Why Does Not A Spider Get Caught In Its Own Web?

Spider Web

Spiders build their webs to trap flies and other insects for food.  An insect is unable to escape once it has become caught in the spider’s web.  The more the insect struggles, the more it becomes entangled in the sticky threads. A spider’s silk is strong enough that most insects cannot break through it. 

A web-spinning spider does not become caught in its own web.  When walking across the web, it grasps the silk threads with special hooked claw on each foot.  The spider also secretes an oily liquid onto its legs and feet that prevent the sticky silk from sticking to its body. – Dick Rogers

How does a spider spin its silk?

A spider spins its silk by releasing a liquid through its spinnerets.  The liquid hardens into a silk thread as soon as it touches the air.

Spiders are small, eight-legged animals that are best known for the silken webs they spin. Spiders have spinning organs called spinnerets on the underside of their stomachs.

Through the spinnerets, spiders release a liquid that hardens to silk as soon as it touches the air. The spider cannot force the silk from its silk glands in a stream.  When it is spinning a web it pulls the silk from the spinnerets with a hind leg.

Spiders use their silk in many ways.  Some spin webs to catch insects for fond.  They also line their retreats and nests with it.

Most spiders enclose their eggs in a protective eggs sac, or cocoon of silk.  The newly hatched spider lings may migrate to new homes by spinning silken, gossamer threads carried by the wind.

The spider traits a drag line wherever, it goes.  It can swing down to the ground from high places or swing out of reach of any enemy.-Dick Rogers