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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dave Jay" data-source="post: 144231" data-attributes="member: 27677">As you see in the information Enn linked to the exoskeleton is ground up by the teeth and digestive fluids pumped over it so sometimes there might be very little undissolved material left at all. It might depend upon the state/stage of the insect or its exoskeleton and on the spider itself, perhaps sometimes the venom or digestive juices have different properties and are more "corrosive" than other times so there is less undigested material. Or perhaps it depends on how much effort the spider puts into getting the very last bit of possible nutrition from the prey. Perhaps when prey appears to be abundant they just top themselves up with the easily digestible fluids but other times they spend longer chewing and digesting?I watched an experiment on scorpion venom recently where they tested the venom, then "scared" the scorpion with a stuffed mouse daily for 2 weeks and tested the venom again, it had more of the properties that cause pain in mammals and less of the properties aimed at insects, less able to both kill and digest insects I would think. Maybe the composition of a tarantulas venom and/or digestive juices varies periodically too?</blockquote>