Skip to main content

Pre-trip feeding: Catchy

Never am I more aware of the differences between mantises and spiders than during feeding time - feeding Catchy can be quite traumatic if you're an extremely empathetic person, or not used to how she feeds. It definitely opens up a whole host of questions regarding the ethics of keeping invertebrates as live foods for other pets.

All of my invertebrates eat live food. That is their nature. And so I keep several sources of live food - usually fruit flies, green bottles, mealworms, and locusts. They all have enclosures, with hides, occasional spritzes for water, and fresh food. They're looked after as though they're my pets, but their ultimate fate is to be eaten by larger critters. My spiders kill their prey, albeit slowly, but injecting them with venom which paralyses them while their insides turn to mush. My scorpion at least does paralyse his prey, but he tears them apart whilst they're still alive and pre digests them on the floor. Catchy, unfortunately, just tears into them while they're still alive.

In the photo above, Catchy has been given a cricket. It is alive, as Catchy isn't remotely interested in anything that isn't moving - mantises see in 3D like we do (and unlike other insects) but their depth perception only works if the prey is moving. If it were to lie still, Catchy wouldn't be able to gauge the distance and would stand no hope of catching it. So she tends to only be interested in prey that is moving.
This particular cricket is fighting back. It is kicking Catchywith its back legs in an effort to push her away, and Catchy has decided that this isn't on - she is chewing it's back legs off.
In this second photo, you can see that the cricket has incomplete legs. She gnawed it's legs off and discarded them. The cricket it still very much alove, as you can see it is still kicking. But Catchy doesn't care. Now that she has disarmed it, she is tucking into the cricket knowing that it can't do her any harm no matter how hard it kicks.
And finally, the cricket has died. It's now completely still, and Catchy is enjoying her meal.

Seeing this manner of feeding this closely is somewhat disturbing. I can't help but feel that the cricket - which was completely helpless - fought for it's life as hard as it could, but Catchy had a solution to everything. But this is nature, and nature is cruel.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Purple Spood has a Name

This new spood finally has a name! It has taken me a while to get around to it, because I was really struggling. I am really hoping that this spider is a male, because the males of this species take on a really vibrant purple colour once they grow on, while the females are a dusty brown. So I wanted a male name, but also something linked to the colour purple, to highlight my hopes for him. All of the purple-themed names I could think of sounded really girly, like "Lavender", or "Heather". But then it occurred to me - Purple Rain. My partner really came up with it, not me. But he's named after a certain purple singer/songwriter - Prince. Yeah, it might be cliche, but I'm really happy with it. So Prince it is!
Post a Comment
Read more

In Memoriam: Summer edition

Unfortunately, due to the delayed nature of the posting on this blog, the things that I write about in the Summer don't get published until Winter, or vice versa. That's the limitation of a prolific poster writing up a buffer, to be released at regular intervals. It doesn't usually pose a problem, but as I write this post in the middle of Autumn - firstly, it is not going to hit the blog until next year. Secondly, due to the nature of the content here, it may interrupt continuity - I am writing to remember the charming little critters that I lost over this summer. Some of the deaths were expected, there had been plenty of warning. Other deaths were...surprising. But while I mention them here, due to the pre written nature of the content to come, there may be posts further down the line where these names and faces crop up again, almost as though I hadn't lost them. I've been umming and ahhing over the best time to place this post, and to be honest - there's...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blogger Absences!

Sorry guys! I don't know if anyone actually reads my spider blog, but I'm sure if you do you'll have noticed that it's on a temporary hiatus. There are posts queued up, waiting to be edited and finished. I have plenty to write about, including the recent loss of my elderly mantis Catchy, and the rehousing of my Poecilotheria metallica (which was tense). But right now it has to wait, as I am currently juggling my job, my fmaily, and now my new Masters degree in Environmental Management. I will come back and update on all the lovely (and not so lovely) things that my critters have been up to. But for now, I'm afraid it will have to wait. Be safe all, and don't squish that spider!
Post a Comment
Read more