4/8/2004: Big-ass spiders

[Undertoad]

urg

This species possesses no poison and relies on strength and speed. It is carnivorous and lives on a diet of insects, spiders, scorpions and small lizards. It is so voracious that it will feed until it is too bloated to move effectively. Prey is held between the forceps of the Chelicerae and chewed with such vigour that a solifugae eating a beetle can be heard over a distance of several metres...

OH dear:

Mating habits are different from those of other arachnids. The male courts the female by stroking her with his pedipalpi and forelegs. This reduces her to a passive state, as if anaesthetized, whereupon the male lays her on her side. Raising his body he ejects a mass of spermatozoa onto the ground, picks it up with his chelicerae and forces it into the vagina. He closes the opening and waits a few moments and then hurriedly departs before the female has a chance to grab and eat him.

I've used that technique before.