Does anyone know of any more “exotic” jumping spiders available in the US??

[AmphibianAddict]

Hi!! Now, before you say that this should be posted in the classifieds... I don’t know exactly what species I want just yet, so I didn’t think it belonged there; please correct me if I’m wrong! Okay, so, while most people in the invert community like their tarantulas, centipedes, and scorpions, I like my jumpers!! Tarantulas and centipedes kind of creep me out and I just don’t have that much experience with scorpions. So, I got into jumping spiders! I have two species right now, a salticus scenicus and a phidippus audax. The only other species I could find are phidippus regius and they look to much like my audax for me to get one. So, I was wondering if someone could get to any more colorful or personable species, I thought some peacock jumpers would be SUPER cool, but I doubt I could get to one (because of Australia’s stupid import laws). I’ve seen this little white spider online, but I can’t find the species name. So overall I can’t find very many species of this VERY underrated spider.

 

[chanda]

There are a number of other Phidippus species that are colorful and fun to keep. I've kept both P. nikites and P. johnsoni in the past.

Here's a little Phidippus nikites male that I found a few years ago. As a sub-adult he was white/yellow/orange with bright blue chelicerae, but when he matured he changed to black/orange with metallic green chelicerae. (Yes, all those pictures are of the exact same spider. Sorry they're a little blurry.)



The problem is, most species other than P. audax and P. regius are not widely kept or bred in the hobby, so your best bet for getting one is to collect it yourself - if you live in an area where they can be found.

 

[AmphibianAddict]

There are a number of other Phidippus species that are colorful and fun to keep. I've kept both P. nikites and P. johnsoni in the past.

Here's a little Phidippus nikites male that I found a few years ago. As a sub-adult he was white/yellow/orange with bright blue chelicerae, but when he matured he changed to black/orange with metallic green chelicerae. (Yes, all those pictures are of the exact same spider. Sorry they're a little blurry.)

View attachment 285227 View attachment 285228 View attachment 285229 View attachment 285230 View attachment 285231 View attachment 285232

The problem is, most species other than P. audax and P. regius are not widely kept or bred in the hobby, so your best bet for getting one is to collect it yourself - if you live in an area where they can be found.

Where are they native to? I might be able to get ahold of one. And I LOVE the coloration that they get when they’re adults, they look like little velvet ants!! Also, what time of year are they out and about? I could plan a herping trip!

 

[chanda]

Where are they native to? I might be able to get ahold of one. And I LOVE the coloration that they get when they’re adults, they look like little velvet ants!! Also, what time of year are they out and about? I could plan a herping trip!

Phidippus nikites is native to the west coast (California, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada). There are plenty of other colorful Phidippus species that range more toward your part of the country, though, including P. cardinalis, P. clarus, P. princeps, P. whitmani, and P. insignarius, all of which come in red/black or orange/black variations. Of course, many of them are quite small. It is their larger size that makes P. audax and P. regius more popular as pets. Also, you discounted P. regius as looking too similar to P. audax - but both species actually come in a variety of color forms and patterns. Check out the image galleries for both species on Bugguide.net.

The problem with going on a trip to collect a given species is that there is no guarantee you will actually find that species when you are there. I live in Southern California, but have only found a few P. nikites. I find P. johnsoni a lot more often - but even those can be difficult to find, just because they are small and usually fairly well-hidden, on the undersides of leaves and branches. The best time to find jumping spiders seems to be late summer into early fall, when they have reached full adult size, but I have also found juveniles and subadults earlier in the year (late spring into early summer). A canvas sweep net can make it a little easier to find them, by dragging it gently through tall grasses, weeds, and light shrubs. I can usually pick up an assortment of small jumpers and crab spiders that way - though not necessarily any given species.

I'd be willing to bet that if you went out on your local hiking trails or into (pesticide-free) parks or gardens and looked really closely, you'd find an assortment of jumping spiders practically in your own backyard.

 

[pannaking22]

Hi!! Now, before you say that this should be posted in the classifieds... I don’t know exactly what species I want just yet, so I didn’t think it belonged there; please correct me if I’m wrong! Okay, so, while most people in the invert community like their tarantulas, centipedes, and scorpions, I like my jumpers!! Tarantulas and centipedes kind of creep me out and I just don’t have that much experience with scorpions. So, I got into jumping spiders! I have two species right now, a salticus scenicus and a phidippus audax. The only other species I could find are phidippus regius and they look to much like my audax for me to get one. So, I was wondering if someone could get to any more colorful or personable species, I thought some peacock jumpers would be SUPER cool, but I doubt I could get to one (because of Australia’s stupid import laws). I’ve seen this little white spider online, but I can’t find the species name. So overall I can’t find very many species of this VERY underrated spider.

Hyllus pop up in the US hobby every now and then. It's hard to say if they're worth it since Phidippus tend to still be sizeable and tend to be easier to get your hands on. Have you seen the orange morph of P. regius? Platycryptus undatus is another nice US species that gets large. Eris militaris is another nice US species. Habronattus and Sassacus could be other nice genera to keep.

Peacock jumpers would be alright if you don't mind extremely tiny spiders. They're smaller than S. scenicus.

Maybe poke through BugGuide and see if anything else jumps out at you (pun intended)? - https://bugguide.net/node/view/1962/bgpage

 

[AmphibianAddict]

Where are they native to? I might be able to get ahold of one. And I LOVE the coloration that they get when they’re adults, they look like little velvet ants

Phidippus nikites is native to the west coast (California, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada). There are plenty of other colorful Phidippus species that range more toward your part of the country, though, including P. cardinalis, P. clarus, P. princeps, P. whitmani, and P. insignarius, all of which come in red/black or orange/black variations. Of course, many of them are quite small. It is their larger size that makes P. audax and P. regius more popular as pets. Also, you discounted P. regius as looking too similar to P. audax - but both species actually come in a variety of color forms and patterns. Check out the image galleries for both species on Bugguide.net.

The problem with going on a trip to collect a given species is that there is no guarantee you will actually find that species when you are there. I live in Southern California, but have only found a few P. nikites. I find P. johnsoni a lot more often - but even those can be difficult to find, just because they are small and usually fairly well-hidden, on the undersides of leaves and branches. The best time to find jumping spiders seems to be late summer into early fall, when they have reached full adult size, but I have also found juveniles and subadults earlier in the year (late spring into early summer). A canvas sweep net can make it a little easier to find them, by dragging it gently through tall grasses, weeds, and light shrubs. I can usually pick up an assortment of small jumpers and crab spiders that way - though not necessarily any given species.

I'd be willing to bet that if you went out on your local hiking trails or into (pesticide-free) parks or gardens and looked really closely, you'd find an assortment of jumping spiders practically in your own backyard.

If I where to go, it wouldn’t just be for the jumpers, the west coast is filled with all sorts of other interesting herps and inverts, the jumping spiders would just be a goal.

Hyllus pop up in the US hobby every now and then. It's hard to say if they're worth it since Phidippus tend to still be sizeable and tend to be easier to get your hands on. Have you seen the orange morph of P. regius? Platycryptus undatus is another nice US species that gets large. Eris militaris is another nice US species. Habronattus and Sassacus could be other nice genera to keep.

Peacock jumpers would be alright if you don't mind extremely tiny spiders. They're smaller than S. scenicus.

Maybe poke through BugGuide and see if anything else jumps out at you (pun intended)? - https://bugguide.net/node/view/1962/bgpage

P.Cardinalis look amazing!! And the one on bugguide.net was spotted somewhere that I could actually god to!! I’ll probably end up trying to get my hands on one or two of those

 

[spookyvibes]

Not sure if these are native where you’re at or if you can find them for sale online, but look up Paraphidippus aurantius. I seen a few over the summer and I’m still kicking myself for not catching any. I did get this photo though!

 

[AmphibianAddict]

Not sure if these are native where you’re at or if you can find them for sale online, but look up Paraphidippus aurantius. I seen a few over the summer and I’m still kicking myself for not catching any. I did get this photo though! View attachment 285301

They look beautiful!! Where did you find them??

 

[spookyvibes]

They look beautiful!! Where did you find them??

In my backyard! I live east of Indianapolis in Indiana. Over the summer I seen two mature males and one female, all of them were that bright green.