Bold jumpers not wanting to eat

[AnastasiaDivana]

I have two Phidippus audax and a tan jumper. I am having a problem with trying to feed the bold jumpers anything but flies. I tried tiny mealworms and just went and bought small crickets but they refuse to eat them. I also tried small moths. The tan will eat crickets and small moths but not mealworms. The problem is I'm having a hard time getting flies because it is getting colder (canada) and when I tried to cultivate the flies the maggots kept dying. Any advice? Not sure what to do for food for the fall and winter for my bold jumpers.

 

[Ungoliant]

Do you have access to red runner (Blatta lateralis) nymphs?

 

[AnastasiaDivana]

Do you have access to red runner (Blatta lateralis) nymphs?

I don't think I do. I also have been looking online to see if I can find anyone that ships to canada for different types of insects for the spiders but have not had much luck . Unfortunately I don't have many reptile or arachnid stores around where I am either

 

[BenLeeKing]

Are they plump? If they are then that means they can go a while without a meal.
Few things I've also noticed:
-Males are harder to get to eat, so your best bet is feed males smaller prey.
-Make sure they get some privacy, jumping spiders are harder to tong feed.
-Flying prey seems to be preferred, I see you have trouble getting flies, I guess try catching some? or moths maybe?
-They could be thirsty, spray some water into the enclosure.
If it still doesn't eat but has constructed a dense opaque web, that means it is molting time~ So don't worry.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Wait a week before the next feeding if the spiders are plump. Then offer pinheads or small crickets.

 

[AnastasiaDivana]

Are they plump? If they are then that means they can go a while without a meal.
Few things I've also noticed:
-Males are harder to get to eat, so your best bet is feed males smaller prey.
-Make sure they get some privacy, jumping spiders are harder to tong feed.
-Flying prey seems to be preferred, I see you have trouble getting flies, I guess try catching some? or moths maybe?
-They could be thirsty, spray some water into the enclosure.
If it still doesn't eat but has constructed a dense opaque web, that means it is molting time~ So don't worry.

I feed them every 4-5 days and I know the males are tricky to feed sometimes. I spray water in their enclosures as well. I am catching the bottle flies for them but it's getting colder so not as many flies and I have had a problem everytime I try to cultivate them and the maggots die. I know when they are going to molt because they hide in their webs and make it bigger. They both just molted last week. I can put a fly in and they will hunt it down and eat but they seem to be afraid of anything else. I've tried small crickets and moths and still they won't. Also they aren't very plump. The female was before her molt but after two days she came back out and wasn't anymore.

 

[Jadestone]

You could try either taking the larger back legs off of the crickets or holding the new prey with tongs so that they can examine it with out it moving around too much.

 

[AnastasiaDivana]

I tried holding the cricket up to them with tongs and the female seemed interested at first then turned away and went in her web. The male had no interest.

 

[Jadestone]

If you haven't already, try just leaving a cricket in there for a few days or so. Eventually, they should catch on that its food.

 

[AnastasiaDivana]

I left the cricket in the females cage and it died recently but she went and fed on it the next day. Is it possible she might eat them now after realizing it is food?

 

[Jadestone]

Probably, but she won't need to be fed for a little while after eating it. Another possible reason she stayed away could be that she didn't want to injure herself on something she isn't familiar hunting.