Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Spider and the Ant

For days, I've been watching this tiny spider in the corner of my bathroom floor. He's just a little guy... perhaps only 1 mm in size. Yeah, he's really small.

I thought about wiping out his life by squishing him with a small piece of toilet paper, but there was something about him that I liked... he didn't seem bothered that I was there watching him! So I left him alone.

I wondered, "This spider is SO SMALL, how in the world does he expect to catch anything by just hanging around in the corner of this bathroom floor? Anything that would come by is bound to be too big for him to handle!" But he had a lot of determination and just stayed there for days. So I left him alone.

Today, just before going to bed, I moved the waste paper can that was obsuring my view of him and was I surprised! Caught in his very thin web was this HUGE ANT! Now ants are typically pretty small themselves, but have you seen some of these really huge, hard shelled black ants that's been running around? This ant has got to be at least 1/2 inch long. I'm not kidding! Now that spider's got my interest!

The ant was already dead, so I assume that the spider had already subdued it with some venom. Now all he had to do was figure out how he was going to suck out all the juices from this ant!

Years ago while living in San Diego, I caught a huge spider and put him in a jar. I kept him alive for weeks by feeding him "Rollie Pollies" and flies. I'd watch the spider leave the other insects alone and then without warning, the spider would move quick, grab the other insect and roll him around and tangle him up with more threads of his web and then inject venom into the other insect! Instant death for the other insect. And just as quick, the spider would suck out all the juices from the other insect and that insect would shrivel up! It was amazing! It was almost like watching a Dracula movie!

So yeah, this little spider has my respect now. He caught something a lot larger than he is and he waited for days to do it. So did I wipe out his little life after seeing these two guys hanging there? No. I left him alone. He deserves to have his meal. But here's the real question... "How did that huge ant get into my bathroom?!"

To see my other spider posts, check out this post on August 31, 2006 and this one on September 3, 2006.

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