Can Marpissa muscosa be cohabbed?

[hjalfi]

I've heard that the Marpissa muscosa jumping spider (aka the European fencepost jumper, not a very memorable name) has social behaviour, including building nests close to each other and a social hierarchy. (a) is this true (it's from wikipedia and the quoted reference is talking about Marpissa marina, not muscosa) and (b) if it is, any tips on how much space to give them to avoid conflict?

The context is that I have a female muscosa who has had babies. I now have a lot of babies. Being able to put them all in a single enclosure would make things dramatically easier in terms of feeding and watering; plus, if they are social, cohabbing would provide a more interesting environment for them (I gather it's important to keep them stimulated as a juvenile in order to encourage brain growth!).

 

[Nicole C G]

Just because they live close to each other doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to put them together. They basically tolerate eachother from what I can see. Aka they don’t colonize. Not a good idea to force them to always be in close proximity. However, because they are her young she will tolerate them for much longer than just any old spider. If you’re willing to test this it’s up to you!

 

[hjalfi]

Actually, I did try introducing two of the juveniles to each other. Umm... I suppose the good news is that I didn't have to feed either of them that week?

I now have twenty individual spiderling enclosures. Adding a single fruit fly to each one takes a surprising amount of time.

 

[Nicole C G]

I now have twenty individual spiderling enclosures. Adding a single fruit fly to each one takes a surprising amount of time.

I would imagine! Its hard enough as it is to put a fruit fly in my Jumpers cage. I couldn’t do that many!