Who are the spiders. And yet how many legs a spider has - six or eight

To live, the spider must eat

One of the most important topics in the science of the content of domestic spiders is the topic of feeding.  Moreover, the importance of this topic extends to absolutely all kinds of spiders of home content - whether on, or on what other kind of these creatures. Therefore, today we will try to find out about the councils, and the rules for feeding spiders, than you can feed such fluffy pets, and what to give them is not recommended.

If you plan to start a spider or have already started it, then you need to know this information without fail ...

How to Feed a Spider

In nature these predators feed on everything that moves, taking into account their size and commensurate their capabilities.  Living in your terrarium, which you have equipped for your home spider, this pet is left to rely solely on your choice in matters of nutrition. Therefore, we would recommend that you consider options for making a feeding ration for your spider cutie from fodder insects. Such as Argentine, marble, Turkmen and other types of cockroaches (except for domestic - why? Read about this below).

Than you can not feed spiders

After the item that can be given to food for spiders, we naturally suggest that you consider the point that they can not be given food. So, despite the fact that there is an opinion that the spider can be fed with small vertebrates and even birds (they say, the spider is a tarantula, and there's nothing to think about what to eat) - it's not worth to feed them with frogs, mice and birds. The fact is that as practice shows, very often after such feeding spiders begin to get sick, and then completely die. Indigestion, or some other reason, but we would not recommend risking.

Also, you can not feed spiders with domestic cockroaches, let alone release them to hunt them. Cockroaches can be sick, or migrate to you from neighbors, already poisoned, and after such a noble dinner, your spider can stretch out its paws. Oh, you do not want this to happen?

It is also not recommended to give a spider of insects, which you yourself caught on the street. This, of course, is good that you care about your pet so much that they have become a getter for him, but like cockroaches, such insects can be sick or poisoned, and ... farewell spider.

If so there were circumstances that your spider was left without food, and you can not get such food for him in the pet shop (weekends, holidays), so that your pet does not go hungry, you can still go on a "hunt". True, collect insects as far from the road as possible. After that, inspect them and rinse with water. If possible - they can be placed in quarantine - if there is no possibility, hope for the best and feed your spider.

As for the prohibition of feeding frogs, newborn mice, it is still a heavy meal for your pet and it will feed on it for several days, and during this time it will have time to decompose and be filled with corpse poisons in a warm terrarium. If you still can not wait to see how your spider will cope with the mouse - make sure that the animal is healthy, and its size does not exceed the size of the spider itself. Since in such an unequal battle no one knows who will win.

Do not give spiders as a food of other predatory insects. For example, mantis, skolopendra or other spiders. In this case it will not be clear who you are feeding, and who acts as a live lunch. So, remember - feed spiders at home better feed insects.

How often to feed a spider

The frequency of feeding depends on the age of the spider

Well, such nuances as what can be given in food, and what is impossible - we have understood. Now, we suggest to talk about the frequency of feeding. So, for an adult spider, the optimal schedule for food is the following schedule - 1-2 times a week. In case you see that the spider does not eat up its meal and does not look hungry, the frequency of feeding can be reduced, and try to feed it once a week. In general, you must orient yourself to the appetite of your pet: it wants to eat - let it eat, does not want - it should not be forced.

By the way, to determine whether the spider is full, you can by the size of its abdomen, if it increased by 2-3 times than before the start of the meal, it means that the spider is better to drive away from the feed, and its remains to take.

Some spiders are real gluttons, and do not control their appetite. But in this case they are not threatened with obesity, but with an abdominal rupture, which, in principle, is no longer treated. So, a nutritionist for your spider, you must be yourself.

Small spiders need to be fed more often - they have a growing body, respectively, and their servings should be smaller. Well, and give them a live "big" game in the form of mice, frogs - is strictly prohibited.

When you should not feed the spider

Sometimes your spider will be useful to sit on a diet. So, for example, immediately after the end of molting, it is not recommended to feed it. In order to find out when it will be possible to start giving him food, use this simple formula: what is the account this molt was (it is better to write this information in a separate notebook, so as not to be mistaken) + to her 3-4 days, in order for the spider's body to become stronger.

If several days in a row you offer food to the spider, but he refuses it stubbornly - do not be too intrusive. Give him a chance to starve. Some spiders may not even have a few months. For them, this is quite normal.

And by the way, remember the golden rule - the remains of food (live or already dead) must necessarily be removed from the terrarium. Get yourself such a useful habit. Then, for example, you will avoid such unpleasant situations as the birth of small cockroaches in your terrarium (if the female cockroach was pregnant) and their forays into your territory through the ventilation holes.

What to feed the little spiders

We already wrote about the fact that small spiders need to be fed more often, and portions of them should be small. That's just where to get such small insects? If there is a deficit in the nearest pet store, we can help you with efficient advice.

Acquire ordinary large insects and ... cut them into small pieces. Especially convenient is obtained with flour worms and zofobos. So, for example, one flour worm can last for lunch for 6-7 spiders.

Some sources on the arachnology and content of such write about the fact that spiders can be fed with bloodworms - this is both convenient and practical. However, we would not recommend you get involved in such a diet. Yes, spiders on the bloodworm eats away, begin to molt, but, since the bloodworm itself, with almost nothing else in its composition, contains nothing, your spider on such "grubs" is unlikely to grow healthy, large and beautiful.  So, think, what do you want - comfort for yourself or health for your spider?

The question of the number of spiders inhabiting our planet interested scientists for a decade. Expeditions were created to explore hidden places and search for rare species.

After the work done, an approximate number of species of spiders inhabiting the Earth became known. According to the latest data, scientists have more than 40,000 species.

Each species has its own subspecies and therefore the nominal number is many times greater than the originally set value. If you try to count all the subspecies of the genus arachnids, then the figure will exceed seven digits.

Types of spiders inhabiting different parts of the globe.

The most important species of the arachnids considered are:

Spiders are birds that are of special interest to fans of spiders. They are more often than other species chosen for maintenance at home. In turn, they are divided into dangerous toxic and absolutely safe for human representatives of the class.

Spiders, living at home, having a very small size and not capable of harming a person even in the case of a bite. There is a very small percentage of individuals posing a threat to human health. Most of them are harmless creatures.

Poisonous spiders that are dangerous to humans

Different kinds of spiders are endowed with individual qualities that help them survive in the cruel world of wildlife. The representatives of arachnids, having a special secretory fluid, capable of killing any insect or large animal, predominate in this detachment, unquestionably.

Spiders belonging to a group of poisonous. Among the most dangerous of them are the hermits, living far in the rainforests and biting a person. These are very rare specimens, but still, they have a place to be in the forest fauna.

Six or eight

We will not torment you with a long wait and immediately answer the question about how many legs a spider has. Eight! Yes, not six, like insects, namely eight. Therefore spiders are not insects. For these eight-legged creatures, a special class is distinguished-arachnids. In addition to spiders, this includes the eight-legged mites. But this is another story, and we will return to the spiders.

Short introduction

The structure of the spider is such that the very first pair of its legs are the so-called tentacles. They are like walking paws, but they are not used for this. They have other functions:

• first, they help the spider to touch the road, carefully probing it;
• secondly, with the help of them he brings food to his mouth.

The strong jaws (chelicera), which are in front of his mouth, help the spider in several cases:

• first, it is protection from enemies;
• secondly, by them he pierces through his victim;
• thirdly, chelicera help him to tear holes in the ground.

The internal structure of the spider, unlike many insects, has a complex structure. In his body are cobwebs, salivary and poisonous (in some species of spiders) glands. The latter are responsible for the development of the poison required by the spider for hunting and self-defense. The venom for chelicerae is injected into the victim, immediately killing her. Then he injects a drop of saliva into it, capable of turning insects' insides into gruel. When the "dinner" is ready, the spider literally sucks out all the juices from the victim at the expense of a special sucking stomach acting as a pump.

Why did he have eight paws

For everyday life, spiders, in principle, and there are six paws. The fourth pair of legs is a "reserve", so to speak, in case he loses one or two legs. These creatures do not have regeneration (restoration of lost fragments), and therefore, in case of loss of the limb, they are forced to remain lifelong for life. But does this interfere with their normal life? We do not think so, and that's why. French zoologists helped to sort this out. They noticed that "incomplete" spiders are not nonsense for nature. Approximately ten percent of individuals live without one or two legs, and this does not prevent them from hunting, defending themselves and multiplying. From which it should be concluded that the "backup" paws are the rescue of the spider in moments of danger. Apparently, when nature "pondered" how many legs a spider should have in its daily life, it "came" to the conclusion that the energy needed to regenerate lost parts of the body is more needed by spiders in other spheres of their life - for hunting, reproduction, growth and so on. It turns out that from birth, these creatures are endowed with an "extra" pair of legs! These are the wonders of nature! But if the spider loses more than three paws, it really becomes a well-deserved "invalid". Such individuals weave low-quality cobwebs, and hence, short-lived tenants in nature ... And in general enough already to take someone's paws! How many legs a spider has - all of it!

Hunting fever

Interestingly, regardless of how many legs a spider has - six, seven or eight, it never sticks to its own web. Do you know why? Yes, because he, excuse me, is not a fool to walk on glutinous and circular web threads, designed for his potential victims. He runs around the center of the (radial) smooth threads! And the location of his victim in a huge web, he defines, touching the thread: which of them stretched, and the prey!

Despite the fact that today we are surrounded by millions of species of all kinds of insects, both large and completely invisible to the eye, many people are completely unaware of how these insects look really, that is, in an enlarged form. For example, about how many paws a spider has, children are not told either in kindergarten or in school, and in the future a person simply does not think about it. Therefore, the structure of the body of insects remains a mystery to many, and when you have to deal with some nuances of this kind, often a stupor begins. Well, let's try to understand now what the spider looks like, and what are the peculiarities of its numerous legs.

Brief anatomical theory

The answer to the question of how many paws a spider can have is only one: they have eight. This amount does not depend on the size of the insect, its type or location. It is worth noting that often, looking at the image of a spider, many number as many as ten paws, but these calculations are erroneous. Just people confuse pedipalps, which are located in the nose of the insect, with an additional pair of paws.

In fact, the spider uses these two extremities to rake up food, to search through the receptors that are located on them, the safest way to travel, and also to control the balance. But never such insects do not use pedipalps as auxiliary limbs for movement.

Why does the spider have so many legs?

If information about how many paws the spider possesses is more or less familiar to many, then the actions that the given insect produces with their help are not known to everyone. First, let's take a look at what exactly all four pairs of legs represent, and then, on the basis of this, we will consider what it gives the insects.

Spiders are arthropod creatures, therefore, all their paws are some kind of tentacles. They are all possible receptors of smell, touch and many others. The spider's paws simultaneously perform the function of locomotion, recognition of danger, search for food and web weaving. Parent-arthropods with the help of their tentacles keep the cocoon, and if necessary, transfer it to another place. That is why spiders own such a large number of legs, which simultaneously serve them as hands, nose, vision and even the so-called "sixth sense."

A spider without a paw - the same full-fledged spider

Not so long ago an experiment was conducted in France, which proved that arthropods, who lost one or two of their limbs, do not notice this loss. For this, in one container were planted full-bodied insects, which have all the legs. In another they found themselves to gather, which for some reason lost one or two legs. As a result, weaving the web, obtaining food and other life cycles arthropods in both containers performed the same.

The fact is that the back pair of paws is given as a reserve. They use them in the event that they lose their front tentacles. By the way, this phenomenon occurs in nature too often, so you can easily find a spider at your dacha, who will own only seven or even six limbs.

The longer the paws, the more terrible the spider. Is it so?

Most of us have met such insects as spiders with long paws, which are gray and move very, very quickly. Someone they terribly scare, for someone they seem to be specks of dust, which can easily be blown away. However, few people know that these arthropods are not spiders at all.

In science they are called "haymakers", and in the people they are called simply "false-spiders". To recognize the haymaker and distinguish it from a spider is very simple. The first have a dissected abdomen, which almost completely merges with the cephalothorax. Spiders also have a holistic tummy, which is connected to the head with a thin membrane.

Conclusion

Knowing how many clutches a spider has, how it uses them, and what are the characteristics of their work, you can look at these insects with less fear, realizing that they are not as terrible as it seems. And that in reality only those arthropods who live in the southern regions and have poison in their pedipalps can cause harm.

Spiders are treated differently. But more often these predatory, and often aggressive creatures cause a man only fear or maybe even some disgust, someone will be curious and interested in them, and someone will want to move away from that place as quickly as possible, where he met with a spider.

But whoever really studies these creatures thoroughly, his life is arachnophiles, which are just love and admire these creatures, studying them, doing all the necessary research. They are also engaged in their breeding, and a thorough study of their structure and life.

And yet these strange and, at times, incredibly frightening creatures, which exist since antiquity, are of interest not only to scientists, but also often ordinary people, who are curious to look at them. But most often a question arises that worries all people regardless of age (children and adults), about how many legs the spider has. And around this there is a lot of controversy.

In order to receive the exact answer to the question  about how much all the same the paws of a spider, you can use one of two ways:

Of course, the second method is the fastest, as it is enough just to catch a spider, and just count the number of legs. But you can make a mistake!

Unfortunately, not all people know that the spider has not only paws, but also powerful mandibles, which are usually inherent in predators. Very often they are also considered, as are the feet. It is known that these spider mandibles are used to capture and then retain their prey. They are located on the head. But the legs of the spiders are located on the middle segment of the body, which is also called the cephalothorax.

As for the abdomen itself, it is completely free and there are no limbs on it, except the gill legs  and then atrophied. But these legs changed over time, which turned into ordinary cobweb warts.

If you go to find information that is always available, you should start with toxicology. It is known that sometimes spiders are credited with insects, but this is not true! If mistakenly take them for insects, then they should have only 3 pairs of legs. But it is known that these creatures are referred to a separate insect class, which by their characteristics are much closer to scorpions.

If you exclude all the errors and misconceptions in this matter, you can easily find the answer to the most important question about how many legs the spider has. It is known that they, regardless of the species, have exactly 4 pairs of legs.

The structure of the cobweb legs and their function

So, the spider has 8 legs or 4 pairs of paws. Each leg consists of 7 segments:

The feet of any spider's representative are very sensitive. On them there is a huge number of hairs-receptors. It is the legs that help determine when the victim is approaching or threatened by an enemy. It's the feet that help the cobwebs to recognize smells and orient themselves well in space. And the main function of the legs is to move around, dig holes and mounds, weave cobwebs, defend themselves against enemies, and attack their victims.

Spider experiments

Absolutely recently an experiment was conducted  in France, during which scientists tried to find out what would happen to the spider, if suddenly it would lose one or two of its legs. It turned out that they did not even notice their loss.

The experiment was conducted as follows: in a small container was planted several cobweb representatives, in which all the paws are in place. In another container were planted spiders, who for various reasons lost one or two of their legs. They were watched for a while. Scientists figured out that both weaving the web, and getting food, and other vital spider procedures in both containers performed the same.

But the results of this study can easily be explained: nature itself took care of spiders  and the rear pair of legs they gave in reserve, if you suddenly lose the front legs. By the way, there are a lot of such individuals. But unfortunately, it is almost impossible to meet a spider's individual with 4 or 5 paws. Usually such a loss can threaten him with a loss of life.

Length of the spider's legs

The length of the legs in the spider webs depends on its type. This is usually the result of, how one or another species has adapted to survive  in certain conditions of its existence. If you make a pedestal of record holders for the length of the legs, the first six positions would be occupied by the following types of spider webs:

Very often in life a person can be met by a spider with a long paw and a gray color of the trunk, which moves fairly quickly. Of course, each person reacts to them in different ways: someone just does not notice them, but someone is very much frightened. But not everyone knows that this arthropod is not a spider, although it is very similar to it. In the people he was called "false-spiders". In science they are also called "haymaking". To distinguish them is very simple, knowing the main distinctive features: the abdomen of such a "spider" is dismembered, it almost completely merges with the cephalothorax. But the spiders have a tummy quite solid and connects with the head with a thin membrane.