Almost all spiders are carnivorous. They can eat insects, small birds,
mammals and reptiles, including poisonous snakes and other spiders,
which they first subdue with their poison. They inject their prey with
a highly lethal venom and, having no teeth, suck out the liquid from
inside their prey. Large spiders with longer and powerful jaws may eat
part of or even the whole of their prey. Spiders can live without food
from a few weeks upto three months, depending on species, size, and
age. They obtain liquid from their food and thus do not need water.
Many spiders spin webs to capture their prey. However spiders also have
other means of capturing their prey. Some spiders spit a sticky web
onto their prey. Others live in burrows with trapdoors. Whenever they
feel hungry they come out and catch an unsuspecting insect. One species
attaches a sticky drop to one end of its silken thread and holds it
with its first three pairs of legs. When an insect passes by, the
spider waves the thread at the insect and ropes it in, as it were.
Some spiders sit on flowers and catch insects that come to collect
nectar. Others spin a small web, hold it with their first few pairs of
appendages and then throw it on insects passing below them. Still
others feed on other spiders only and are called pirate spiders.
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