Why do tarantulas spin in circles right after they catch their prey?

scarhbar · Jan 28, 2015

All tarantulas I've owned seem to always spin in a circle right after they catch their prey. I can see their spinnerets working and touching the ground, but I never see any webs afterwards?

Hobo · Jan 28, 2015

It's webbing up it's prey, in what I assume to be a means to keep the food together while it eats. It also results in a sort of web mat where it eats.
It's difficulty to see, but the web is there.

Poec54 · Jan 28, 2015

It's holds the prey together as they tear it apart to eat, and initially it also tangles up prey that revives and tries to escape. Very ingenious.

Tfisher · Jan 28, 2015

scarhbar said:
All tarantulas I've owned seem to always spin in a circle right after they catch their prey. I can see their spinnerets working and touching the ground, but I never see any webs afterwards?

The way I see it is, I don't enjoy eating off the ground.

lol they don't like it either.

Poec54 · Jan 28, 2015

Tfisher said:
The way I see it is, I don't enjoy eating off the ground. lol they don't like it either.

When you eat off the ground, you get dirt, which is not the best thing to add flavor-wise. And with spiders taking several hours to eat, food on the ground draws ants.

14pokies · Jan 28, 2015

Stan Shultz refers to this as the feeding waltz!

+1 to all that have posted so far...

When the digestive enzymes start to work on a cricket if there were no web holding it together it would just be a soupy mess..

viper69 · Jan 31, 2015

I also think they do it to re-lay any trip wires that were broken during the attack

IHeartTs · Jan 31, 2015

they're setting the table! I think they just don't wanna eat off the ground. They stand on their tip toes. I can only guess it's so they don't shovel dirt and whatever else is on the ground into their mouths when they readjust the prey.

Poec54 · Jan 31, 2015

viper69 said:
I also think they do it to re-lay any trip wires that were broken during the attack

What the spider lays while eating is probably going to get fairly torn up by the time it's thru. It may be a small benefit, but the primary reasons have already been said. It needs to be able to finish that meal as efficiently as possible, and keep other crawling animals from sharing in it.

viper69 · Jan 31, 2015

Poec54 said:
What the spider lays while eating is probably going to get fairly torn up by the time it's thru. It may be a small benefit, but the primary reasons have already been said. It needs to be able to finish that meal as efficiently as possible, and keep other crawling animals from sharing in it.

No one factually knows what the "primary" reasons are. It's all speculation based on reasonable assumptions, nothing more to my knowledge.

Poec54 · Jan 31, 2015

viper69 said:
No one factually knows what the "primary" reasons are. It's all speculation based on reasonable assumptions, nothing more to my knowledge.

The 'fact' is silk holds their prey together as they tear it up during eating. It also keeps it off the ground, which helps keeps ants away. Big benefits that would outweigh anything else. There may be other side benefits too.

You and I will have died of old age before most things about tarantulas are ever 'proven'. We can make logical assumptions on why they do some of the things they do, but we'll never know all of them. It will probably be hobbyists figuring things out as they go, not anything scientific. Lots of species and not many controlled experiments, nor the funding for them.

viper69 · Jan 31, 2015

Poec54 said:
The 'fact' is silk holds their prey together as they tear it up during eating. It also keeps it off the ground, which helps keeps ants away. Big benefits that would outweigh anything else. There may be other side benefits too.

You and I will have died of old age before most things about tarantulas are ever 'proven'. We can make logical assumptions on why they do some of the things they do, but we'll never know all of them. It will probably be hobbyists figuring things out as they go, not anything scientific. Lots of species and not many controlled experiments, nor the funding for them.

I personally don't think keeping bugs away is a primary factor when I see them eating raised up on toes holding their dinner.

Poec54 · Jan 31, 2015

viper69 said:
I personally don't think keeping bugs away is a primary factor when I see them eating raised up on toes holding their dinner.

It is in the tropics. Their are some very aggressive ants in the world. We have South American fire ants all over Florida. Ants of all species send out scouts and when they find anything edible, they'll soon be a swarm. You should see what a bowl of dry cat food looks like once fire ants find it. NOTHING will dare eat out of that bowl. They'd kill a tarantula if they found it with a wad of food on the ground.

Northern ants are wimps. Don't judge the ant family by what you live with. I've had carpenter ants get in a large cage of adult crickets, and eat hundreds of them. Totally wiped them out, ants that are about 1/4". In the tropics, small animals fear ants, and for good reason.

viper69 · Jan 31, 2015

Poec54 said:
It is in the tropics. Their are some very aggressive ants in the world. We have South American fire ants all over Florida. Ants of all species send out scouts and when they find anything edible, they'll soon be a swarm. You should see what a bowl of dry cat food looks like once fire ants find it. NOTHING will dare eat out of that bowl. They'd kill a tarantula if they found it with a wad of food on the ground.

Northern ants are wimps. Don't judge the ant family by what you live with. I've had carpenter ants get in a large cage of adult crickets, and eat hundreds of them. Totally wiped them out, ants that are about 1/4". In the tropics, small animals fear ants, and for good reason.

You do not know what I live with nor do you know what I have lived with, don't assume. I'm familiar with Fire Ants, because I have lived with them. I'm also familiar with other species of ants. I've had carpenter ants as well.

Like I said, I don't believe part of the spinning is about keeping ants away at all because they eat the food raised off the ground floor. I could be wrong, the truth is, no one is knows.

Oh btw, there's a "new" invasive ant species in Texas which easily out competes and kills off fire ants like they are dust!

cold blood · Jan 31, 2015

I think a swarm of ants is a situation a t needs to use his legs and get away and find a safer place to eat. Ants are indeed aggressive, and in a swarm would have little issue climbing right up onto a t:wink:

I've seen a few videos of healthy t's and scorps get taken down and disassembled by armies of ants.

I do think that there are probably lots of other small insects that would make it advantageous to keep it off the ground.

I always figured that as they were turning the cricket/roach into a little ball, that it was just easier to rotate the prey above the ground. Like, if I wanted to work on a rubics cube, I would have a much tougher time moving it around if it were on the ground, elevating it makes it easier to rotate. Just a thought anyway.

Ellenantula · Jan 31, 2015

Agree with all the practical scientific explanations, but still, I like to think my Rosie is doing a little Snoopy dance with her prey -- she just looks so happy and her little spinnerets just going to town.

Poec54 · Jan 31, 2015

viper69 said:
You do not know what I live with nor do you know what I have lived with, don't assume. I'm familiar with Fire Ants, because I have lived with them. I'm also familiar with other species of ants. I've had carpenter ants as well.

Like I said, I don't believe part of the spinning is about keeping ants away at all because they eat the food raised off the ground floor. I could be wrong, the truth is, no one is knows.

Oh btw, there's a "new" invasive ant species in Texas which easily out competes and kills off fire ants like they are dust!

Having a bad day, are we?

Have you had carpenter ants wipe out a cage of adult crickets? The invasive new ant in Texas only further proves my point.

cold blood · Jan 31, 2015

Ellenantula said:
I like to think my Rosie is doing a little Snoopy dance with her prey -- she just looks so happy and her little spinnerets just going to town.

There is a certain degree of enthusiasm that they lay that webbing with....I think this enthusiastic webbing is what leads to the term "happy dance"

So do you play that crazy "peanuts" music every time you feed??:laugh:

Poec54 · Jan 31, 2015

Ellenantula said:
I like to think my Rosie is doing a little Snoopy dance with her prey -- she just looks so happy and her little spinnerets just going to town.

I'm sure you'd be just as happy with a mouthful of crickets yourself.

viper69 · Jan 31, 2015

Poec54 said:
Having a bad day, are we?

The invasive new ant in Texas only further proves my point.

My day is great. You're the one having a bad day with your assumptions.

The invasive ant species doesn't prove your point to me. We have a difference of opinion, case closed.

Why do tarantulas spin in circles right after they catch their prey?

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