Though there are a whole lot of creepy, spiders are kind of amazing little critters. Most people understand the basics concerning spiders. Though most can identify spider when they see it, Stewart Termite and Pest Control would like to list a few interesting facts regarding spiders.
Fun Facts About Spiders
1) All spiders are hunters and the prey are either captured or hunted. Though the few larger spiders will include birds in their diet and other vertebrates, spiders will feed on other invertebrates and insects.
2) Throughout their life cycle, all spiders produce silk. Spiders use their silk by capturing prey, making shelter, as to reproduce, for shelter, and other such reasons, though not all spiders will use the silk.
3) Spiders can’t digest solids so they will liquefy their prey before they eat. They will drink the body after the tissue is broken down using the digestive enzymes that liquify the bodies.
4) Using their pedipalps, male spiders will mate sexually by unusually transferring sperm. On a pre-prepared silk web or bed, the male spiders will deposit their sperm. As they store their semen in sperm ducts, they collect the sperm onto thier pedipalps. The males insert their pedipalp to release their sperm where the female’s genital opens.
5) Not all species of spider’s spin webs. Having no use for the webs, jumping spiders have quick movement and incredible eyesight they use to pounce on their prey. Instead of webs, they capture their prey through stalking and ambushing it. Wolf spiders do not rely on webs either.
6) Mates are potentially eaten by females. If she is hungry enough males run the risk of being mistaken for a meal. By performing an elaborate dance, the males will attempt to identify themselves as a mate instead to avoid the misperception.
7) To move their legs, spiders rely on more than their muscles. They basically need blood pressure, in addition to the muscle. In some joint legs, extensor muscles are lacking entirely. Spiders have to increase the blood pressure in the legs by contracting muscles in the cephalothorax in order to effectively extend their legs at the joints.
8) Spiders appear to have a waist. Where the legs, palps, eyes, and fangs are located, the cephalothorax is the anterior body region. The only 2 parts belonging to all spiders are the cephalothorax and an abdomen. This gives the spider the look of having a waist, the narrow pedicel that attaches the un-segmented abdomen to the cephalothorax.
9) Other than that, every other spider is venomous, the Uloboridae spider family is the only non-venomous species. Spiders are able to subdue their prey with their venom. Near the fangs, or the chelicerae are venom glands attached by ducts. The venom is injected through the fangs because the muscles around the venom glands contract to do so when the spider bites its prey to paralyze their prey.
10) Protected with silk, the female will prepare a silk bed to deposit her eggs, followed by mating. She will cover her egg sac with additional silk for more protection at the conclusion of the production of her eggs.
Spider Control
If spiders are plaguing your home, call Stewart Termite and Pest Control and let our experts take care of the potentially dangerous spiders and other pests in your home.