Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there any other spiders that prey on the black widow? If there is not a native species that does so, what spider would make a meal of the widow spider and be able to withstand it's venom? just curious...

Many spiders eat other spiders. Widows will eat each other and other spiders if given the oportunity. Usually spiders avoid each other though. Steatoda sp. are known to kill widows. I have winessed this first hand. I had a Steatoda grossa pair (male and female) that lived with one of my widows. They made their lair and webbing within the widows refuge and lived with/under her for months. The widow produced many sacs and after she got old she remained gravid but stopped producing. Old widows like this are slow, fat and clumsy. The Steatoda waited for this to happen and when it did, they took her out. In the wild, I have observed Steatoda living the same way with widows. Their niche is the darker, lower regions. I suspect what happed in my enclosure probably happens in nature.
I have fed widows Dysdera crocata (sow bug killers). Recently one turned the tables on one of my sub-adult females. I doubt this is a common occurrence in the wild, but I can see the story... a small widow takes refuge under a rotten log and runs into a hungry Dysdera crocata. Without her web, the widow is "blind" and powerless and she becomes easy protein.
Pholcus phalangioides "daddy long legs" are known spider eaters. They move right in next to other spiders webs and even attach webbing to it. Spiders like widows have a hard time hunting down daddys because they are far too heavy for the daddys light weight webbing.

That's some great info! thanks

I'm surprised at the Dysdera...they've got massive jaws for their size!

I'm not sure, but since brown widows have pretty much displaced the black widows in my yard, the browns might be eating them.

Blackwidowgirl discovered the brown widows here a couple years ago. This was the first record of brown widows in southern California.
They're not native, but they're spreading.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if they turned up in Washington State, since my neighbors recently moved up there, towing their van, which had a lot of widow web hanging off it. Egg sacs, at least. Should be interesting.

>>Is there any other spiders that prey on the black widow? If there is not a native species that does so, what spider would make a meal of the widow spider and be able to withstand it's venom? just curious...

Mud dauber wasps prey on widows quite frequently. The blue daubers I think pretty much specialize in them at times if they (the widows) are abundant in an area.
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Wyvern

The Invert Collection:
* (1) Aphonopelma anax - Texas Tan
* (4) Avicularia geroldi - Brazilian Blue Pink-toe
* (1) Brachypelma auratum - Mexican Flameknee
* (1) Brachypelma emilia - Mexican Red-leg
* (1) Brachypelma smithi - Mexican Red-knee
* (1) Cyclosternum fasciatum - Costa Rican Tiger Rump
* (3) Grammostola pulchra - Brazilian Black