# Salticidae / Jumping Spider Caresheet



## Godzirra (Feb 22, 2009)

*ok i was putting together a simple caresheet for jumping spiders, i don't know it all so please correct me if i am wrong, if you have anything to add (I'll add to the list)...........so people can use as reference.*
I've also added some good links, with quotes too.

*Habitat:*
Need more wall space then floor, so a jar or a tall cage of descent size will do. 
Substrate can be anything from nothing, paper towel or most preferred substrate will do, avoid any outdoor soils.  You can place props and decoration such as leaves , but it isn’t necessary as they will web up their own hiding spots.  
Misting one side of the cage, several days a week should be sufficient.

*Temperature*:
Room temperature ranging from  60-70 degrees is good, they do not need any special lighting.

*Food:*
In the small range Crickets , mealvvworms, roaches can be fed dead or alive.  3 times a week or once a week


http://www5.pbrc.hawaii.edu/microangela/jspider.htm


> Jumping spiders, such as this one, lurk in ambush for their prey, then jump out to catch their meal. They have well-developed eyes to detect movement. There are some small jumping spiders living in our electron microscope lab, and you can tell that they watch what we do! They follow our movements very well.



good links

http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Salticidae&contgroup=Dionycha
http://salticidae.org/salticid/main.htm
http://www.arachnology.org/Arachnology/Pages/Salticidae.html
^^ links to more  jumping spider websites

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=38262
SALTICIDAE PHOTOTS  TOPIc ^^


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## Motzo (Feb 22, 2009)

Keep in mind that only some jumping spiders accept dead food.
Other than that, you've got a pretty nice care sheet.


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## Amelia (Feb 22, 2009)

Good timing!  Thanks!


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## Dillon (Feb 28, 2009)

yeah my p. regius enjoys the thrill of the hunt!!

dead prey would be boring anyways with a spider that leaps through the air and nails their targets.


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## Miss Bianca (Mar 2, 2009)

Godzirra said:


> *ok i was putting together a simple caresheet for jumping spiders, i don't know it all so please correct me if i am wrong, if you have anything to add (I'll add to the list)...........so people can use as reference.*
> I've also added some good links, with quotes too.
> 
> *Habitat:*
> ...



this thread could not have come at a better time... however... alot of those links within these links posted, are dead.


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## Amelia (Mar 6, 2009)

How about humidity? Is there a preferance with these guys?


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## Godzirra (Mar 8, 2009)

Severus said:


> How about humidity? Is there a preferance with these guys?


Not that i know of.
Mine survive fine in normal room temperature, and misting of the sides every weekend.


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## Godzirra (Mar 8, 2009)

JUST GOING TO UPDATE THIS TOPIC ON MY EGG SAC EXPERIENCE

I believe  she was pregnant for a month  or so before she laid the eggs.
I left the  eggsac with the mother.
I discovered the eggsac around the 13th of Feburary, 
On March 3rd, they hatched. 
So that was around 18 days.

I never fiddled around with them, or tried to feed her.
I sprayed once inside, but nothing else.
I would say, her container was in the 73 degrees temperature zone.
She thickened her webbing during the last couple of days before the hatched.

It's been 5 days, and i have not tried to feed her, i misted inside of the cage very lightly, and all the spiderlings made their way to the top, in a cluster - to drink i guess.


this is her protecting her eggs
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/la_exotique/Ranchy/jumpingspider004-1.jpg

this is  the  day that they were hatching
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/la_exotique/Ranchy/DSCN8963-1.jpg

and her is 5 days later
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/la_exotique/Ranchy/DSCN8995_001.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/la_exotique/Ranchy/DSCN8998_001.jpg


I'm going to let them feed on each other till they get to a reasonable size and amount.
Then I'll attempt to separate.


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## ZergFront (May 30, 2009)

*hehe*

It'll eat dead stuff if it's fresh and shoved in their faces. LOL! JK, but mine have taken dead insects from tweezers before. Just don't try giving them old, dry stuff. "Give me juicy!"


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## Nekotron (Jan 8, 2010)

I realize I am super late to this party, but what precisely does an eggsac look like? I recently received two regal jumping spiders for Christmas and one of them has begun acting strangely. I'm not sure if she was captured from the wild or was bred. She's quite easily an adult by size.

She's covered herself so that I can't quite see what's going on and she doesn't really want to eat anything I give her even if it's practically on top of her. She laid down a very dense coating of webbing on the side of the cage and the center has a very slight brown tinge to it. This seems to be where she's resting at most of the time and seems to be loathe to move from this spot. It is also hard to see, but I think there is a slight bulge there, but it's not spherical as far as I can tell. 

My friend also suggested that she might be in repose/hibernation, but I've made sure to keep the room fairly warm to the point where it can be uncomfterable to me since I love the cold.

Also, off-topic from the rest of my post, how does one "mist" anyway? Do I just have to spray a good amount of water into the cage so a few droplets form on the side and how often should I be doing that?


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## Motzo (Jan 8, 2010)

(Yeah, tweezers will work if you want to give your spider a freshly dead bug.)

@Nekotron:
A jumper's eggsac is usually nothing more than a white-ish bulge with yellow/red spheres inside. I often have to remove them so I can keep the slings in a container. Oftentimes, I just put them outside.
However, most jumpers construct a cocoon-like web to stay in, so it isn't a symptom of hibernation or pregnancy. Finding a way to get a peek inside would be good. Also, if she stays in there for more than a week it is safe to assume she's guarding eggs ^_^

As for room temperature, I believe P. Regius to be rather hardy. Room temperature should be OK for them.

Find any sort of sprayer capable of spritzing a small amount. That's pretty much all-- and you should have a content spider if you spray every week or two.

Hope this helps!


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## TheTyro (Jan 8, 2010)

Nekotron, if they aren't adults ( unless your positive they are adults, what I say below is irrelevant. But some regius get surprisingly large. Do you have any photos?) its possible she's just made a molting "chamber".

My P. Regius ( and all Phidippus, as far as I know) can really go all out in thickening their retreat for that purpose. The brown tinge could be her molted skin. If you see the spider pushing something out of one of the openings, definitely check it out. I love it when they "clean up" the garbage haha.

 My jumpers tend to remain inside their molting chamber for about two weeks and sometimes a bit longer when its their later molts. They rarely come out during that time for any reason. At most they poke their head out, turn around etc. So it could be a day or two when her new skin and fangs hardens up that she will come out. All of my 7 jumpers did that. Now if she's a mature adult, I'm not so sure. Probably an egg sac thing, which I have yet to experience with this species. I'm hoping I had a succesful mating.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Nekotron (Jan 9, 2010)

Two of the photos are her in her fortress. The other darker one was her before she constructed her fortress. She has a cricket in the darker one.

I think this is day three and she doesn't really seem interested in the cricket that is likely going to die of starvation since I'm not used to crickets just meandering about the cage.

If this is an eggsac she's guarding, is it possible to seperate it from her? I just got her and another smaller one that may not be an adult yet, and I don't want to make her that mad.

I had bought her a bigger cage since she was bigger than the other one, but the day after I bought the cage I woke up to see she had made a little fortress for herself.

Also, is it possible to overfeed jumping spiders? I typically feed the little one whenever she begins scampering about the cage, but I've fed her now twice in two days.

Also, should I include bits of lettuce or something else for the crickets to munch on if the spiders aren't hungry at the moment?

Finally, can spiders burrow through paper towels? Do the baby spiders immediately try to make a break for it? The cages I have won't stop the baby spiders from leaving and I was pondering clamping the lid on with a paper towel or two in the way since paper towels allow some air to filter through. All of my friends are telling me to just crush the eggsac if that is what it is, but I dunno, that seems really harsh.


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## TheTyro (Jan 9, 2010)

Looks like an egg sac to me! What some people do is put pantyose material over the lid. I'm going to be doing that as soon as my female regius makes her sac. Just put a rubber band around the pantyhose over the lid and you should be good. I've heard that the females tend to stay in the nest until they have hatched, but I'll get home and find some of the information that is very detailed about that process and link it here.

I personally wouldn't dare crush the sac, I plan on selling the majority of mine. I don't live in P. Regius's native habitat so there's no way I'll be releasing any. But if they live around you, I don't see why not. 

Your female looks a ton like mine from behind haha. Nice and big!

I have seen my spiders, when they were young anyways, make a nest in the little spaces between everything you can think of. Inside silk flowers, under the leaves, in the paper towel, etc. I have never seen them burrow through paper towels though. They do use their fangs like scissors to clip and cut open a hole their silk retreats if they accidently close it off.

I have my crickets in a seperate container, I bought cricket food for them but I know you can feed them like...that flattened oatmeal and slices of orange to hydrate them. You definitely could give them lettuce but I wouldn't make that their only food. I also hear fish flakes are great for getting the nutriens they need to pass on to the spiders when they are consumed. Just make sure you keep the crickets fed, they become lousy if they have been starving and usually die before the spider even notices em in their cage. So it'd be good for ya to get a seperate enclosure for them. 

As far as I know with my tegenaria gigantea spiderlings, the spiderlings are tolerant of one another for a good while.....it took them about a week to start spreading out. I fed them crushed crickets during that week but very few of them seemed to eat the cricket. I seperated them all ( that was fun, took about 2 hours to do XD) and put them in little cups with tin foil lids. Originally I had one spider to each cup, but I ran out. So right now my taller cups have about 5-7 spiderlings all in one. I assume that because funnel web spiders are more passive than jumpers, this might not pan out as well. 

Also, I don't think that particular sac would be good to remove. Its really stuck out on the side. Perhaps other people have done it, its something I need to find out. I can see it ripping and the eggs being exposed all weirdly. But who knows. I'll tidy this post up when I get home.


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## Nekotron (Jan 9, 2010)

I have a visual on the eggsac. I sprayed the opposite side of her cage, but the cricket wandered over there and dampened her fort a little so I could see the eggsac for certain through the bottom at an angle. She apparently knows when I'm taking pictures with my phone because in the picture I got you can see her two little eyes looking into the camera.

So, I guess I have about 10 days to figure out what I'm going to do. So, if anyone has any advice on how to keep them from dispersing through my room I'd highly appreciate it.


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## HnnbL (Jan 9, 2010)

Salticidae GALLERY >>>>>>>>>>>>CLICK HERE<<<<<<<<<<<


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## Motzo (Jan 9, 2010)

Taking out the eggsac is a tedious process, but it is necessary for those who want to get the little tikes outside easily. I'll push the spider into a different enclosure, cut the eggsac out with little scissors (and usually destroy the nest), and put the spider back in her place. Once you have the eggsac, it may be required for you to put a small incision in it-- the little spiders tend to just stay inside until presented with an opening (for me at least).


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## Nekotron (Jan 9, 2010)

Is it okay to move the mom instead of the eggsac? What's the easiest way to do so this? I was thinking trying to move her with a spoon. If I do move her should I do it as soon as possible? Finally will she remain mad or will this be detrimental to her health?

I was wondering how to seperate them after the spiderlings hatch and this would be easier but I don't want the spider to be resentful and bite me later or get ill from stress or depression. I'm not really knowledgeable about spiders so I'm sorry for the barrage of stupid questions.


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## mandipants (Jan 13, 2010)

For any one interested in further reading on Jumpers, I found this report VERY helpful:

http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v6_n1/JoA_v6_p1.pdf

It's specifically about Phiddipus johnsoni, but may be applicable to many of the jumper family.


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## Motzo (Jan 14, 2010)

Well, I've only removed around 2 eggsacs from my jumper, The other four I left in the enclosure. (she laid them one after the other, waiting for her first to hatch and spread before starting with the next eggsac)
As the babies develop, the mom leaves the nest more often to hunt. That is simply because the kiddos don't really need to be protected by her anymore. When she willingly leaves the nest, you can relocate her to another enclosure and she'll be cool with it. Then I'd just put the old baby-filled enclosure outside and leave it open for the slings to disperse.

I wouldn't worry much about a spider getting depressed, but I have reason to believe removing an eggsac would be a stressful event for the spider. However stressed she may be, though, chances are she wouldn't bite you after the removal.

Don't worry about asking stupid spider questions. I was just as ignorant (if not more) when I started keeping jumpers.


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