# Tarantula vs Mouse



## The Naturalist (Oct 13, 2007)

I have a large White Knee Tarantula in the classroom. Today a young House Mouse went scampering across the floor - girls screaming - we caught the little fellow. Since this is a science classroom I gave a couple of suggestions to the students as to what to do with it.
1. Let it go outside. (It will probably die, or get eaten by a bird)
2. Dissect it. (Girls screaming again)
3. Observe a predator/prey possiblity by placing it in with the Tarantula. (The number 1 choice)

I wasn't sure if the Tarantula would go for it. It took about 15 minutes then the spider bit it pretty good. The mouse went into the corner and sat there. After about an hour the spider went over and picked it up, bit it again, then let it go. After another 15-20 minutes the spider picked it up again and is now sucking the little mouse dry.
What a great teaching moment!


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## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

Pics? Video?


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

I couldn't even have watched it.. -)O(-


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

That is freaking awesome! I hope that some kid doesn't tell his/her folks about it and you get a letter from an attorney or the school district! I love it though. Real life nature right in front of their eyes. Nothing in the world like the real deal. My kid learned more helping me clean a deer, than in a semester of biology. I like your style!!!


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## pkred (Jul 9, 2009)

That's cool. From what i know about you Naturlist(sp) I wish you could be my boys science teacher.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

My response. :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: My wifes.. -)O(- GROSS!!! haha.


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## TAK (Sep 9, 2007)

Rock on! I would guess your class is one that many want to go to!

Now that said, some half ****ed parent is going to sue your pants off!


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Poor mousey!!! 





:wink:


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## duneman101 (Nov 6, 2009)

BRAVO!!! i am glad that someone can show these little punks a little bit of real life... Keep it up.


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Hey Naturalist, you could have brought your class to my house last summer on a field trip and seen a spider vs wasp. In this case the wasp won.. killed the tarantula dead. I noticed the spider moving in my driveway and when I walked up to it I noticed the wasp dragging it! :shock: The wasp then proceeded to drag it up the side of the house!..

A little while later my kids saw another wasp dragging another spider down the street from my house. These wasps seemed to be invading and attacking these smaller tarantulas.

[attachment=1:1861hica]rsz_wasp_vs_spider.jpg[/attachment:1861hica]
[attachment=0:1861hica]rsz_wasp_vs_spider(2).jpg[/attachment:1861hica]


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## jahan (Sep 7, 2007)

sawsman said:


> Hey Naturalist, you could have brought your class to my house last summer on a field trip and seen a spider vs wasp. In this case the wasp won.. killed the tarantula dead. I noticed the spider moving in my driveway and when I walked up to it I noticed the wasp dragging it! :shock: The wasp then proceeded to drag it up the side of the house!..
> 
> A little while later my kids saw another wasp dragging another spider down the street from my house. These wasps seemed to be invading and attacking these smaller tarantulas.
> 
> ...


F**k that! I hate spiders! I also hate bees, hornets and wasps. I wish they would have killed each other. -)O(-


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

That's pretty cool you got pictures of that stuff sawsman !!

I've heard of wasp in the San Diego area, that are huge, that do the same with the tarantulas in that area. In fact, Camp Pendleton.


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Those pictures dont do their size justice. They were pretty big..

I guess I could have placed my hand next to them for scale? Ya, right!! _(O)_


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## truemule (Sep 12, 2007)

jahan said:


> sawsman said:
> 
> 
> > Hey Naturalist, you could have brought your class to my house last summer on a field trip and seen a spider vs wasp. In this case the wasp won.. killed the tarantula dead. I noticed the spider moving in my driveway and when I walked up to it I noticed the wasp dragging it! :shock: The wasp then proceeded to drag it up the side of the house!..
> ...


++1 they both would have been squahsed, burned, poisoned, or whatever! Just gone! Thats just creepy as H.


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## The Naturalist (Oct 13, 2007)

Loke said:


> Pics? Video?


Two years ago I would have had all thirty students each period taking pics and videos on their cell phones, then that was the same group of Jr. High kids that became infamous for the sexting craze. Since then the use of cells phones is a big taboo and I don't have a camera in the classroom....I probably should get one.


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## The Naturalist (Oct 13, 2007)

sawsman said:


> Hey Naturalist, you could have brought your class to my house last summer on a field trip and seen a spider vs wasp. In this case the wasp won.. killed the tarantula dead. I noticed the spider moving in my driveway and when I walked up to it I noticed the wasp dragging it! :shock: The wasp then proceeded to drag it up the side of the house!....


Cool pics....Actually the wasp didn't kill the spider.... it paralyzed it.....sure looks dead though.
The wasp will take the spider back to its nest where it will lay one egg on it. The wasp larvae will then feed on the paralyzed, but living spider. If the spider was dead it would shrivel up and be no good to the larvae. What a way to go....being slowly eaten alive.


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

I hate mice! The only good mouse is a dead mouse, IMO. Go spider!!!


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## Hoody3 (Dec 24, 2007)

The Naturalist said:


> sawsman said:
> 
> 
> > Hey Naturalist, you could have brought your class to my house last summer on a field trip and seen a spider vs wasp. In this case the wasp won.. killed the tarantula dead. I noticed the spider moving in my driveway and when I walked up to it I noticed the wasp dragging it! :shock: The wasp then proceeded to drag it up the side of the house!....
> ...


Let him tell his own story!    J/K


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## dartangion (Jul 2, 2008)

I lived in Brazil for a while and there are some monster wasps down there. I liked them because they would kill (or paralyze?) the monster ****roaches. They also never bothered me cause you could always hear the loud humm when they were coming. We also kept geckos in our house to take care of any spiders/roaches/other freaky Brazilian bugs. Unfortunately they have a spider down there called "Mata Vaca" which translated to "Cow Killer," now I never saw one of these big boys kill a cow, but I did see one eating a huge rat and another eating a chicken...... -)O(-


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

I bet they would all make good fishing bait!


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