Bat-Eating Spiders Are Everywhere

reply to post by buni11687


Wolf spiders are awesome, those and also the daddy long-legs. Whenever I see those I try to capture them and let them loose outside. Most don't know that both these spiders hunt widows and fiddle-backs for dinner

reply to post by smyleegrl


My cocker spaniel loves munching on spiders, live dead, he doesn't care.

I love him sooooooooomuch!

I'll I have to do is say bug and he kicks it in high gear!

Originally posted by Lostmymarbles
reply to post by buni11687

 

Wolf spiders are awesome, those and also the daddy long-legs. Whenever I see those I try to capture them and let them loose outside. Most don't know that both these spiders hunt widows and fiddle-backs for dinner

I love daddy longs legs to. Harmless to us but they eat some of the other critters that come into the house. That's one of the main reasons I keep those and wolf spiders alive. (I also let geckos run around inside, I dont really ever even take them outside).

I have never seen a spider big enough to eat bats in Germany... but I have seen a lot of bats here

reply to post by Mianeye


Spiders have no reason being that damn big!!!!

Just looking at that picture is making me going crazy!

I was bitten by a brown recluse while trying on clothes at a department store.

It wasn't really their fault, and I would never have sued, but they paid my doc bill anyway.

Which was a good thing, because the skin at the bite died and the doctor had to cut it out.

Just one more reason I hate spiders!

Originally posted by Hopechest
Reading the article is says bats have few natural enemies other than owls, hawks, and snakes. Now owls and hawks I can understand but how do snakes actually catch bats?

From my limited understanding of bats, they live in caves and do not land on ground. Unless snakes scale up the side of cave walls, how exactly do they hunt them?

Great post by the way.

Well, bats can't see very well... Actually they can't see at all. They use sonar to see the "shape" of their surroundings, so colors or even shades of lightness or darkness are not detectable I think... Anyway, a snake can sit very still, and then strike very fast. I'm pretty sure I've seen on Discovery channel, they will wait at areas where the bats have to go kind of close to the ground, like at the mouth of a cave that doesnt have a tall opening, and they wait there when the bats go out to hunt when it first gets dark out, and maybe again wine they return to the cave and they will wait until one gets close enough, and strike lightning fast, and thetes enough bats to where it has enough tries to get one... It's a matter of being somewhere you know your prey has to go near for its own survival, and then of course the lightning fast reflexes

reply to post by Hopechest


You've never heard of bats hanging upside down in trees?

reply to post by smyleegrl


my fav out of them all is

i.livescience.com...

just so smyleegrl does not have to see it the above is a link

it is a very nice spider indeed

reply to post by Hopechest


Yup in caves they do climb walls (it only depends on the wall) and feed on bats that fall to the ground, especially sick and infantile. Note that bats also feed on fruits so in trees they are game too...

reply to post by timetothink


In Australia dogs get often killed by spiders, if I remember correctly in the most common dog killer venom is not harmful to humans but deadly to dogs...

reply to post by smyleegrl


That sucks. I've had a few friends who had the same thing happen to them when putting on a pair of pants that they had hung in the closet. Reason why I now fold my pants and stack them on top of each other so that nothing could crawl inside them.

I read once that electricity can neutralize the poison from their bites if you can do it quickly and safely. Only way though that I can think of would be to use a taser because there is no way I would use the outlet and risk getting a few ohms to run through my system.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD

Huntsman spiders are pretty fast

I really should not have watched that video.

There it is.

For everyone who liked / disliked the last spider video i posted there are 2 followup vids..

Click if you dare

Originally posted by PurpleDog UK
reply to post by smyleegrl

 

The Bats are just flying creatures caught by large predators.....

In every country / continent.....? I think not,......... There are no bat eating spiders in the UK or Ireland but there are lots of bats.....

Relax and worry about the Solar storm, impending new financial crisis or even antibiotic resistant bacteria.....

Cheers

PDUK

It says in every 'continent' it does not say anything about in every 'country'!

You do realise that The UK is part of the continent called Europe?! So they mean in Europe.

The writer is correct.

Can you explain how a spider can make a strong enough web to trap a bat, and then how it would consume it

Thank you

Originally posted by LastStarfighter
Can you explain how a spider can make a strong enough web to trap a bat, and then how it would consume it

Thank you

Watch the videos above, they're pretty convincing.


(Shudders)

reply to post by LastStarfighter


Spider silk is stronger then steel and kevlar. In fact, scientists are trying to figure a way to use it for building purposes and as protection against firearms. It's that insanely strong. I once swung a large stick at an golden orb-weaver's web and I barely got halfway before it was stuck.

Stronger then anything

Stronger than steel

reply to post by LastStarfighter


Spider silk is stronger then steel and kevlar. In fact, scientists are trying to figure a way to use it for building purposes and as protection against firearms. It's that insanely strong. I once swung a large stick at an golden orb-weaver's web and I barely got halfway before it was stuck.

Stronger then anything

Stronger than steel

5 times stronger than steel