Widow eating a snake

[Philth]

My friend sent me this link. Pretty cool pics, enjoy.click here (http://poststuff.entensity.net/040704/image.php?pic=spider.jpg)

[Silver.x]

Wow, nature truly can be amazing sometimes eh?

Aidan

[Elizabeth]

Neat, but I think I see damage to the snake in the second pic. Maybe it was either injured or near dead before it got tossed in the web. I know the widow silk is strong, but I don't think it could contain a healthy snake from escaping, not one that size. Also, there's not too many reasons for a healthy snake to be passing through that high in some widow's web...Still, thanks for sharing. Worth the look. :)

[Kugellager]

I'm not so sure of that...I have lifted up an entire glass mayonaise jar with that spider silk...when there are several strands together as in the photo it becomes very strong.

John
];')

[Philth]

With a closer look, I agree Elizabeth. Still interesting pics :)

[Spiderbilly]

Hi,
great pictures. I´ve heard that the venom of tarantulas is very bad for reptiles. Maybe the venom of the widow is also so strong for reptile.

[Malkavian]

Snake looks as if it's been stomped (or possibly run over) judginb by the damage and discolored spots. Betting it was dead before it got put in the web.

ID on the snake?

[Evan]

Its a garter snake not sure of the exact species.

[dangerprone69]

There's a known correlation between the toxicity of a spider's venom and the strength of it's silk. Black Widows have powerful venom and therefore have strong silk. Tarantulas and other more primitive spiders have weak venom and have similarly weak silk. A more potent venom means that the animal can kill larger prey more quickly and therefore needs stronger silk to subdue it's victim.

[El Johano]

There's a known correlation between the toxicity of a spider's venom and the strength of it's silk. Black Widows have powerful venom and therefore have strong silk. Tarantulas and other more primitive spiders have weak venom and have similarly weak silk. A more potent venom means that the animal can kill larger prey more quickly and therefore needs stronger silk to subdue it's victim.

Really?
Then how come Nephila sp. don't have a strong venom? They have the strongest silk of all spiders. Very venomous spiders such as funnelwebs and Phoneutria sp. don't have a strong silk...
The strength of the silk simply reflects the ecology of the spiders. If you have ever witnessed a widow when it catches it's prey, you would know that the spiders first spins silk around the prey, making sure it does not escape before it bites. The venom does not need to be very effective since the prey is allready entagled.

[dangerprone69]

I had read that a few years ago. Maybe my source was wrong, but it made sense at the time to me. It could be some sort of general rule among spiders, with a few variations here and there. There's probably many more factors that go into the toxicity of a spider's venom than just the strength of it's silk!

[bagheera]

There's a known correlation between the toxicity of a spider's venom and the strength of it's silk. Black Widows have powerful venom and therefore have strong silk. Tarantulas and other more primitive spiders have weak venom and have similarly weak silk. A more potent venom means that the animal can kill larger prey more quickly and therefore needs stronger silk to subdue it's victim.

That's an interesting datum.. Can you point to some articles? I am now wondering about some Balinese Orb Weavers I have seen. The spiders were over 6" long, the webs were 5' to 8' across and the silk was very strong!

[Elizabeth]

I think Argiopes are also known to have very strong silk, yet these large garden spiders do not possess unusually strong venom.

I would gladly look at any links to more info on the matter.

[Randolph XX()]

http://www.tvbs.com.tw/NEWS/NEWS_LIST.asp?no=alisa20040325175558
again, translating tool needed, well, bird-eater? A Nephila pilipes cathed a Pycnonotus sinensis in her web
we call the Nephila pilipes, or N.maculata "man-face spider", cuz the carpace looks like it, very common in Taiwan.The web can be as big as 3~5m, but once again, i've never seen one catch any bird personally, the biggest prey on the web i've seen is a a 10" wing span Attacus atlas formosanus