Fun Facts About Critter Capture Critters!

Arguably the scariest for our crittery friends, the spider is a formidable hunter and actually provides a lot of support to the environment and your home. Having a few spiders helps to keep the more pesky and annoying bugs at bay. Though with a common phobia and some deadly venom, it’s best to keep your 8 legged roommates at a distance.

• Some Male spiders want to be eaten
  • Black Widows are known for cannibalising their mates, but this isn’t a guaranteed occurrence, however the red widow species in as exception where the male will force feed himself to the female by placing himself between her mandibles and will continuously go back till she eats him, if she keeps attempting to spit him out.
• Some Jumping spiders specifically can see into spectrums that us humans cannot, with a few having proven to be able to see both UVA and UVB light!
• Some new-world tarantulas can fling tiny irritating hairs to deter potential predators, similar to a porcupine using its quills as a defense
• Most spiders are solitary creatures, some form communities, ranging into the thousands of members. They often work together to build large communal cobwebs, catch prey and then share their harvest.
• Some spiders such as the ogre-faced spider will weave a net betweens its front legs and then waits till its prey passes underneath and then it scoops them up like they’re using a fishing net. In similar fashion Bolas spiders create a lasso with a long line of silk with a spot of sticky glue at the end, where they fling it at nearby moths to catch them
• Some spiders mimic ants (looks and pheromones) to help hide from predators, however some do it to help them prey on ants
• The biggest spider by mass is the Goliath Birdeater, a type of tarantula that can be found in South America and is quite lovingly compared to the size of a small puppy. These spiders are ambush predators where it primarily eats worms, beetles, mice (and other rodents), snakes, frogs and lizards. It can and has been seen eating birds, however it lives in a burrow on the ground and therefore doesn’t run into many birds.
  • It isn’t venomous, but does provide a painful bite and has urticating hairs that make it difficult to handle. Furthermore, it also isn’t poisonous and is considered a delicacy in some Southern American cuisines, the taste is often compared to shrimp. Hmm!
• The Giant Huntsman, while not the biggest, has the longest legs and often appears bigger than the Goliath Birdeater. Currently it is only known to reside in a cave in Laos, but many other large Huntsmans can be found globally in any warm and temperate regions.
  • They are known for the male’s loud ticking sound.. Lovely!
  • They can deliver a venomous bite that may require hospitalisation
• All potential options for the smallest spider are from the Symphytognathidae family.
  • Patu digua – Found in Colombia, males had a length of 0.37mm
  • Patu Marplesi – Somoan Moss Spider, found in Samoa, as small as 0.4mm
  • Anapistula Ataecina – Frade Cave Spider, only females have been found, males tend to be smaller, found in a cave in Portugal, body length of 0.43mm
  • Anapistula Caecula – Dwarf Orb Weaver, only females have been found, males tend to be smaller, found on the Ivory Coast, size of 0.48mm
• Sometimes these leggy guys make friends with frogs!
  • Frog: Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata or the Dotted Humming Frog
  • Has befriended the burrowing Tarantula Colombian lesser black tarantula
  • This is a special relationship with the frog living in the burrow alongside the Tarantula, the frogs have a clear benefit from this relationship where the Tarantula provides the frog protection from its predators, a stable food source due to eating the spider’s leftovers and shelter to protect from climate variations. On the other hand, the frog’s foraging is believed to help protect the spider’s eggs from ants – this is still a hypothesis. Research is continuing into their relationship and many other similar ones that can be found within other frogs and Tarantulas of the same family/genus.
  • This relationship is clearly special, due to the Tarantulas catching and eating similar frogs, but avoiding the Dotted Humming Frog specifically.