The Tarantula That Eats Snakes

January 13, 2017

Tarantulas are known for keeping a diet that consists largely of insects and other spiders, as well as arthropods of all kinds. You may be saying to yourself, "but what about the goliath birdeater?" Well, that monster is known to feed on rodents, but that beast is an exception among tarantulas. Of course, the Australian huntsman spider has rarely been seen capturing mice for food, but this is irregular. So when it comes to animals that are larger than tarantulas, say a snake for example, it would be safe to say that a tarantula would be the obvious meal between the two. However, a group of researchers made a bizarre find that had them questioning traditional spider hunting behavior. Researchers from Brazil were able to catch a giant tarantula in the process of ravenously devouring a snake in a horrific manner. This kind of stuff is an arachnophobes worst nightmare, so please, if you are afraid of spiders, don't Google this nightmare of an organism. The researchers believe that it is likely that the snake crawled into the spider's shelter underneath the surface of the ground, presumably carrying on with its life with no worries about pesky spiders. That is until one single spider proceeded to feed on the snake's midsection until it died in agony. Is it just me, or are spiders becoming more powerful? Have you ever witnessed a large spider consume any animal other than a small arthropod?