Go sling! Go!

I was very proud of my girl last night.

I was out of micro crickets and only have bean weevils for her, and I was certain she needed feeding. I decided to try another weevil despite the aborted attempt last time out.

I took the entire spiderling pot out of the terrarium and removed the lid, this way I could drop the weevil right next to her rather than down the feeding vial.

It worked a treat!

The second the weevil landed on the substrate, about an inch away from the spiderling she shot on to it and grabbed it with her jaws. The weevil was fighting back and scrabbling it legs about. The spiderling readjusted her position and tried to hitch her legs up, resting some of them on the sling pot walls to keep them out of the way, all the time attacking the potential prey.

I really didn't think such a battle would ensue and I was poised to intervene should the spiderling look in trouble. I need not have worried, in an example of ringmanship that any fighter would have been proud of the tiny tarantula held on to her prey and used the edges of the pot to her advantage and to keep her limbs out of the action. She was also elevating her position to stop the kicking weevil from using the ground to get purchase.

She then showed what an intelligent hunter she is. She carried the scrapping bean weevil over to her burrow hole and suspended her body and the prey over the drop into the hole. This meant that she could keep herself safe and give no advantage to the weevil until she was victorious.

Eventually she was, and she took her prey onto the flat surface of the substrate to slowly consume it, which she did over the course of an hour.

She has a fat little tummy now, sorry - I meant a full abdomen! I doubt she will want to feed again for a couple of days so I'll leave her be.

I've ordered some more micro crickets to keep her diet varied, but its good to know she can take a weevil. Someone on the Arachnophiles forum suggested that her reaction to the previous weevil might have been because it fought back at her, it looks like she has learnt from this and over come it. Good girl! :)