#bug death

[spidersdaily]

[xalatath]

Here's a video of Ve'nari eating a cricket (already thoroughly chewed)

Solifuges have crazy chelicerae. They are not venomous, and thus rely on pure force to kill their prey. Here is a gif showing their chewing mechanism.

[onenicebugperday]

Well I certainly didn’t expect to elicit so many questions when I reblogged this post and added some tags about jumping spider content online.

Firstly, let me say there’s nothing wrong with keeping jumping spiders as pets. I have one myself. She’s a captive bred regal jumping spider. She’s currently a bit over two years old. I’ve had other jumping spiders as well, but they passed of old age and in one instance, a failed molt, which is fairly common.

Before and after getting pet jumpers, I joined some jumper groups, read a lot of care guides, and watched a slew of videos about keeping them.

It became obvious pretty quickly that apparently due to their cute fuzzy appearance, large round eyes, and intelligent behavior, people (owners, admirers, and popular content creators) assign human and mammal emotions and behaviors to them, often to their detriment.

I personally believe bugs are complex creatures that can be intelligent and have emotions, but that those emotions and behaviors are NOT analogous to human or mammal behavior and ignoring their natural needs and behaviors means you’re likely not providing proper care for them.

This is mainly about handling. Bugs don’t want to be handled. They get nothing positive out of it emotionally. They don’t want to be pet or cuddle with you. They don’t want to hang out with you. You’re a big scary predator, and it likely wants to get away from you. Forcing handling can stress, injure, or kill them. That’s why I tagged the post (linked above) “your spider is not a cat.” It doesn’t seek affection from you.

I can’t tell you how many posts or videos I saw where people were super upset because they let their jumper out of its enclosure to handle it and it either escaped and got lost or they somehow crushed it and killed or injured it badly. I’ve also seen people chasing their jumper around its enclosure trying to grab it or get it to jump onto their hand when it’s clearly just trying to hide.

As an example, a very common thing I’ve seen in videos about jumpers is people saying when they lift their front legs at you and jump or climb onto you/your hands it’s because they “want uppies” and want to be pet and be close to you. This is a wild misreading of behavior. Sometimes raising the front legs is a defensive display, trying to make itself look larger to scare away a threat. Other times, they’re waving their legs around to sense and feel their environment, or preparing to jump onto something. They are arboreal, and their natural behavior is to find a high vantage point, so climbing onto the big thing (you) nearby is normal. It’s not because it seeks your affection.

Certainly if you DO handle them frequently they can get used to it, and it becomes less stressful for them. But in my opinion the dangers outweigh any positives, and I don’t handle mine. These are wild animals that have not been domesticated, even when captive bred. If you want to give them enrichment, and you should, offer them prey to chase or interesting things to explore in a larger enclosure. For those that do still handle them, I’d encourage you to watch their behavior closely and read the spidery cues they’re giving you rather than assuming they’re feeling what a cute little mammal might be feeling in the same scenario.

I could go on with specifics about certain videos, but I wasn’t planning on writing a huge post and this is already long. Also I’m sure many people would disagree with me about some things I’ve said, and I’m not going to argue about anything. This is just how I feel based on what I’ve seen of online jumping spider content, and it’s why I no longer interact with most of it.

[the-meme-monarch]

rather interesting to me originally thinking d3rlord3 had this happen to him Because the king took special interest in him. it only happened Because he’s so smart. only to find it did it to him because it supremely didn’t. it didn’t even Like that he was smart.

[shailion]

A mighty huntress! The babies shall eat well tonight.

[spiderdungeons]

i have sad news tho that i hate to bring to you on this rainy saturday... one of my beetles got ill yesterday and died unexpectedly and Im not entirely sure why. i suspect based on some clues that she might have gotten bug constipated & apparently that can take them out fast and unexpectedly. there's also a possibility that she was already at the end of her life because i have no idea how old she was. i've done quadruple checking on my research and im certain they have the right food and humidity and substrate. and the other beetles are ok btw!! they're acting totally normal and im gonna be watching SO Carefully.

Rest in peace my poor beetle girl 💔 I'm so sorry i never even got to name you :(

[lemonsweet]

Rly good video from the assassin bug Wikipedia of an assassin bug sneak attacking a caterpillar. Rly obvious now how they get their name bc when it injects it's fangs here it looks like it's snapping the caterpillar's neck LOL

[lichenaday]

Something else for spooky day: I found my first cordyceps in the forest! It is on its way to the Bavarian State Mycology Collection for safe keeping!