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So I'm sitting in my office and all of a sudden a small spider is gliding down on a web string from the ceiling, right in front of my eyes, and down onto my desk. It proceeds to make a few awkward movements which looked like it was having problems correctly coordinating its legs. Then it flipped on the back and had its legs curled up (like it was dying).

A few seconds later it suddenly started moving with the awkward movements (like it was trying to walk) for a few seconds before collapsing again. It's been doing this on and off about 3 to 4 times. As far as I can tell, the unconscious periods are becoming longer and the waking periods shorter.

What's happening here? Is it dying (of stress / bitten by a female spider / old age) ?

Edit: The whole process has now been going on for over 30 minutes. During the times it moves, it looks like it cannot use the foremost pair of legs. Here are two pictures of the (really tiny) spider with a shopping cart token coin for scale:

enter image description here enter image description here

James
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drmccoy
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    Images of the spider and your location will be helpful. – March Ho Sep 01 '15 at 13:55
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is anecdotal. – AliceD Sep 01 '15 at 13:57
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    Well thanks @AliceD, maybe you'd also like to point me into the right direction on how to ask this question without being anecdotal? – drmccoy Sep 01 '15 at 13:58
  • March Ho made an excellent suggestion. That would help and make it evidence based. Feel free to edit and I'm happy to retract. As of now all we can do is guess. Pointless. – AliceD Sep 01 '15 at 13:59
  • Taking somewhat good pictures took a while, and I'm afraid they won't do you much good as it's really hard to get a good shot of something so small. I hope it helps! – drmccoy Sep 01 '15 at 14:07
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    So--did it die? – Chelonian Sep 02 '15 at 15:23
  • Appearently, yes. However, it went on for over 16 hours, because when I came in the next day, the spider had moved again. Ever since then, it hasn't been moving again and I'm starting to think that it is really - finally - dead. – drmccoy Sep 03 '15 at 06:50
  • However, what kind of agony goes on for 16 hours for this little guy? I would have really liked to know some possible reasons, but it looks like nobody with enough knowledge about spiders is around :) – drmccoy Sep 03 '15 at 06:51
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    @AliceD why is this off topic? The underlying question seems to be "what happens when a spider dies"? It seems on topic as far as I can tell. – terdon Sep 09 '15 at 16:38
  • The mortality rate of spiderlings is very high and their death is a natural process. Since there was no source on energy available on the desk death occurred after stored energy was depleted. – walt Jul 09 '17 at 18:41
  • I have just witnessed the same thing occur! The spider (which was in my bathroom) looks to be the same species judging from size and coloration. This seems to me like a natural body process of sorts. At first I was skeptical it could be a sort of infection or parasite, as it was odd that a spider would, by itself, walk into a well-lit area and then roll over to die. However it seems incredibly unlikely that is the case, due to the similarities our spiders share. What are the chances of the same thing happening twice, even if it IS a parasite? Must've died or old age, or venom from another spid – LikeTotallyTara Jul 24 '18 at 08:27

1 Answers1

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Spiders do curl up their legs when they die. Since they do not have muscles for extending the legs at their joints, they control the haemolymph pressure in the legs by using the blood pressure spike from their heartbeat to extend their legs out or walk. And with no heartbeat (when the spiders cease to exist), they curl up upon death.

enter image description here

Source: http://www.informationsociety.co.uk/why-do-spiders-curl-up-when-they-die/

Bipasha
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