r/Stickinsects • u/Zerkig • 14d ago
My inattentiveness caused my macleay's spectre baby a gruesome death
Hey, I just need to get this off my chest really.
TLTR: wasn't paying attention, a spider hunted my macleay's spectre hatchling down 😐
So, a few of my annam stick insects and one macleay's hatched yesterday. I keep the eggs in separate containers in a "hatchery box". I was transferring the annam sticks to the "nursery enclosure" but I left the egg box opened and FORGOT about the macleay's spectre baby still in it. Well, it ran away, I searched for it and I did find it... caught in a spider web, already wrapped, immobilised. It was still alive, I tried to cut it free but the spider silk was stronger than the baby, so it was almost impossible to free it safely. The baby was thrashing frantically, as it was already bitten, and died minuteslater. I felt sooo incredibly bad. A perfectly healthy baby lost due to my disordered executive functioning or whatever.
I put it back to the web for the spider to finish it, and it did eat it, so at least the spider was "happy" but what the hell. I know that this is exactly what happens in the wild but it shouldn't happen to a pet. I like the spiders as they catch any pests that get into the house. I probably overthink this, especially as a 30 yo guy 🤦🏻♂️.
Thanks to anyone who read the whole thing! Does anybody else feel like a horrible person due to stupid mistakes like this?
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u/FormlessEntity_ 14d ago
You're not alone. Ive also made mistakes in the past, which lead to my woodlice killing my old stick insects. It was horrible and gruesome, but I couldn't do anything about it until I saw the problem. All you can do is make sure they don't escape again.
Forgetting a baby sucks but sometimes shit like that happens. They move so quickly when they want to :( at least the spider had a meal
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u/Zerkig 14d ago
Omg, I tried to make a bioactive enclosure for my sungaya years ago, everything was alright until I found a half-eaten stick insect still "alive" (idk how!). The "zombie phase" they sometimes undergo when dying of old age is quite horrific in general.
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u/FormlessEntity_ 13d ago
😭😭im so glad im not the only one who's experienced that. I had to get a family member to put them down because I'm too squeamish but couldnt let them suffer
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u/WeirdRequirement 14d ago
this was an easy mistake to make! don’t blame yourself. It was thoughtful of you to put it back in the web so the body didn’t go to waste.
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u/fivecoloursgirl 13d ago
Accidents happen, I’ve made two different mistakes that led to the death of a stick and felt horrible both times :( it just made me extra aware of what I was doing around them
Don’t beat yourself up, accidents happen with even the best pet owners and all we can do is learn from it :)
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u/WitmasterWeb 13d ago
You're very kind to care so much! Don't blame yourself. It won't happen again and now you know!
My own horror story was when I left my Sungaya inexpectata adults in the care of my housemate during my vacation. He knew nothing about stick insects. After some time I received a photo saying "wow, so cool" and they were hanging from the ceiling on a thread created by a spider 😭 my housemate thought it was their normal behavior and I had to beg him to find the spider and get it out of the enclosure. I felt horrible for a while!