black widows?

Question

Do black widows eat their mates?

Answer 1

Sometimes.

The female of the species is black with the trademark red hourglass. The male usually has yellow and red bands and spots over the back, but he's not poisonous. The young look a lot like the adult male and are also not poisonous.

Answer 2

Hello,

In fact in some varieties of black widows, the male has been known to hang around the web with the female for a while and share meals. However, it is true that after the male and female mate the female has been known to act aggressively toward other males. I don't know why for sure. Maybe it just makes her crabby. In some spider species the act of mating puts the male's naughty bits very close to the mouthparts the female uses for stabbing and sucking. If the guy spider isn't very careful, it gets stuck on these mouthparts and is killed. So the females figures, "What the heck. It's a free meal" and eats him up. Of the 20 to 30 species of widow spiders, only a few eat the males. Under natural conditions, most males, unless they're in bad physiological shape, easily escape the female.

Answer 3

Yes the female spider attempts to eat her mate after breeding with him.

if the male spider is fast enough, she wont catch him.

That is y they r called black WIDOWS

Answer 4

Good answer for sarah. I can answer her question why. Because the little extra protein the male gives allows her to lay a few more eggs.

Answer 5

They certainly try to unless he's very fast and sneaky. I'm sure it saves a lot of heartache and trouble for those girls later.

Answer 6

Yes.

I've seen many a documentary on that subject.

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