Can crickets hurt spiders normally?

[Matt Brett]

Put in three crickets today as our B.Smithi was getting agitated recently (which usually means he's hungry. ).

Anyway, he was sleeping in his burrow and got disturbed, he reared up and all but I noticed the female cricket pointing it's abdomen and barb straight upwards.

I read up on the web about crickets and similar creatures and have discovered that some species that have these barbs use them for making holds in things or cutting leaves. So I was wondering, are these crickets any real threat to my B.Smithi or is it just something that will annoy him and make him bite them a lot?

Oh and the crickets aren't anywhere near his size. One adult cricket might be about half the size of his abdomen.

Actually while I'm posting, I'll ask about digging. I noticed our B.Smithi digging the other week. He spent a lot of time gathering substrate from one part of the tank, and moving it to another. One time there was a sort of short wall that encircled the entrance to his hide about 2 inches out. Then he knocked that all flat and started building a small wall up on one side of his burrow. Then he used that to sit across the opening of his hide (legs on substrate mound one side, and hide top on the other). But he's knocked that down too.
Any idea what he was going to build? He seemed to be working on various structures for days before knocking them all flat.
Doesn't seem to be moultng as he hasnt shown any other sign or incilnation.

[Colin D Wilson]

I think your spiders just keeping himself occupied like it would in the wild, how deep is your substrate, maybe it wants to dig down a bit.

As far as the crickets, the time when they can be a problem is when the spiders moulting as they can ( and do) chew on the soft exoskeleton which as you can imagine can cause severe (if not fatal) damage to an unprotected spider.
Best to take them out if they're not eaten over night.....just in case.

The long spike between the two cerci (sensing organs) on a female cricket is the ovipositor that she uses to lay eggs in the ground, plant stem or in rotting bark.
If she raised this i would assume that she was intentionally raising her cerci to get a better idea of her surroundings.

[Matt Brett]

Substrate is quite deep I suppose. At least 4 inches. He did dig down a bit near his hide. Took off about 2 inches worth and has left the rest. Maybe he likes it that way around his hide

The female cricket was raising the ovipositor in response to my spider attacking or being threatening.
He had reared up and was right above the cricket, so she turned around and pointed her ovipositor straight at his mouth so it was practically touching. Then she made a getaway.

[Colin D Wilson]

substrates ok then, maybe he does like it that way then eh?

Never experienced a cricket do that, sounds quite funny really, a little cricket being agressive to a big spider, that would have been one for youtube eh?
" one more step an i'll spike ya" heh heh

[Peter Lacey]

3 out of 4 of my Ts have done quite extensive burrowing (within the confines of their small enclosures). I'm not a plant pot kind of guy so I tend to start off a burrow under a piece of cork and the opportunist burrowers continue it. I've found it immensely enjoyable to watch as they grab mounds of substrate between their pedipalps and haul it onto the outside substrate. They then tend to flatten it all down or park it up against the side of the enclosure.
I remember reading of a species that created a burrow that rose above the surface which helps to stop flooding but I can't remember which species, certainly not a smithi.
The crickets I purchase have 2 spikes protruding from their bodies creating a V shape. Prior to Christmas I noticed a cricket trying to defend itself against my 4th instar rosea by raising its rear and making a short stabbing motion. It seemed to save its life as the rosea followed it around the enclosure but resisted attacking it. Nearly 2 weeks ago I observed the same thing in my klugi's enclosure when I attempted to move a cricket with an artists brush
so I persued this a little more. The cricket went into the same posture, raising its rear and stabbing away at the brush. I guess this is a means of defence which worked against the rosea but wouldn't have made any difference to my 8" klugi and her 1" fangs

[Matt Brett]

Well, a little update for you. We've witnessed something amazing (or we think so)

After I wrote that, he caught one cricket, ate it, then bundled up the remains and carried them over to his water dish to shove them between the tank wall and the side of the dish.

Then he caught the other cricket, but this one was a bit big, and he couldn't carry it vertically hanging from his mouth as it was. Much amusement followed as my girlfriend and I watched him struggling with all his might to lift this second cricket to where he likes to feed. It didnt work though so he dragged it to his burrow and ate it there.
He bundled up that corpse too and dumped it next to the other one.

He went back to his burrow for a bit but then turned around. It was as if he knew there was one cricket left (and this cricket wasnt moving so I dont know how he found it). Anyway, he started tapping the substrate around him with all of his front four legs in a circling pattern and headed straight over to the last cricket. This is the one that tried to barb him earlier.
He went for it really fast but it tried to barb him again so he reared up as it made its second getaway.

However, in finding this last cricket, he also found the strip of greens I'd left for the crickets to eat (healthy crickets makes for healthy spider food). He chewed it for a moment, and then proceeded to haul it all to his little trash pile of cricket remains, carefully placed it down and then shoved it between the dish and wall just like before.

Then he started to drag up substrate and push it up against one corner of the tank. He can do this as he has webbed pretty much the whole floor so it can all get dragged around pretty easily.

As I'm writing this, he's looking for the last cricket, or at least seems to be. He's not far from it at the moment. I'm hoping he doesnt get barbed again, but mostly I'm wishing I had this whole thing on film. It was very funny. Especially watching him decide he didnt want the strip of cabbage near his burrow and dragging it away to his trash pile

*Edit: Actually no he isnt looking anymore. He's cleaning instead

[Simon Norfolk]

That sounds absolutely fascinating. I would wager that the reason your spider was tapping the ground and seemed to know where the cricket was would be due to webs just under the surface of the ground which T's use to detect nearby pressure and movement. I think...