# Spider. Food or Friend? YOU decide!



## Digger (Apr 26, 2013)

Found a common field spider in my bathroom this evening. That simply is not allowed. So I coaxed her/him with a Popsicle stick (which she bit) into a small feeder container.

He's/She's about 1cm in body length and very dark brown with no marking that I could see. Her face is flat in front covered with large chelicerae, typical of field, wolf and some tunnel web species.

Should I put her in Scott's cage (Scott is a newly-captured Scutigera coleoptrata) and see who devours whom? Should I give her to one of the mantids (I'm always very reluctant to give any venomous feeder to my pets). Or throw the spider outside??

Her fate is in YOUR hands!


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## Malakyoma (Apr 26, 2013)

I'd leave it with Scott. Dont want to risk it with mantids. I keep a cellar spider I found inside, and I have fed other spiders before, but there is that risk. I made sure the spider was a lot smaller than the mantis, but then its not a great meal either.


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## Digger (Apr 26, 2013)

Yes. Agreed Mike. Spider identified as a female _Tegenaria domestica*. *_It's silly to fool around with these monsters with mantids. However, Scott is built for spider offense. Just looked at a couple of vids and see how the centipede uses its long legs to block any lunges by the spider. Getting the spider into Scott's cage may be dicey. If this beast got loose, or hopped on me, I'd squeal and run around like a 5 year old girl. Funny though, Scott scurried up my arm and I had no problem with that at all.


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## Rick (Apr 26, 2013)

Mantis food around here if found in the house.


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## aNisip (Apr 26, 2013)

When u feed it to scott....please take pictures of the insuing fight! ^-^ I have never seen it before...


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## Paradoxica (Apr 26, 2013)

Any spider that dares enter into my house gets fed to my most vicious mantis.

I feel like this is one of those "Choose your own adventure" Books. (To feed, turn to page 28. To free, turn to page 36)


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## Digger (Apr 27, 2013)

Andrew -

I found the big ol spider dead and sucked dry this morning. Scott (rethinking this I should have named him "Scoot") was on the side of his condo belching rudely and licking his fangs. This certainly was a demonstration of how wonderfully effective these house centipedes must be making a house less accommodating to other creepy crawlies.


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## Krissim Klaw (Apr 28, 2013)

I like spiders so I either leave them in the house for their free pest services or release them outside.


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## Sticky (Apr 28, 2013)

Krissim Klaw said:


> I like spiders so I either leave them in the house for their free pest services or release them outside.


I do too. They are good friends. I had one in my bed once. It wanted to cuddle I guess. I put it outside!


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## hierodula (Apr 29, 2013)

Id have kept it. Though in your defense,, if you asked me 2 years ago i would have picked the same thing as you.


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## TheOtherSpecies (Apr 29, 2013)

Thought I would share this since it fits this discussion!


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## Digger (Apr 29, 2013)

It's perhaps a little ironic that several people on the forum reacted to a Scutigera coleoptrata with "yuk!"; "too creepy!: etc. I used to have a problem with these guys, but that's gone. Keeping mantids has acclimated me tremendously to all kinds of arthropods. Larger arachnids (body 1cm +) - to which I've always been severely phobic - remain verboten. However, since being "mantidsized" I now take more spiders outside and release them, rather than execute them inside. Am usually fine with jumping spiders. They're smart and cool-looking (and small). Even successfull fed one guy fruit flies a month ago.


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## sally (Apr 29, 2013)

One of the first times I came across a Scutigera was in Philadelphia. I lived in an old stucco house that had a lot of them.Everywhere. The icing on the cake was when I found one draped across my uncovered toothbrush. Yum! I always cover my toothbrush now. I guess he was brushing his feet :S .........


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## dgerndt (May 5, 2013)

I like to feed the common house spiders I find in my bedroom to my mantids, but only if I'm positive that my mantis will eat it right away. I don't let them stick around in the cage. A friend of mine lost a ghost nymph to a spider last year, so be cautious.

Personally, house centipedes are one of the only bugs I cannot stand. They scare the poo outta me! I would much rather have spiders on my house than centipedes.


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## MantidLord (May 7, 2013)

That video was awesome! Did not expect that from a male mantis. Was that T. sinensis? And what was the black widow doing? Trying to wrap him up without going in for the bite?


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## TheOtherSpecies (May 14, 2013)

I'm a black widow lover but when I seen that video I found my new love!


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