# OMG! I saw a spider kill another spider today

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-i-saw-a-spider-kill-another-spider-today/128467>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 14, 2002, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-i-saw-a-spider-kill-another-spider-today/128467 "2002-09-14T23:40:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-i-saw-a-spider-kill-another-spider-today/128467/1 "2002-09-14T23:40:47Z")

</div>

I was washing the outside of the windows today and noticed a spider wrestling with soemthing in its web. Closer inspection reveled that this spider had _another_ spider firmly gripped in it jaws :eek: It struggled briefly in the web before being dragged off into a crack between the windowframe and the wall to who knows what fate!  
I had no idea spiders actually did this. The sight of the smaller spider gripped in the others jaws being dragged off was a bit disconcerting.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-i-saw-a-spider-kill-another-spider-today/128467/2 "2002-09-15T00:15:13Z")

</div>

Even more disconcerting to realize it was probably a female who was about to devour her erstwhile paramour.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-i-saw-a-spider-kill-another-spider-today/128467/3 "2002-09-15T00:22:36Z")

</div>

more likely: he was the post-coital snack. Love 'em and eat 'em…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-i-saw-a-spider-kill-another-spider-today/128467/4 "2002-09-15T01:22:34Z")

</div>

☹

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-i-saw-a-spider-kill-another-spider-today/128467/5 "2002-09-15T01:26:23Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Pushkin \*  
> \*\*I was washing the outside of the windows today and noticed a spider wrestling with soemthing in its web. Closer inspection reveled that this spider had _another_ spider firmly gripped in it jaws :eek: It struggled briefly in the web before being dragged off into a crack between the windowframe and the wall to who knows what fate!  
> I had no idea spiders actually did this. The sight of the smaller spider gripped in the others jaws being dragged off was a bit disconcerting. \*\*

Spiders don’t make distinctions if an intruder happens to be caught in their webs. To them _anything and everything_ is considered food and is to be bitten and killed. There are certain species of spider where the female will let the new born spiderlings use her as a food source.

There are also a few species of spiders who build so called “communal webs” which are sewn together to form one great big web, but each spider in this big web tends to have its own territory, which it leaves at its own peril.