- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
- Messages
- 9,625
That's why I prefer the big fat spiders. They gotta eat. They would eventually develop a taste for the Asian beetles/ladybugs. Who knows, maybe even the mice?.............Much prefer spiders to flying bugs that bite. If only I could get the spiders to eat ants and ladybugs.......
Trivia: As far as I know, man has not been able to manufacture fibre as light and strong as spider webbing, so I gotta admire them (the spiders that is).
I did have a covey of quail walk through the yard one fall and they were feasting on the Asian beetles but quail around here as as scarce as,, well, hen's teeth.
As to the strength of spider silk, I believe that it has been surpassed by carbon fiber. I did see an article where scientists were attempting (unsuccessfully) to feed carbon nanotubes to spiders in order to get them spin out a stronger silk. Spider silk is some of the finest. It had been used for making crosshairs for optical equipment. Fabric has been made from the silk but it is hard to harvest. It doesn't unwind as easily as silkworm silk so unraveling webs or food or egg caches isn't practical. They apparently take the silk directly from the spider. Here is a link to an article about one of the largest pieces of fabric made from spider silk. https://www.wired.com/2009/09/spider-silk/