repeat this process many times over an extended period of time.
It would be doubtful if a spider could tell a normal partially consumed victim that had been hanging in a web a day or two and a freeze dried or frozen and thawed. They don't have sophisticated senses that can tell how fresh prey is.
Affix chelicerae or mouth part on prey, vomit onto and into the prey, drink the resultant soup of vomitus and what it has liquefied, and repeat - continue until no further proteins become available. A spider may repeat this process many times over an extended period of time.
It would be doubtful if a spider could tell a normal partially consumed victim that had been hanging in a web a day or two and a freeze dried or frozen and thawed. They don't have sophisticated senses that can tell how fresh prey is.