Advertisement

Huntsman Spider Eating Opossum; A Detailed Insight

A starving huntsman spider eating opossum, this sounds completely weird. First, giving it a second thought, what could make possibly make a huntsman spider eat opossum? Is it that terribly hungry or an opossum is among its top five diets? However, we are going to look into these queries in this article all in detail.

Advertisement

Before we proceed, the word opossum and huntsman spider may sound totally strange to you, in an event where this is your first encounter with these words. Moreover, a brief explanation of opossum and huntsman spiders will be discussed shortly.

 

Read also: Are Opossums Dangerous? Facts and Behavior of Opossums

 

Facts About Huntsman Spider

The huntsman spider is a giant spider known to have originated from Australia. The huntsman spider belongs to the Sparassidae family, however, this family was formerly known as Heteropodidae.

This spider is scientifically classified into Phylum Arthropods, Subphylum Chelicerata, under Kingdom Animalia in the class of  Arachnida in the Order of Araneae and Suborder Araneomorphae. The name Huntsman was given to this spider because of their speed and excellent hunting abilities. In some countries, the name may differ depending on where the build their habitat.

In the Southern part of Africa, these spiders are known scientifically known as palystes otherwise known as Rain Spiders. Some people also called them Lizard eating spiders, this is also right, as we mention earlier their names vary due to location, and its activities.

Research shows that the huntsman spider is usually a giant spider and it makes use of its enormous body size as an advantage to devour prey. However, being a giant spider, most people often refer or called them Wood spiders because of their similarities.

The huntsman spider builds its habitat in woody areas such as woodpiles, bushes, wooden shacks, forest). These spiders can survive in both temperate and tropical regions such as Australia, Asia, United States, and the Mediterranean basin.

Appearance:

The huntsman spiders appear to have two enormous eyes and four smaller eyes in its anterior part of its prosoma. Moreover, this depends on the spider specie as some could grow bigger eyes up to 30 cm.

As we discussed earlier people who don’t know this spider could mistake them for the larger breed of tarantula because both have similar eyes, one greater difference the huntsman spider has over the tarantula spider is the position of their legs.

The huntsman spider is easily known with their legs being attached to the body vertically, in this way their moves appear in a lobster pattern.

Size and Behavior:

The huntsman spider measures 5.9 inches, this implies that the spider width can attain up to 15 cm and their body width can attain 0.72 inches in length, thus, this is one key reason why is known as the giant spider.

These spiders can severely impose on their prey even humans, this spider bites can cause an allergic reaction such as skin swelling with a red spot, unexpected pulse fluctuation, irregular heart bit, headache, nausea, vomiting, and pain around the bitten area.

Research shows that the bite of the huntsman spider contains some neurological toxin results mainly in cases of multiple bites and however could cause some complications like unknown infection, shock, and nocebo if not treated immediately. It is advised you treat this spider’s as important.

 

Read also: Are Banana Spiders Poisonous? Banana Spider Behavior

 

Facts About Opossum

The fact about an opossum is that these pests belong to 19 different genera having more than 105 species. It is botanically known as a marsupial in the didelphimorphia order, they are considered as the largest and bigger survivors in this order.

An opossum can survive in different weather conditions and locations and it would still exhibit 100% reproductive, and biological characteristics.

Appearances: 

The opossum is a small looking creature, it is similar in size to bush rat for young ones and the adults are similar in size to a common house cat.

Mode of Feeding: 

An opossum seems to be semi-arboreal omnivores though they are several limitations.

As a mammal, they have 50 sets of teeth which are the incisors, canines, and the tricuspid known as the molars and they are all over their jaw being similar to the human teeth. They feed on grasses, fruits, and nuts.

Location:

The opossum is found in places where containers are stacked, trash cans, and dumpsters. They originated from the Southern Hemisphere in the United State and they are the ancestors of Southern American mammal faunas.

Life Cycle: 

The lifecycle of an opossum is between 70 to 125 days after the female opossum is done with reproduction, though as many as 15 young marsupials. When the up to the age of 12 months to 24 months they begin to go out for hunting.

 

Read also: How Many Legs Does a Centipede Have?

 

What Does Huntsman spider Eat?

Picture of a Huntsman Spider Eating Opossum
Picture of a Huntsman Spider Eating Opossum

The huntsman spider has lots of diets, these spiders are the first spider you can think of when talking about the predator species of spiders, however, this spider feeds on cockroaches, wall geckos, small lizards, frogs, insects and other little species of spiders. Eating an opossum won’t be a big deal, however, in our next paragraph, the reasons behind the huntsman spider eating opossum is discussed.

 

Huntsman spider Eating Opossum

The huntsman spider is a giant spider and as a result, it has great strength. When the huntsman marks its prey, they follow up they prey to point they can grab them and inflict their venom on them.

However, the hunting technique is used when the huntsman is set to eat the opossum. In an event where the opossum gets to the targeted point of the huntsman spider and its releases it venom on it.

The opossum hardly survives these spiders’ venom. Shortly after the huntsman eats opossum, in most cases, due to its great strength, the huntsman spider can carry the opossum to the rooftop level to eat it.

Most people took the huntsman spider eating opossum as a myth, but the real facts are that this spider is capable of eating the opossum.

 

Final Thought on Huntsman Spider Eating Opossum

This spider is a unique spider with rare qualities, in cases where you’re facing this spider infestation. It is strongly recommended you contact any pest control expert near you to help with the infestation as delay or less concern over it could result in health and environmental complication.

Reading this article up to this point and having known the facts about huntsman spider eating opossum, we believe the doubt about this query has been cleared. For contribution, questions, and suggestions, you’re free to write to us.

About The Author


Discover more from Pestclue

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a feedback

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.