Spider vs. Snake

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Friends were swimming in Bull Creek when they noticed a snake skin hanging from a deeply undercut high bank.  When they swam over to retrieve it they discovered that the snake was still in it.  A wolf spider had a firm grip on it and was munching away.  It was able somehow to hold the weight of the snake in spite of clinging on an overhanging lip.  This is not a spider you would want to run into in a dark alley, let alone your bathroom where we find them occasionally.  They were able to film this cellphone video.

The victim is a midland brown snake, aka Dekay's snake (Storeria dekayi). They are 9-13 inches long and live mainly in moist soil where they consume mainly slugs and earthworms.  They have long teeth that let them cling to a snail until it finally gives up and is pulled out of the shell.  Their scales have keels, a raised line down the center like the keel of a boat as seen in the picture above.

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Dekay's snakes give live birth rather than lay eggs with babies 3" long. Their main defense against predators is flattening their head and putting stinky poop on their predators. Spiders can detect odors from special organs on their legs and pedipalps but this one didn't get near the snake's rectum. Smithsonian

I was unable to find any reference to a wolf spider eating a snake.  I will leave the final interpretation to you although the video is very convincing.

Thanks to Garin Ferguson for finding it and to "Snakebite Jon" for swimming over an 8 foot deep stretch of water with an Iphone to get the pictures and video.