Some beginner questions about housing small jumping spiders.

[Stroomschok]

I have a Marpissa Muscosa in a big glas jar vivicarium (nicely decorated with pieces of bark and the like). Personally I'm more into keeping ants and only caught the little jumping spider to reduce the excess of fruitflies I'm breeding.

But I'm growing quite fond of the tiny jumping spider, named her Jackie, and now I have some questions to make sure she stays healthy.

When I put her in the jar she went nuts on the fruitflies, eating about 6 or 7 of them in only a few hours. But the next two days she hasn't caught one yet as far as I can see. I don't know if it's because the fruitflies settled down and now hardly move (they got a slice of banana to keep them fed), or because Jackie simply is sated and is just toying with them.

How much should I expect a close-to-adulthood, female jumping spider, the size of a fingernail, to eat if I feed her Dros. Hydei flies?

Secondly, should I provide her with extra water (bottlecap, wet cotton, or misting the vivicarium), or does she get enough liquids from her prey?

 

[Ratmosphere]

I'd feed her those until her next molt and see how big she gets. I had juvenile jumpers take down crickets larger than the actual spider, it's fun to watch them pounce on their prey. I like to get my jumpers on the fatter side as well. For water, I'd lightly spray a side of the enclosure daily.

 

[Stroomschok]

Thanks for the advice. I'd still like to know a bit more about their feeding rythm. If they had a big prey, how long until they need to eat again?

If they are full, will jumping spiders simply not catch prey, or will they try to catch it and just store it or drag it untill they get peckish again?

 

[Ratmosphere]

If they had a big meal and look fat, you could wait until they get skinnier to feed them next. If they are full they will not show interest in food until they are hungry again.