I don’t think it’s a change in their eating habits, these spiders are known to catch fish, frog, salamanders or basically anything that size you’ll find near water. Just rare to see and snap a picture of one with a turtle.
Yeah, many larger spider species will go after smaller vertebrates. Goliath bird eaters (South American) will go after snakes much larger than they are - despite the name, they aren’t inclined towards birds though.
Yep, they are generally opportunistic and can be quite brazen. But most of the time they’ll go after easier, smaller prey.
I used to have a goliath birdeater and it was entirely fed on crickets. We tried a baby mouse once, but it was a huge mess to clean up and they don’t need nor prefer it.
I don’t think it’s a change in their eating habits, these spiders are known to catch fish, frog, salamanders or basically anything that size you’ll find near water. Just rare to see and snap a picture of one with a turtle.
Yeah, many larger spider species will go after smaller vertebrates. Goliath bird eaters (South American) will go after snakes much larger than they are - despite the name, they aren’t inclined towards birds though.
Calories are calories.
Yep, they are generally opportunistic and can be quite brazen. But most of the time they’ll go after easier, smaller prey.
I used to have a goliath birdeater and it was entirely fed on crickets. We tried a baby mouse once, but it was a huge mess to clean up and they don’t need nor prefer it.
Theridiidae are usually the most notourious for catching much bigger prey.