My lycosid ate its leg

[Cyanea]

I recently kidnapped a lycosid and brought it home (with all its legs). Today when i came back from school i saw it was missing one and a moment later i saw her eating it (although i'd already given her small crickets).
Now, what i'd like to know (if anyone knows) is if she autotomized the leg just because she was hungry or it got caught somewhere (or something), she autotomized it and then not to waste it she ate it :confused:

[cacoseraph]

i don't think anyone can answer your question for certain.. but i would be quite surprised if an organism would voluntarily consume itself in the presence of other food options.

now... if the spider had an injured leg i could easily see it autotomize and autophagize :D

[Cyanea]

oh, that's interesting, spiders will autotomize legs if they're injured?? i didn't know that, thanks!

btw, the spider died soon after all this happened :(

[Cirith Ungol]

That sounds odd (and sorry to hear). Why did it die, any clues?

[Cyanea]

i have no idea, she seemed fine, even after the leg incident, she even ate again (another cricket), she had water and everything, but soon after she died, i think she died about a week after i got her, i also think it was weird

[Cocoa-Jin]

maybe she was nervous, my wife chews her nails....;P

thank you, :worship:
ill be in chicago all next week at the chuckle hut:)

[Mack&Cass]

The most likely reason it ate its leg was some kind of damage to it. It may have been an infection or parasite that the spider was trying to remove, leading to the amputation, which would also explain the animal's death about one week later. You didn't say how big it was. Keep in mind that lycosid spiders typically have very short lifespans, sometimes only one year, it could have been old age that killed it.

[Cyanea]

you're right, she was an adult female, so that could've been it!

[beetleman]

i had a subadult king baboon do that, it took it's rear back leg off and was eating it:? :wall: it was fine other than that,it molted down the road and regenerated it's leg,and from there on it was fine,it's still boggles me why it happened.

[tin man]

this is a little of topic, but whats a lycosid?

[spydrhunter1]

this is a little of topic, but whats a lycosid?

wolf spider: family Lycosidae