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Hi,
How does a glider need to touch an eater in order to "eat" it?
Do eaters (or fishhooks) still work if you place them upside down?

I am new to this forum, so tell me if I am not doing something like I should.

Thanks!

You can see several eater-and-object interactions in the graphic at the bottom of the wiki entry, including the eater about to eat a glider.
That is the only way that a glider can cleanly eat a glider, although the boat-bit reaction also works with eaters, in 2 orientations.
An eater can eat upside-down, or any other direction, but only if whatever it is eating is flipped or rotated accordingly.
There are also several other kinds of "eater", most notably Eater 2, Eater 3, and Eater 5, which you should also check out.

Thank you for the quick response!
I did not know about Eater 2, 3 & 5, and your reply was very helpful!