Arachnophobes, look away now! Mum captures the ‘absolutely insane’ moment she discovered a huge spider devouring a MOUSE on her doorstep

This is the ‘absolutely insane’ moment when a mother leaves her house on a school trip to find 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.

When they opened the front door, they came face to face with one of the largest spider species in the US, with an ‘unusual’ victim in its jaws.

Meagan said: ‘At first glance I thought it was a piece of dog poo and I was annoyed that a neighbor would let that happen and not clean it up.

“But as I got closer, I realized it was moving a little, and I immediately but calmly instructed my son to step back, as he was about to unknowingly step on it.”

‘Once I was sure my son was behind me, I inspected it and realized it was in fact a mostly dead mouse with a huge wolf spider on top eating its head.

“There were little tufts of mouse fur everywhere, as if there had been some kind of battle 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 US.

It was, she said, “a very neat observation.”

But fear came before fascination with Mrs. Wallace.

She said: “My first reaction was disbelief and shocked awe.

‘I’ve worked really hard to stop being as scared of spiders as I was as a child, but this has absolutely taken me by surprise.

“I knew my son was right behind me, so I swallowed my initial reaction and switched to curiosity so I could show him how cool this absolutely crazy event is.

“I was panicking internally, but I kept it together for my child.”

Ms. Wahlberg, who teaches at Angelina College in Lufkin, said the spider could have scavenged the prey of another animal, but most likely killed the mouse itself.

She said: ‘Wolf spiders are active predators, so it is likely that the spider killed the mouse itself rather than scavenging, but without seeing the interaction take place we can never really know.

‘It is unusual for a spider to take down such large prey, but it is seen often enough with the larger spiders.

‘However, most reports of spiders feeding on vertebrates are about orb weavers and widows.

‘Both have a web that initially entangles the prey, and then they use their venom to finish it off.

‘Wolves spiders make webbing, but they do not hunt with webbing, therefore it would rely solely on its strength, speed and venom to bring down prey.’

For Ms. Wallace, an environmental scientist, it was unlike anything she had seen before.

She said: ‘I have traveled all over the world doing research and fieldwork 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 this one eat this mouse, which was much bigger than itself, was definitely one for the record books.”

After taking some photos and videos, Ms. Wallace left nature to do her thing.

She joked, “I had no idea what to do about it, and part of me hoped that the spider would remember my kindness and choose not to come after me now that it has tasted of flesh.”

For little Jameson it was an exciting encounter that he could tell the whole class about.

And ultimately it was a learning experience for Meagan too.

She said: ‘I’ve learned that I’m pretty good at keeping it all together, despite what would have been an absolute nightmare to watch at one point in my life.

“It showed how much growth I’ve had since becoming a scientist and a mother, and honestly, it gave me some interesting insight into wolf spider behavior.”