Do spiders eat other spiders?

Question

Do spiders eat other spiders?

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

Yes.

Answer 3

yes, black widows are known to eat their husbands and some of their children.

Answer 4

Yes. Usually after the female mates with the male, the female tries to eat him. If the male is lucky enough he gets away, if not... bye bye.

Answer 5

maybe.

Answer 6

If they are really hungry they will.

Answer 7

some do yes

Answer 8

the black widow spider is known to eat or kill the male to feed the young ones at birth

Answer 9

if they are caught in their web then yeah.

Answer 10

actually spiders ahould all die. THey are gross. so nobody should even care about that

Answer 11

In general, yes.  The only example I know of though, is after the female black widow mates with the male, she eats him.  He's considerably smaller than her.

Answer 12

yeah

Answer 13

I was just inViet Nam and found out about little cannibal spiders!

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Insects/Vi...

Search the page for "pale spitting spider"

Answer 14

Frequently, many species of spiders are noted for the female eating the male after mating (not always - sometimes the male gets away), spiders often eat other spiders as prey in the normal course of their lives. Some female spiders are eaten by their young as they hatch as well - and we think we go to some lengths to give our kids a start in life!.

Answer 15

Yes they certainly do.  Many spider species primarily go after other spider species but most of them will go after a member of the same species if food is scarce.  Cellar spiders, which are very common in homes and also called "daddy long legs spiders" are known to do this.

It isn't quite true that the female eating the male is a regular practice.  It is said that the black widow is named for this habit.  While this is true, this isn't abnormal for spiders but it doesn't happen all the time or even most of the time.  All male spiders have to give a signal to the female to check if she is interested in mating.  Most cases, this is a short dance or drumming of the abdomen or legs.  In many web builders, the male tugs on support lines in a certain pattern to call on the female.  If something goes wrong, the female might try to eat the male, and being that the male is usualy smaller than the female of the same species, sometimes as small as 1/5th the size, the male would make a nice snack.

Also, spiders don't really eat their young.  The mother will actually protect their young untill they reach their first molt.  They will eat the young of another spider or another species, and the young of one spider will eat each other if food isn't easily available.

Answer 16

Most do

Answer 17

Yes they do sometimes the female even eats the male after mating.  

Answer 18

probably

Answer 19

ABSOLUTELY!  spiders will take anything they can get!  and black widow spiders DO NOT eat their mates any more than any other spider (hello, urban legend)

if you want a bug that's so voracious it will most likely eat it's mate, you should take a look at a praying mantis.  they're fierce.