This is the “absolutely crazy” moment when a mother who was going to school leaves her house and finds a huge spider devouring a rodent on her doorstep.
The gruesome scene confronted Meagen Wallace and her three-year-old son, Jameson, as they left for preschool in Austin, Texas.
Opening the front door, they found one of the largest types of spiders in the US, with an “unusual” victim in its jaws.
Meagan said: “At first glance I thought it was a piece of dog poop and I was irritated that a neighbor allowed that to happen and didn’t clean it up.”
“But once I got closer I realized it was moving slightly, and I immediately but calmly told my son to take a step back as I was about to unknowingly step on it.
This is the “absolutely crazy” moment when a mother who was going to school leaves her house and finds a huge spider devouring a rodent on her doorstep.
The gruesome scene Meagen Wallace and her three-year-old son, Jameson, faced when they left for preschool in Austin, Texas.
“Once I made sure my son was behind me, I inspected it and realized it was actually a nearly dead mouse with a huge wolf spider eating its head off.
“There were little clumps of mouse hair everywhere, like there had been some kind of fight beforehand.”
Texas arachnologist Ashley Wahlberg, known as the ‘Spider Lady’, said it was a wolf spider of the genus hogna, one of the largest found in the United States.
It was, he said, “a very clear observation.”
But fear came before fascination for Wallace.
She said: ‘My initial reaction was disbelief and horror and shock.
‘I’ve worked really hard to not be as afraid of spiders as I was when I was a child, but this definitely took me by surprise.
Opening the front door, they found one of the largest types of spiders in the US, with an “unusual” victim in its jaws.
Meagen Wallace and her three-year-old son, Jameson, stumbled upon the gruesome scene while going to preschool in Austin, Texas.
‘I knew my son was right behind me, so I swallowed my first reaction and switched to curiosity, so I could show him how cool this absolutely crazy event is.
“Internally I was going crazy, but I stayed calm for my son.”
Wahlberg, who teaches at Angelina College in Lufkin, said the spider could be scavenging for prey from another animal, but most likely it killed the mouse.
She said: “Wolf spiders are active predators so it is likely that the spider killed the mouse rather than looking for food, but without seeing the interaction we will never really know.”
“It is unusual for a spider to take down prey of this size, but it is seen quite frequently among larger spiders.
“However, most reports of spiders feeding on vertebrates refer to orb weavers and widow spiders.
‘They both have their nets in which the prey is initially trapped, then they use their poison to kill it.
After taking some photos and videos of the encounter, Ms. Wallace let nature take its course.
“Wolf spiders make webs, but they do not hunt with them, so they would simply depend on their strength, speed and venom to hunt their prey.”
For Wallace, an environmental scientist, it was like nothing she had ever seen before.
She said: ‘I have traveled all over the world conducting research and field work in remote jungles and forests.
‘I’ve seen a lot of crazy things, but I’ve never seen this in my life. I honestly didn’t even know wolf spiders ate things like rodents!
“I’ve seen them eat every insect under the sun, but watching them consume this mouse that was much larger than itself was definitely something for the record books.”
After taking some photos and videos, Ms. Wallace let nature take its course.
She joked: “I had no idea what to do about it, and part of me hoped the spider would remember my kindness and decide not to come after me now that it had tasted meat.”
For little Jameson, it was an exciting encounter to tell his entire class.
And in the end, it was a learning experience for Meagan, too.
She said: “I learned that I’m pretty good at staying calm in the face of what at one point in my life would have been an absolute nightmare to witness.”
“It showed the growth I’ve experienced since becoming a scientist and mother, and honestly, it gave me an interesting insight into wolf spider behavior.”