Mouse+spider


 * [[image:Mouse spider.jpg align="left" caption="Mouse spider (Source: Wikipedia Commons)"]][[image:Male Mouse Spider (Wikipedia).jpg align="right" caption="Male mouse spider (Source: Wikipedia Commons)"]]Mouse spiders**

Most mouse spiders are medium size spiders about 1 cm to 3 cm, but the Australian ones are the biggest. Females can grow up to 24 mm, but males are half that size, only 12 mm,

They have 8 legs, wide heads, a thorax (chest) and an abdomen (tummy). They have spinnerets at the back of the abdomen to spin their webs.

The females are all black, but the males have bright red heads and big fangs. They have venom in their fangs.

They eat insects, and other small animals when they can.

Other animals that prey on mouse spiders are wasps, bandicoots, centipedes and scorpions. They live in southern Australia in forests and deserts with shrubs. Take Care, Poisonous Australian Animals, by Dr Straun Sutherland and Susie Kennewell, Hyland House Publishing, 3rd Edition, 1999, 9781864470680 [] []
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