Spiders

[apocalypse910]

So I set Loki on the couch a few days ago - and before I can react he goes running off full speed to the other end of the couch. He attacks something then starts shaking his head around like mad. I go look more closely and he's standing proudly over a spider he's just killed. He made no attempt to eat it.

Out of curiosity has anyone else seen their tegu go out of their way to kill spiders. There aren't any particularly dangerous spiders in our area, but given his size are spider bites anything I need to worry about? A few days have passed and he's fine, but given that he's going out of his way to find them I was wondering If I should intervene in the future.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

More than likely the movement caught his attention, he went after it and didn't eat it because he didn't like the taste of it. If this is the first time it's happened how do you know that he's going out of his way to kill spiders?
They are natural opportunistic scavengers, it could have been a cricket, praying mantis, or a beetle on the end of the couch and you would have gotten the same reaction.

It's a natural reaction to movement. Something smaller, possibly food run towards it, something larger possible predator fight or run away from it.

 

[apocalypse910]

More than likely the movement caught his attention, he went after it and didn't eat it because he didn't like the taste of it. If this is the first time it's happened how do you know that he's going out of his way to kill spiders?
They are natural opportunistic scavengers, it could have been a cricket, praying mantis, or a beetle on the end of the couch and you would have gotten the same reaction.

It's a natural reaction to movement. Something smaller, possibly food run towards it, something larger possible predator fight or run away from it.

I have no idea if this is an intentional habit or just a random occurrence which is why I was asking.

When he goes after bugs he always smells them first, basically he is always hesitant about new foods. Once he tries one he'll go into frenzy mode but never before. I've never seen him go after something like that with zero hesitation - which made me wonder if there was some instinctual response to spiders or just a matter of him being very hungry or impulsive that day.

I've seen him kill other bugs without eating them - mainly superworms, but he usually watches them for a while, hesitantly picks them up, then thrashes them a bit.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

With animals there's always instincts at play, a thought process and hesitation, the only thing that varies is the amount of time in which they react. Exactly how much, when or sometimes even how they know (threat, food or not) without previous exposure, we'll probably never have all the answers to.

People have some of the same instincts or intuitions, some are just more in tune with it than others.