10 out of 10 for effort

[Clinton Hogben]

Out in the garden yesterday hot weather and flying ant season etc when I noticed this little British spider doing his / her stuff (species unknown) about 3mm leg span with bright coloured stripes to abdomen



Piccy of 3mm spider sitting on 15mm ants head


You just have to give this little spider 10 /10 for effort I watched it pounce on a flying ant of about 15mm long that had flown into its web spidy was all over it like a rash and within a couple of minutes the ant was subdued

The ant must be at least 20-30 times the weight of the spider so the spiders venom must be seriously potent in relation to its size.
If your average "T" was this aggressive and venomous every cat and dog would have to make a run for it

Oh well back to the sunshine work can wait

[Dee Pluck]

thats amazing really with the size difference
and ants can be so aggressive too.
defo 10 out of 10.

[James Box]

Great success!

[Nicola Dolby]

Good on the little critter! Had a couple of flying ants here too but when they get inside I just chuck 'em straight out again. Perhaps I should leave them for the house spiders! Saw a lovely little jumping spider yesterday on the window sill. Black and white striped with a brown abdomen. Kept tapping its little white pedipalps together like it was applauding something. Cute little spid.
Just a quick thing Clint, if you have a cat or a dog keep them away from your tarantulas. Tarantula venom is lethal to cats and dogs! All the best.

[Clinton Hogben]

Good on the little critter! Had a couple of flying ants here too but when they get inside I just chuck 'em straight out again. Perhaps I should leave them for the house spiders! Saw a lovely little jumping spider yesterday on the window sill. Black and white striped with a brown abdomen. Kept tapping its little white pedipalps together like it was applauding something. Cute little spid.
Just a quick thing Clint, if you have a cat or a dog keep them away from your tarantulas. Tarantula venom is lethal to cats and dogs! All the best.

Hi Nicola
Only have two cats and the "T" stays in her viv well away from the persian
I was thinking of putting a couple of the tiny "zebra" jumping spiders in my "T" enclosure to control micro crickets / mites etc wonder if the L para would mind?

[Nicola Dolby]

Hi Clint,
I don't know about the mites but if you find out could you please tell me. I put woodlice in my tanks to get rid of any mould and the blooming things have had babies!

[James Box]

the more woodlice the better!
interesting idea of a small predator to deal with micro's...do let us know how it goes!

[matthew spooner]

I was thinking of putting a couple of the tiny "zebra" jumping spiders in my "T" enclosure to control micro crickets / mites etc wonder if the L para would mind?

the only thing i would say on that one is that if the spider was to bite the T, the poison carried by the spider could prove lethal to the T. worth bearing in mind as i used to occasionally feed house spiders to some fo my Ts but noticed one trying to bite the T so stopped

[Craig Mackay]

I saw three ants ganging up on a tiny spider yesterday in my garden. They made pretty quick work of it unfortunately. It was quite impressive to watch the communication between the ants though. The first investigated the spider then appeared to tell the other two about it before launching a joint attack. Nasty little buggers

[michaelmckinney]

Well Craig,

At least one of the nasty buggers got his comeupance Arachnid Style!!!! LOL.

Spider says to ant, "Hey how's my chelicerae feel in your head, BIATCH!!!!" LOL!!

Michael..

[James Box]

lol

Matthew reminded me of a thread someone posted here a while back (sorry can't remember who) about the worst possible outcome of feeding small house spiders to T's...the T was bitten and died. i think it was a juvenile, but still...that's a pretty nasty reaction.
jumping spiders may not be that prone to attack, certainly in all my life i've never knowingly been bitten by one, but maybe it's not worth the risk.

[Clinton Hogben]

thanks for your thoughts peeps
Like Nicola I chucked in a handful of woodlice a couple of months back to control any mould/fungus and they have multiplied big time and the idea of a couple of small Salticus scenicus zebra jumping spiders to control them seemed like a good idea
My thoughts were that something that small (5 - 7 mm) should not bother a 9 inch L para I would have my reservations about mixing them with other species or putting them in with slings / juvies as the threat factor increases, but I just cant imagine something that small being a threat to a very large "T" I doubt the fangs on the little Zebra could get through the L para exoskeleton unless it bit her on the bum. The viv that the L para lives in is 30 inches long by 15 wide so plenty of room for avoiding each other
I may try putting one into another container inside the viv and see if the zebra shows any sign of aggression towards the L para or avoids her before I go for the release
If all goes well I will post a progress report

all the best for now

[James Box]

to be honest, woodlice don't need controlling...they'll live or die by the amount of food and water they have...
the more the better!
plus i'm not sure S scenicus could really hurt them...Dysdera crocata could, but no way would i ever suggest keeping one of them with a T!

[Clinton Hogben]

to be honest, woodlice don't need controlling...they'll live or die by the amount of food and water they have...
the more the better!
plus i'm not sure S scenicus could really hurt them...Dysdera crocata could, but no way would i ever suggest keeping one of them with a T!

Hi James
I agree Dysdera crocata is a bit more of a beast with those huge jaws. It was the exploding population of baby woodlice I wanted to control
(1-2 mm) not wipe out the entire adult colony (te he)
I know they are a good thing but you can have toooo much of a good thing sometimes
the S scenicus would also help when I get the odd population explosion of micro crickets in the tank, this has hapend a couple of times and they are buggers to get rid of especially if your "T" is coming up for a moult.
I suppose what I'm after is a self contained eco environment with the lower levels of the food chain posing no threat to the large hairy spider at the top of the tree so to speak.
Does anyone here keep British spiders I know we don't have any big beggars but they do seem interesting in a micro scale sort of way plus they don't cost anything and I recall reading we have about 600+ species including some mildly nasty ones that have colonized the south like the Segestria florentina.or the tube web / funnel web as its known ( not the very nasty aussie funnel web ) before everyone dashes out looking for them but they can give a painful bite even if not on par with some of our beloved "T"'s

[James Box]

native spiders are class!
sadly all mine have died except the two Steatoda nobilis, but they're longer lived from what i've heard.
i had a Segestria senoculata for a while, but getting it to eat was a problem, same with the Drassodes.
Amaurobius ferox i had as well, and that one ate and did fine. not actually sure what killed it in the end!
had a Salticidae scenicus, but it also wouldn't eat.
caught a Scytodes sp in my house, but it escaped lol

of course, i also managed to grab an entire ecosystem on a big piece of bark i picked up, containing woodlice, earwigs, and at least two spider species (one i think Drassodes, the other some sort of web builder, seems like tangle webs to me...good eaters!!)

Wesley Flower who posts on here is a big native true spider fan, he knows loads about them...will draw his attention to this thread.

a mini ecosystem would be great in a T tank, if it could be managed.
just i guess be aware some of our native spiders, even small ones, are VERY brave...and their fangs may just pierce the T in some strategic area, and that could very well be the death of it.