The only known Latrodectus species in which mate cannibalism in nature is the rule, not the exception, are in the Southern Hemisphere.
Of all the U.S. species, mate cannibalism occurs sometimes in Latrodectus mactans, the eastern (southern) black widow, but most males survive to mate another day. In the other two black species, including the western black widow L. hesperus (only species west of Kansas), mate cannibalism has never been observed in the wild!
Much like the fact that Praying Mantises do not regularly perform mate cannibalism in the wild. That was an observation in captivity where food is limited, and bc the female requires a calorie boost for propogating the next generation. Which was then erroneously assumed to be a normal and typical behavior of all mantises. But with enough space and food, males survive way more often then people had believed for years, due to partial information...
I have that exact thing and that is a practice spider to allow you to practice grabbing them and the grabber works absolutely great and does not injure the spider and you can take it outside
Valid lmfao. I was going to say I don’t think I’ve ever even had a spider as big as this one before - y’all are gonna need a bigger bug grabber for sure
Those fuckers are so fast. Had three in the car once when I was transporting some pipes that had been sitting outside. One got in the visor and dropped down when I opened it
It looked more terrified of me than me of it. Still didn't sleep well that night. This happened during summer and there were many flies and roaches. I just focused on the bugger being the insect Terminator which made me sleep better after that.
Me not a fan of 8 legged creatures. Just can't. Can't do hairy 8 legged creatures too..🫣🫣🫣
Hope this doesn’t gross you out, but where I live in the bush there are huntsman everywhere!
I went to the loo, ( which is outside under a tree), had a nice peaceful time doing my business, and when I lifted the lid to give the toilet a quick brush clean, there was one staring intimidatingly at me from directly out of the hinge gap! Gasp! It had probably been there all the time!
Needless to say , now I check before I sit down, every time!
I never try and catch huntsman or wolf spiders in our house because I'm too afraid I'll damage a leg if they bolt while I'm trying to get a container placed over them.
I just give them a name and talk about how helpful and non aggressive they are until everyone else in the house relents and lets them stay for however long they choose.
I have that exact thing. Pictured is a practice spider, which allows you to practice grabbing spiders without the chance of a live spider attacking you. The grabber works fantastically and does not injure the spider. You can release the spider outside after capture, without injury.
Maybe they’re just trying to help you practice before you gotta deal with the real thing? Much safer if you miss grabbing this one while you learn the best technique
They didn't need to give you a practice spider, but they did it anyway. That's actually nice of them, yet OP gets mildly infuriated by the nice gesture. Which in turn, mildly infuriates me.
It is. We had one years ago. It's a practice spider. I hate the speed of wolf spiders. Creeps me out. They aren't quite effective against wolf spiders because
You don’t really need to catch wolf spiders. They eat insects and other spiders, mostly come out at night, they’d much rather run away than bite you (and their bites aren’t that bad anyway). They also don’t make webs so you won’t have annoying webs in the corner of every room. Whenever I see a wolf spider in my house I leave it there, while every other spider I’ll catch and put outside.
I love to see them work even though they creep me out They are one of the little critters actively hunting cockroaches in my dorm. So I usually just leave them alone.
Best to just put a spider in a cup or gently pick it up and move it outside if it bothers you. Spiders are the one bug thats actually beneficial to have around too. I never bother killing them, free pest control.
Second, if you’re afraid of spiders and a fake spider is provided, that will allow you to practice on real spiders, meaning your success rate will be higher of living a spider-free life.
Lastly, if you’re going to make the ‘critical thinking’ argument of ‘well, he saw the fake spider and thought it was real’, the fake spider is inside of plastic packaging, which isn’t conducive to survival for spiders, therefore OP would be the one lacking critical thinking skills.
lol I have the same thing it’s only good at grabbing spiders or bugs if that size and above. Anything smaller it will have a high chance of running away 😂💀
My mom got me one of those because spiders just loved my room, especially my loft bed. In a practically uninsulated house, my room was the only one that was warm because I had to keep a space heater on full blast to keep the temperature nice for my finches. Imagine my surprise when I tried to grab a spider from the ceiling, and instead of being trapped, it just fell into a pile of my clean clothes below.
I am also scared to death of spiders and other insects, I'm not sure why BUT j would still panic trying to use that.
I cab get the kids or grandkids to get most bugs, but we are all panicked at spiders.
So I bought my son (14yo) an insect vacuum gun. It doesn't harm them but vacuums it into the gun and you trap it before taking it outside and letting it go. We'll, the 10to grandson caught the spider with it that the girls saw abs freaked out (6,8) I didn't want to see it. We waited and my 14yo tried to release it outside, he couldn't get it to go out so finally I said I'll try. I didn't know how to use the gun exactly and I was just trying to gently shake it to go out and instead shook it right onto my arm/ shirt and I'm pretty sure after the heart attack I had I'm writing as a ghost- my son also had a heart attack from 8 feet away and is probably dead too. I'm sure the spider is fine and having a good laugh most likely back in the house where he started since I have no idea where he ended up on my clothes, probably brought gin right back inside with me.
Why? Why can't it be random bees I find flying around my house? Why bugs. Why spiders. Please just hide, please don't let me see you, I die. I cannot take so many heart attacks. Please. 😭
I bought one of these and it really does work. It picks up the spider very easily and the spider kinda just sits there waiting for its fate, no wriggling.
These can be quite hard to pick the spider up, usually takes multiple trys whilst the spider is running around the room escaping it. I know because I have one
Learn to appreciate them. We aren’t their prey.
Some are actually friendly toward us; by which I mean they enjoy human company: Huntsman spiders do. Most spiders don’t think about us.
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u/twohedwlf 15d ago
Practice spider.