#3 :: Along came a spider

Intro music: "Cabin by the Lake " by The Pantones.

Jake Hello, and welcome to Insectapod Cast, a product of the Michigan State University Department of Entomology. Today, we discuss an elusive hunter with lightning-fast striking capabilities and a unique, hidden home. Most people haven’t heard of these creatures, and even if they have, they haven’t likely seen them. They are trapdoor spiders. In this episode, "Along came a spider," we uncover the unique construction of the trapdoor spider home, and why people are more likely than ever to have them as pets in their own homes. I'm Jake McCarthy, the next voice you'll hear is Anna Fiedler, and this is InsectaPod Cast.

Anna We talked with Dr. Richard Snider, Professor of Zoology and Entomology, Undergraduate Director, and Curator, at Michigan State University, about the biology and web structure of trapdoor spiders. He told us you won’t find yourself walking through a trapdoor spider web, even if you stumble upon one. That’s because, as their name suggests, trap door spiders construct a home with a door that opens outward. This door, essentially a flap, is extremely camouflaged; trap door spiders actually incorporate tiny sticks, lichens, and stones into the door, so that when it’s closed, it is very difficult to spot. At this point, you might be getting concerned about running across a hidden spider on your next hike. This is unlikely in the northern United States where trap door spiders are only found as indoor pets, and, because trapdoor spiders generally try to remain undetected, only slightly more likely in the areas they inhabit in the tropics and subtropics, including the southern United States from North Carolina through Texas. Although trap door spiders are solitary animals, they do create burrows in clusters. Snider describes the sites where and when burrows are most likely to be found in the wild:

Snider “The trapdoor spider is one of the cleverest animals that I know of for camouflage. You just don’t go out and find them, many times it’s pure luck. A good trapdoor spider specialist usually scouts an area and tries to find an active spider. Usually that would be a male and it’d probably be late in the evening when they’re out hunting, some of them do hunt. Sometimes you can pick up a trapdoor, it’s about the size of a dime, or a little larger, maybe the size of a nickel, and you might be able to spot it. If you do, then you should be looking around for others, because there is a tendency for the species to cluster, even though they are solitary animals.”

Anna The door to a trapdoor spider’s burrow doesn’t work like a door in a building; it’s more of a flap at the soil surface. Construction of the door and burrow is painstaking for the spider- so painstaking that it doesn’t build a new burrow unless it’s absolutely necessary, for example, if the spider is attacked again and again.

So how does that door actually work?

Snider It’s really interesting how the spider does this. It’s a series of layers that they produce, like a disc, and they may produce a wafer-thin one or one that is quite thick. Some of the trapdoors are 14 layers thick. And the spider spins this, and over the opening of its burrow, and it’s a continuous process, they keep adding and adding and adding. As the animal grows older, it has to expand the size of the burrow, so it tears it’s trap door apart and the surrounding silk near that door and expands the burrow, then expands the size of the trapdoor. Now, when the trapdoor is spun, it’s continuous with the walls of the burrow. When the animal is done, it uses its jaws- or chelicerae, rather, fangs- to cut the trapdoor open all except the tiny spot that’s used as the hinge.

Anna Along with extremely specialized hunting techniques and the ability to build a lifetime home that adjusts with them, trapdoor spiders have a unique and very precise method of constructing the tunnel their nest fits into. The result: a waterproof haven, with not only a hidden door, but with all signs of construction concealed, as well.

Snider They are one of nature’s engineers, you know how we always talk about the beaver as being nature’s engineer. Well, let’s look at the trap door spider as an engineer. You’ve got to stop and think that they’re living in the ground, and there are a few holes here and there that they might make use of to hide in, but they generally form a burrow. How does a spider tunnel, it doesn’t have a pick and shovel? What it has are spines that are formed on the outside of these mouthparts on the chelicerae and they’re very stout and the animal uses them like a rasp. They scrape away soil then force it back from the anterior part of the body under the body to the legs, which are very strong and also armed with spines, and they form that into a little ball and they kick that out of the burrow. Later on, when the burrow gets deeper and deeper, it might get down there 6” to 8” in depth and they have to carry that little ball of soil out and deposit it on the surface away from the burrow, because they don’t want to give away where they’re at. So they’re very neat and tidy. But can you imagine using your mouthparts to dig your way through the soil? I think it’s fascinating, this clever behavior on their part of forming the burrow and at least lining part of it with silk so it’s very smooth. And actually before they put the silk layer down, they use saliva and fine soil to smooth out and line and harden the sides of the burrow. It becomes waterproof.

Anna You might think that with such secretive habits, trap door spiders would be one of the last insects people would want as pets, but that’s not the case. To answer what it’s like interact with these animals as pets, we spoke with Jason Boget, assistant manager of the reptile department – which, in this case, includes spiders – of Preuss Pets in Lansing. Jason has found out first-hand how the trapdoor spider door works. He describes in detail a run-in he had with a red trapdoor spider, the first trapdoor spider he needed to examine on the job.

Boget We’d just gotten it in and it was my job to roust it from it’s nest, so that I could examine it, make sure it was healthy, of a good weight, and didn’t need any special attention. Once I had gotten it out, as I was manipulating his web, which it makes almost like a web canister, it’s got a cup to it. It was in the cup, and it’s got a door on a hinge that it brings down, and it’s actually able to grab and pull, so I couldn’t open it’s door once it wanted it shut. So I very carefully took some tongs and gently pried open and ripped open the canister. Once it came out, it exploded out. It ignored me, it ignored me as much as it can, and then it exploded, feet everywhere. And it was rapid-fire striking at air. This spider couldn’t have been more than like 2 1/2, 3 inches. I myself am 6’1”, even out-massing it as much as I did, that little threat display was very effective. I immediately put the lid in, took a step back, and was like ‘wow’.

Anna It’s that potential for aggression, the threat of the spiders imminent and lightning quick emergence and return to the burrow, that captivates many trapdoor spider enthusiasts. The instant, without warning, in which the trap door explodes open and the spider lurches out to overcome a cricket and return to the burrow almost as quickly as it emerged, can capture the imagination, and enthrall people. Like many other things, the more rarely and quickly an event happens, especially when it has the potential to be gruesome, the more it makes an impression on us. Jason describes it this way:

Boget One of the coolest things about them isn’t them, themselves, but the images that it creates, and that’s actually what you see a whole lot more than the tarantula. The only time you actually see the trapdoor spider is when you feed it, and that’s for a blinding moment of speed and violence as it comes crashing out of its’ trap, grabs it’s prey, drags it back in, and slams the door shut, so actually 90% of the time, you’re not even seeing this spider. But it evokes images in our minds. We’re fascinated by cleverness, particularly hunting. We’re fascinated by powerful predators, it’s just always struck a chord in the human psyche, and I’m sure Freud would have all sorts of things to say about it, but I just find it fascinating that one of the cool things about the trapdoor, the thing that you enjoy on a day to day basis, is what you don’t see. And it’s all of the feelings and images that it provokes.

Anna So, seeing a trapdoor spider emerge from it’s web brings up feelings that are, for some, similar to those in horror movies. How do trapdoor spider owners see these powerful predators that crush their food and drink the juices inside, leaving just a dried leftover bit called “chub” that’s reminiscent of chewing gum? Do they develop bonds similar to those that I have with my housecats? They certainly are not guaranteed to be less expensive; some young spiders, called spiderlings, that are only ½ inch long sell for as much as $600.

One thing that strikes me about all of these pets is, first of all, the financial commitment that goes into them. You know, you’re talking about these spiders being really expensive, and the snakes and some of the other things are quite expensive, and also I think the emotional and time commitment that goes into them. I- People are used to getting cats and dogs but I think that I would like to hear what you think about how committed people are to pets like trapdoor spiders versus more fuzzy pets that we typically think about.

Boget Ok. Actually, oftentimes you end up having different bonds with some of your more exotic pets than you would with a cat or a dog. Actually, I’ve had, I have, a customer, who is as closely bonded to his Mexican flame-leg tarantula, as I feel towards my cat. But, most of us, it’s not quite the same bond. A lot of these animals, particularly trapdoor spiders, are not an animal you’re even going to have physical contact with, and as human beings, touch is a large part of our social interaction. So we oftentimes don’t bond to them as closely as an animal that we have tactile interaction with. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not personalities to us. I am, like many of my customers, where I definitely anthropomorphize my animals. All of my pets have names. My tarantulas are all named for fairytale women, I’ve got Cinder and Rose Red, Snow White, and they’ve all got different personalities. I pay attention to how they react to different things, and I have different bonds with each one of them. But then, there are others for whom they are a much more separate entity. And what’s fascinating for them, and certainly the trapdoors sometimes fall into this category, is to share space with such an amazing animal. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your best friend, which is good, you don’t necessarily want a trapdoor spider to be your best friend, it’s a bad comment on your life, but yeah, it’s definitely a different kind of bond.

Anna Realistically, is any old person likely to become an owner of a rapid-fire predator such as one of these trapdoor spiders? The group of trapdoor spiders that are related to tarantulas kill by injecting an enzyme which liquefies their prey. They also have control over the amount of this substance that they inject. However, they are not harmful to humans unless an individual who is bitten is injected with the enzymes and also happens to be allergic to the enzymes of a particular spider species. This means that while some people may have a strong reaction to trap-door spider bites, for others it is similar to a mosquito bite. Still, it does seem to take a certain kind of person and a certain attitude to own one as a pet.

Boget Well, as with anybody who’s interested in any animal, the diversity of people that it can be is way across the board, but where you see the most interest, the most common factor in someone who’s buying a trapdoor, usually this is somebody who has already been exposed to tarantula keeping, and it’s from that, and learning about that, that they become exposed to the trapdoors, whereas the average person doesn’t get exposed to a trapdoor out of nowhere. And then just the idea boils up within them, they think about it, it percolates, and they decide they want to try their own hand at it. On the order, as far as demographics, it’s probably going to fall right in with the demographics of the average tarantula keeper. There’s no such thing as a, you know, what they all look like. The most common you’re going to see is those young adults, guys, in the 21-28 year range, usually the people, certainly not the timid. It definitely takes a little fortitude to face down a little guy that you know wants you dead- and we don’t hold that against them.

Anna Jason told us that trap door spiders are gaining favor as pets, and that as people learn more about them, through friends and online resources that didn’t exist 20 years ago, he sees a widening spectrum of pet owners turning to trapdoor spiders. We asked him if he had seen evidence that people’s attitudes about spiders, attitudes that are so often characterized by fear or disgust, have become more receptive.

Is interest in spiders and view of spiders of pets changing?

Boget Actually, that’s seen huge, huge metamorphosis as well. If you looked back at the spider industry, just like, say 30-40 years ago, they were kept as oddities in the house. You know, almost as a personal one –man in your bedroom freak show. Which there is definitely that draw. Now as people understand an animal’s reliance on their environment for their health, people are seeing them as their own individual beings, and setting up environments that they’re going to have a quality of life and thrive, and have some kind of interaction with. So the way we looked at it from almost a moving product to a living creature and a member of the household, that’s made a huge impact on the tarantula keeping hobby today.

Anna There’s still no denying that trapdoor spiders are an advanced-level pet, though. There’s no fetch or cuddling with a spider. Instead what we get is a prime example of unique behavior, survivalist adaptation, and the power of creepy-crawlies to captivate our imaginations. That’s enough for many people, but after speaking with Jason we ran into a city firefighter taking a quick break at Preuss who just didn’t get it. Searching for a well-hidden tarantula in a small enclosure, he expressed his apprehension at the spiders’ pet-potential.

Firefighter Look at the scor...you see, the problem with these things is that you never see them. They're boring, just sitting in there.

Jake Thanks very much for listening to episode 3 of InsectaPod Cast, "Along came a spider." I'm Jake McCarthy, my partner is Anna Fiedler. InsectsPod Cast is a product of the Michigan State University Department of Entomology. InsectaPod Cast is paid for in part by the Ray and Bernice Hutson Memorial Entomology Endowment and it's home on the web is www.insectapodcast.com. Thanks again.