I thought I'd share...

news.discovery.com/animals/spider-heart-...surprise-110706.html

loved the video at the bottom about the tarantula taking on a snake. Anyone know what type of tarantula that could be?


Sonja

Hi Sonja..im gonna take a wild guess and say its one of the bird eaters (Someone HELP)...something i will not be guessing is the snakes identity..
It is a Fer de lance ..Bothrops atrox.(there are sub species so sometimes called Bothrops Asper).also called the ultimate or lance viper or lancehead viper..got to know his snake very well while working at Fitsimmons back in the 80s..it is one seriously deadly viper and they average out at about 2 meters at adult but can clock around 2.5m..considering the young are "about 30 to 40cm at birth i can only imagine this is a monster T..anyhow nice clip thanx i enjoy seeing a T get its fangs into it..

Freaky !! Looks like a Lasiodora of sorts.

The spider "jumps" on the snake, initially grabbing (and obviously bites) the snake around the head area. Later in the clip, it bites the snake near the tail, which suggests the spider gave the snake multiple bites in the struggle to subdue it.

Duuuh you might say, any poepol can see that... but I had numerous discussions with folks here about the size of prey items spiders can take. This video (amongst others) proves what incredibly efficient hunters Tarantulas are. We as keepers very often under estimate our spiders and their abilities, in many cases pampering them to death. Mother Nature is an excellent teacher, if you care to attend class regularly...

Awesome video! And you defenitly right about the snake Shaun.

That is one fantastic video!
My question is if the video was staged? Or if this was something that happened by chance?
Nevertheless, it ia atill amazing to see their power!
Thanks Nefertiti!

I remember having a video ages ago called "the king tarantula" It was a documentary about the T. blondi, how the natives viewed it, (ate it), but it also had a part where it attacked a Fer de lance, looked very similar to this, the size difference was also similar but at the end they showed a picture of the snake and all that was left was a thin sheet of its skin. Awesome video by the way I think it was a Discovery video.