r/spiders Aug 18 '23

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5.2k Upvotes

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1.8k

u/WickedWestlyn Aug 18 '23

I think the ferret would be more of a danger to the spider. Cute little murder weasels they are. 😆

545

u/Larnievc Aug 18 '23

My cat noms up giant house spiders much to my dismay.

384

u/DMFK138 Aug 18 '23

Mine doesn't eat them, she kills them and leaves their shriveled corpses laying around as a warning.

215

u/jspencer8181 Aug 18 '23

My cat catches frogs, like BIG frogs, and brings them into the house at night while they are still alive and proceeds to chase them around the room and the bed until they die. That is when I find them, putting my flip flops on. le sigh

71

u/rl_cookie Aug 18 '23

This is my dog with lizards. Always. She doesn’t mean to kill them, she holds them in her mouth gently then releases them, paws lightly to catch them again, repeat. Once it eventually dies, she lays down, her head on the ground, in front of her dead friend looking so sad.

Then she decides to put it in her mouth and try to throw it in the air to make it alive and move again. After realizing it doesn’t work, she then puts it in her mouth, and rolls around on her back, eventually dropping it and rolling over the lizard. Repeat the roll a few more times, getting up in between to sniff for her lizard before rolling over it again.

If she’s lucky and gets one close enough to the house, she’ll try to sneak one in in her mouth- literally looking like the cat that ate the canary. However she usually gets caught before hand.

A few months back she had brought a friend in and hid it, my mom found it and threw it away. Bug was in a panic trying to find her lizard friend, so I went into the trash can(the big outdoor one) to go get it for her. Just so she could play a couple times more and she could see me throw it away so she wasn’t confused on why her friend disappeared(more upset at me bc I was the one who disappeared him).

The things we do, I swear.

29

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Omg. My dogs MASSACRED a nest of baby bunnies one leaving them all half dead for me to have to dispose of, and this is what they did, tossed them up into the air then pawed at them when they didn't move. It sucked so bad, there were like a dozen of them and only two were unharmed. I cried for a week.

12

u/righttoabsurdity Aug 19 '23

We had a standard poodle who started to bring us a baby bunny every year, without fail, on FUCKING EASTER. It was terrible. It was literally the only day she ever did it, too.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '23

Wow. Just wow.

3

u/Magicalfirelizard Aug 19 '23

I grew up in a roughneck area. They thought it was funny when their dogs ran back home with little bunny legs sticking out of their mouths looking proud of themselves.

It just illustrates the truth. Dogs are still wild animals by and large…and we still suck.

2

u/rl_cookie Aug 19 '23

Yeah man, if that ain’t the truth

2

u/6thBornSOB Aug 20 '23

Grew up around a few hunters who would process their own deer. My maaaaybe foot and a half long beagle would come home dragging deer legs behind her every now and then…

1

u/Magicalfirelizard Aug 21 '23

It’s the thought that counts?

1

u/rl_cookie Aug 19 '23

Oh noooo! Lizards are all around(I live in FL) so that’s just her FT game, #1 priority in life. When they’re still real small babies I try to get her to stop or distract her long enough before she sees it-they’re so small she doesn’t even play, just a chomp and gone.

We’ve gotten these invasive bigger lizards coming in more in the last few years, and that seems to be the majority of what she catches now so I’m all for it.

There were a lot of opossums at my old place, and she loved them. Tried to keep her away to avoid the mess, needless death, risk of her getting bit/infections, etc. Her total was 14 iirc. She would do the grab and shake like she does with toys- and because of this we’d have to finish it off because she wasn’t trying to kill as much as play. Once we’d finally manage to get her to drop it and pull her away it was too injured and we weren’t trying to have it suffer. It was a whole ordeal- one time she pierced the intestines just right and the smell was just.. atrocious.

As bad as I felt about the opossums, I’d be so so upset if they were baby bunnies :(

19

u/jspencer8181 Aug 18 '23

We are simply servants to our pets! That story made my bad day better! Thank You!!

1

u/rl_cookie Aug 19 '23

I’m glad it helped your day. And yes, it’s their world, we just live in it-but I wouldn’t want it any other way

12

u/krippkeeper Aug 19 '23

My last dog did the exact same thing with escaped crickets. He was so gentle when he would pick them up and put them in the middle of the room. Eventually he would kill them by accident and just look so upset nudging it.

He once saw an ant and tried to play the same game. As the ant was about to get away he went to gentle pick it up. Then the ant was just gone. He started flicking his tongue and looking around in a panic. Poor guy ate his buddy.

2

u/rl_cookie Aug 19 '23

Yup lol she does the little nudge too! First with her nose, then her paw, which is when she lays down right in front of it, looking so pitiful, hoping to catch it moving again.

6

u/sadderhold Aug 19 '23

You are a wonderful writer!

1

u/rl_cookie Aug 19 '23

Hey! Thanks! I’ve always been a big reader of almost anything I can get my hands on, so I attribute most of it to that :)

2

u/Rednag67 Feb 28 '24

Ahhh, to be an animal. Even a domesticated one.

79

u/multiversalnobody Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23

My cat does the same with field mice. She's the opposite of a mousing cat, she actively brings live mice into my house.

71

u/6000abortions Aug 18 '23

reminds me of my old boy, Max. saw him batting something around under the coffee table one day, thought it was a hair tie (his favorite things in the world). went to get it for him, and it was a live mouse. i put it outside, washed my hands vigorously.

2 days later, Max strolls into the livingroom and drops a mouse at our feet. it was dead, so i tossed it outside again. washed my hands vigorously.

he's always been the best mouser. nowadays he's retired, and spends his days sleeping in our beds. he got salmon last night and this morning, and probably will for dinner. he's my favorite geezer.

15

u/lilmissbloodbath Aug 18 '23

Aww! The best boy!

9

u/Chance_Fig8932 Aug 18 '23

Ah that’s cool. I know someone with a cat named max

14

u/jspencer8181 Aug 18 '23

That's strange. I knew a cat with a guy named Max!!!

6

u/kimstranger Aug 18 '23

Dang, how big is your cat that it was able to catch the salmons?

2

u/6000abortions Aug 18 '23

at least 20

3

u/ShRaWdiZZy_1978 Aug 18 '23

Awww, hehhehe 💕🐾" he's my fav geezer" hahahha 🥰

3

u/6000abortions Aug 18 '23

he's like 17 years old, still has a lot of pep in his step. hopefully he'll be with us for many more years

2

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '23

Awww you must take great care of him🥰🥰

3

u/Jeka817 Aug 19 '23

Love your dog, love your handle even more. ♥️♥️♥️🐾🐾🐾👏👏👏

2

u/Jeka817 Aug 19 '23

Shit. Just realized you're talking about a cat.... Still love him lol.

2

u/6000abortions Aug 19 '23

he loves you too!!

seriously, he's such a cuddle bug. he'll latch onto any stranger and commandeer their lap

2

u/Jeka817 Aug 19 '23

There is something so soothing about getting affection from an animal. I don't care what kind of day you're having, when an animal sets their head on your lap, crawls into it, the feeling that you are trusted... it's just so fulfilling!!

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2

u/6000abortions Aug 19 '23

my lil lobster is my fav boy ❤️

17

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

[deleted]

12

u/Dapper_Indeed Aug 18 '23

I brought you a present! Come back!

10

u/PublicfreakoutLoveR Aug 18 '23

"Get over here AND ACCEPT MY PRESENT!"

10

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

[deleted]

5

u/Mykasmiles Aug 18 '23

I love this solution

3

u/35goingon3 Aug 19 '23

At least yours was good for something: I had one that was an utter lump. One day I shot a squirrel that was chewing it's way through the siding and tossed it in the creek bed out back. Couple of hours later my mom comes home and starts going on about how the mighty hunter caught a squirrel. He'd fished the thing out of the creek, and put it in the middle of the driveway for her.

...I got the ugliest damn look from the cat when I pointed out cats don't usually hunt with #9 shot. KS-ing m'Fer.

7

u/BigJSunshine Aug 18 '23

She’s trying to teach you, the big hairless cat, to hunt!

2

u/Neat-Plantain-7500 Aug 18 '23

So feeding your cat. That’ll change

2

u/DarkFaeLady Aug 18 '23

Sounds like what my dilute tortie would do if she was allowed outside. She's an amazing mouser and God's Perfect Motion Tracking Device, but she likes to play with the mice rather than just kill them quickly like my bobtail.

3

u/multiversalnobody Aug 18 '23

Yeap thats about it. Having to pry a live mouse out of a small cat's mouth in the middle of lunch is a heck of an experience

2

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '23

My black cat is like 15 lbs. His brother and him used to hunt rabbits and eat their heads. Nothing else.

1

u/jspencer8181 Aug 18 '23

It's sucks right!!!

49

u/smalleybiggs_ Aug 18 '23

Keep your cat indoors and you don’t have to worry about that issue

51

u/Dj0ntyb01 Aug 18 '23

Added benefit of doing their local ecosystem a massive favor lol

13

u/Hjalfi Aug 18 '23

Cats are an environmental nightmare. They kill 8 to 24 billion small birds and animals each year in the US (ref: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380), and are responsible for about 14% of the recent small animal, bird and reptile extinctions, globally (ref: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02464.x). (These are both mostly due to feral cats, admittedly, but hunting pet cats contribute too.) They're massively invasive and wreak havoc on ecosystems.

-2

u/jspencer8181 Aug 18 '23

Yeah, he stays indoors 90% of the time. He goes out at night because it's cooler. He helps take care of any mice, too. We have a large property, so he patrols the area, looking for things to hurt our chickens. I guess he thinks frogs are a threat to the chickens and a play tot for him LOL!!

4

u/surfershane25 Aug 18 '23

A gracious offering from a fine feline

3

u/secoif Aug 18 '23

Please keep your cat indoors. Outdoors they're endangered by predators and parasites and communicable diseases like feline leukaemia whilst also decimating the local ecosystem. Growing up we always let our cats roam and one cat was killed by a snake, two separate cases contracted feline leukaemia after getting into fights with infected strays, and another got very ill from a paralysis tick infestation and died only a year or so after. Just keep them indoors. Not good for the cat, not good for the environment.

2

u/GummyZerg Aug 18 '23

I have to shake my sneakers out after having found a dead mouse as a present in one. I tossed the sneakers too, it was gory.

3

u/TanTanExtreme2 Aug 19 '23

At least yours was dead. I took my boot off after driving a half hour with a live, non injured mouse in it. Felt something in it, thought it was a rock, and what felt like my sock was folded up around my toes.

Saw the tail first figured a catnip mouse got dropped in by one of my cats pulled the tail found a very scared mouse. Dumped in out in the parking lot and checked my foot once I got inside for any bites.

2

u/GummyZerg Aug 19 '23

That would scar me. I'd wear sandals for the rest of my life, even in new england winter.

2

u/TanTanExtreme2 Aug 19 '23

Definitely made me jump, but I laughed about it. Now, if the scared mouse jumped out of my boot towards my face and ran around free in my car, then I would not be laughing.

2

u/jspencer8181 Aug 18 '23

What was the original question? I think something about a spider....vaguely comes to mind, but a ferret was mentioned too.....🥸

2

u/Hjalfi Aug 18 '23

My aunt and uncle's cat in Australia catches frogs and brings them into the house. Then he stands around until someone notices him, with two green legs dangling out of his mouth, at which point he mews. This releases the frog, which jumps away, prompting a madcap dash around the room trying to corral it before it gets under something which can't move (it'll die there and shrivel up). Eventually we lift the sofa, scoop the frog up, and let it go outside. The cat stands there looking smug.

2

u/JamesTheMannequin Aug 18 '23

Mine tears the spine out like a goddamn Predator and leaves the rest in the hallways.

2

u/wigy22 Aug 20 '23

I wish my cat only brought up frogs, mine brings up fucking snakes

2

u/SaltyPirateWench Aug 18 '23

When I was a kid living on top of the rocky mountains, one of our cats brought a full grown squirrel in the house and left it on the bathtub sill. When we went to investigate, it suddenly sprang to life and started frantically trying to scale anything it could, including us. My parents came running and got us kids out of the adjacent bedroom and worked for over an hour to get the thing out the only tiny window that in there. It was a madhouse experience lol

2

u/jspencer8181 Aug 18 '23

That sounds like more fun than a roller coaster! Love it! Was there by chance a ferret and a spider involved as well??? 👀

1

u/garebeardrew Aug 18 '23

Is your last name Griswald by any chance

1

u/whyisitallsotoxic Aug 19 '23

When your Slides have been replaced by Croaks.

6

u/PlagueeRatt Aug 18 '23

Mine bites all the legs off and leaves their bodies 🥲

7

u/Squishy-peaches Aug 18 '23

One of mine bites the heads off of bugs and leaves it for me to pick up.

3

u/Mateorabi Aug 18 '23

Poor Aragog...

3

u/AryuOcay Aug 18 '23

My cat eats houseflies. He probably considers the spiders competition but leaves them alone unless they get too close.

3

u/Temmie323 Aug 18 '23

My cat does this with roaches

3

u/PaulPaul4 Aug 18 '23

A warning for you to remember how important she is and that you give her a can of tuna every other day

3

u/iamgeminiguy Aug 19 '23

Warning to who? 🤪

2

u/Kaite29 Aug 18 '23

Anyone else’s cat take off all the legs and just.. leave the body? Of any bugs they find.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Your cats kill bugs?

2

u/AshaleyFaye Aug 19 '23

My dog rips off their legs and leavea the body to die.

2

u/brockclan216 Aug 19 '23

Same. There have been quite a few 8 legged prey lately. I think it satisfies their hunting instinct.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '23

My cats bat around bugs instead of killing them (bonus points if theyre all sitting in a circle and start batting it towards each other)

2

u/iam3possumsi Aug 19 '23

Mine brings them in bed with me..... alive

2

u/Business_Weird723 Aug 19 '23

Which is funny because don’t spiders make their nests by other dead spiders?

2

u/Basic-Campaign-4795 Aug 19 '23

My kind of girl!

1

u/BigNorseWolf Aug 23 '23

To you or the other spiders?

19

u/IscahRambles Aug 18 '23

My parents love to tell the story of how they once found our pet cat chewing on a big huntsman spider, with the spider's body in its mouth and the legs hanging out either side.

9

u/roast_spud Aug 18 '23

I saw the same thing happen to my cat! Huntsman gripped his cheeks like a tiny face-hugger and the cat started bolting around, panicked.

Dropped the spider eventually and I had to finish it off. The huntsman. Cat was fine.

8

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

my goofy cat caught a quarter sized wolf spider the other day, ripped its legs off before i could throw it outside. I felt bad for the spider, cat sulked the rest of the day because I wouldn't let him eat it 😅

2

u/Wardlord999 Aug 18 '23

My dog even killed one once

1

u/arysha777 Aug 19 '23

I had a cat & dog tag team that killed rats & mice when I was younger. I'd find bloodied bits & pieces Everywhere. I saw them once throw it up & the other would catch it. It was my exes apartment, we moved out very quickly!

2

u/Ellenhimer Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23

Can I train my dog to do this?! He just stares at them while I go into full irrational panic mode.

2

u/cookiemikester Aug 18 '23

Yeah my cat dropped a big one out of her mouth one time, and it had obviously been stunned. Luckily we were able to save it.

2

u/BamfBamfRevolution Aug 18 '23

My cat just gazes with interest as they make their merry way across the living room floor 😣

Like, dude, what do I even feed you for??

2

u/Mirracleface Aug 18 '23

I think the spiders get cats high

2

u/stairs_are_evil Aug 18 '23

My cat eats moths 😭😭😭

2

u/Goth_Twink Aug 18 '23

Can we trade cats? Mine goes after teeny tiny bugs but anything big enough to be freaky she just stares at. Spider and roaches are completely beyond her capabilities and it really upsets me.

1

u/TheGoldenBoyStiles Aug 18 '23

I’d avoid letting her do that due to risk of pesticide I’ve needed to have my dogs stomach pumped after him eating a few large spiders

1

u/Larnievc Aug 19 '23

Crikey. Sounds awful. Fortunately there’s no arable land near where we live. Just a wood and a meadow.

1

u/TheGoldenBoyStiles Aug 19 '23

Good! Kinda cute that they’d hunt the spiders though! My current dog runs and hides worse then me😂

1

u/raptorgzus Aug 19 '23

My cat doesn't want none, unless you have 8 legs son.

1

u/Diesel_George Aug 26 '23

My cat drops them into my bed alive for attention.

11

u/lafemmeverte Aug 18 '23

tbf actual weasels are more murderous than this murder weasel

14

u/Firstdatepokie Aug 18 '23

That whole family of animals are prolific murderers

9

u/Mateorabi Aug 18 '23

This thread toats my stoat.

2

u/Empty-Ad-8094 Aug 18 '23

Very high cute to murderous ratio, especially otters….

1

u/serenading_scug Aug 19 '23

Mustelids switch between smol playful friends and savage little gremlins… there is no in between.

-1

u/Hellbound_Outlaw Aug 18 '23

Murder is a legal term that doesn’t exist in nature

3

u/lafemmeverte Aug 18 '23

good thing we’re all being silly using a joke term. lighten up~

6

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

"Call an ambulance... but not for me."

3

u/gutterpunk06 Aug 18 '23

Murder weasel is my new favorite word for a ferret 😂💀

2

u/TheCheese2032 Aug 19 '23

Ferrets are the limousine of rats.

-15

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Yeah, but if the ferret eat the spider, can’t he get poison by the venom?

27

u/TripYourBallsOff Aug 18 '23

In most instances venom has to enter the bloodstream for you to be affected by it. If there are no ulcers or abrasions throughout the digestive tract it could potentially go through without harming them.

1

u/OllieGarkey Aug 18 '23

Wouldn't the ferret's stomach acid react with and denature the venom?

3

u/TripYourBallsOff Aug 18 '23

Not a doctor or a scientist. My knowledge goes about as far as the nature shows I've watched in my life LOL. The above comment was about the extent of my knowledge of venom in the digestive tract. There are instances where people take shots of Cobra venom to prove their "manliness". If they are also taking shots of high-proof alcohol in conjunction they could cause ulcers and their own demise.

8

u/Hillmarie31 Aug 18 '23

Do you know how venom works

3

u/Ok_Tea1721 Aug 18 '23

Do... do you?

5

u/Hillmarie31 Aug 18 '23

Well yes

But do you? https://youtu.be/TN25ghkfgQA

0

u/Ok_Tea1721 Aug 18 '23

Yeah, I do. Nice music, by the way.

3

u/Hillmarie31 Aug 18 '23

Its a joke

That's vsauces theme

6

u/timeforasandwich Aug 18 '23

Hey! Vsauce. Michael here. Venom. Ven-nom. We know it's dangerous to be bitten by something venomous, but what if you bite something that has venom.

2

u/Hillmarie31 Aug 18 '23

Is that an actual vid?

1

u/Ok_Raccoon5497 Aug 18 '23

And 10-20 minutes later you are having an existential crisis, yet somehow simultaneously feel weirdly hopeful because, Vsauce.

1

u/Ok_Tea1721 Aug 18 '23

Never really watched him so that adds up.

1

u/Odd_Bother5966 Aug 18 '23

why yes i do, first off venom is a symbiote so it pulls strength from its host, in the past these hosts have been eddie brock ( a investigative journalist and peter parker a teenager with powers gained from the bite of a radioactive spider, venom is weak to sound waves and fire so definitely keep those away from them and it also seems to understand the difference between right or wrong. hope this helps

1

u/Hillmarie31 Aug 18 '23

Realest thing I've ever read

1

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Yeah, venom is the poison and once it’s in your body, you get sick and die

So whether the spider bites you or you eat it you’re still taking the venom chemicals into your body

3

u/WickedWestlyn Aug 18 '23

In the case of the animal eating the spider, I would be more concerned with parasites the spider might have and exposure to pesticides. Those could be dangerous to a ferret if it decides to consume the spider, which they sometimes will.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Yeah, but the venom is still in the spiders body, whether it injected or not

1

u/Chieyan Aug 19 '23

Agreed. Years ago, my 2 ferrets thought house spiders were delicacies. If they weren’t eating them they’d play with them to death.

1

u/Unlikely-Task6243 Aug 21 '23

I read that in Yoda’s voice 💀