What do they eat?
The black widow consumes other spiders and insects captured in its web-like many other spiders do. But contrary to popular belief, females do not often consume their partners, claims the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, Washington.
The museum claims that the majority of black widow males "survive to mate another day" and that the Southern Hemisphere is the only place where mate cannibalism in Latrodectus species is known to occur naturally. The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) notes that once black widow young hatch from their eggs, they frequently consume their recently hatched siblings.
The Missouri Department of Conservation reports that black widows commonly catch and eat small vertebrates like snakes and lizards in addition to flying and climbing insects and arachnids. The black widow spider uses a deadly bite to stun its victim once it is entangled in its web. According to the Department of Entomology at Iowa State University, once the prey has stopped moving, the spider releases digestion enzymes into the prey's body and then transports its food away to be consumed (ISU).
