Getting started with Jumping Spiders?

[Bemottled]

Hey! I love tarantulas, and jumping spiders, too- the difference is I don't have any jumping spiders.
I'm not gonna jump into them right away. Like the millipedes, scorpions and roaches I want, I'm trying to research slowly (and move out) before I actually purchase anything.
I did find this thread as far as info, but I'm looking for a little more info than it provides.

• How does one get into keeping jumping spiders?
• Are there any books to read, or specific websites or threads to consult?
• Are they similar to keep to tarantulas? (water dish, no problems, no misting?)
• What kind of cage do they need? Can I use cocofiber substrate? Hides?

Honestly just a ton of newbie questions... along with curiosity about their scientific names, which are best to begin with, and where, exactly, I can purchase them?

 

[Aquarimax]

phids.net has some good care info and sells them too.

 

[Bemottled]

phids.net has some good care info and sells them too.

Thanks!

 

[Exuviae]

I would honestly probably just go out and collect some yourself rather than buy them, at least to start. I know exotic things are awesome, but a lot of the things in our backyards are pretty rad too! Not only are you minimizing your chance of losing money via premature deaths, but collecting and caring for local species is nice because you can observe them in the wild and then adjust their enclosures/care to more accurately fit their natural lifestyle. I haven't kept too many Salticids, but I've kept a good number of Phidippus audax, and I think they would be a pretty good place to start. They're relatively large and pretty (at least in my opinion), and I've had luck just keeping them in a vertical enclosure (I usually find them climbing on elevated surfaces) with some twigs and leaves to climb around on. I don't give mine water dishes, but I spray a few drops of water onto the sides of their enclosures every few days, and feed weekly, just like the tarantulas. Frequently, the crickets I have are too big for the Salticids, but in my experience, they're often willing to eat cut up pieces of prey. Also, I think cocofiber would be a perfectly fine substrate to use, but I honestly don't think I've ever seen any of my jumpers on the ground unless they're dead. It definitely wouldn't hurt to include it, but, in my opinion, it's not necessary. Just my $0.02.

 

[Exuviae]

Oh, and for the hides, I often just try to provide a curled up leaf. For the most part, they seem to make their own hides out of silk (like a little sleeping bag), but providing something like a folded leaf can help them tuck that little pouch into a corner.

 

[jaredc]

Phiddipus audux are pretty common where I am and they're super fun and easy to care for. I feed mine pinehead crickets or flies, gnats, and silverfish i find around the house. Like Exuviae said I just mist mine every few days. I keep mine in empty cashew containers from costco with a hole cut in the top and a hot-glued wire mesh. I also poke a few holes for cross-ventilation. Cheapest pest I ever owned! I have yet to breed them but I'd like to try and do a wild release. Curled leaves work well for hides, I've used hollow bamboo chutes which mine took a liking too. I've heard a lot of people say they make a sleeping sac at the top of the tanks, but oddly mine never venture up there. It might be because of the incline of the lid.

 

[Hisserdude]

I've kept a few Phiddipus sp that I caught in my backyard, like @Exuviae said, it is better to first try and catch some yourself and try to keep them alive rather than buying exotic ones.

I kept mine in a ventilated plastic peanut butter jar. I kept them dry, and would occasionally mist the sides of the cage. For hides I used pieces of cardboard roll, no substrate was used. I fed them mealworms and roach nymphs, and they did just fine. They lived for several months and then died, seemingly of old age. Hope this helps!

 

[Aquarimax]

I would honestly probably just go out and collect some yourself rather than buy them, at least to start...I've kept a good number of Phidippus audax, and I think they would be a pretty good place to start.

Good idea. I didn't mention that option because you were asking specifically where to buy them, but P. audax is pretty easy to find and is quite an attractive creature. It is certainly audacious when it comes to eating.
I live in a place with snowy winters, and I even saw a young P. audax out on the window screen the other day in relatively warm 40-50 F degree weather, so depending on where you live you might not even have to wait before collecting one.

Good luck OP!

 

[Bemottled]

Thanks everyone!
I live around a wooded area, so in a few months when spring rolls around there should be a ton of them out and about I'll probably purchase an enclosure (don't wanna mess with what the right/wrong amount of ventilation is) and go about watering/feeding per everyones advice.
They really look like lovely, fascinating little guys and I can't wait to learn more about them.

I really appreciate all the feedback!

 

[Hisserdude]

Thanks everyone!
I live around a wooded area, so in a few months when spring rolls around there should be a ton of them out and about I'll probably purchase an enclosure (don't wanna mess with what the right/wrong amount of ventilation is) and go about watering/feeding per everyones advice.
They really look like lovely, fascinating little guys and I can't wait to learn more about them.

I really appreciate all the feedback!

I only poked about a dozen small holes in the enclosure, I don't think they are too picky.

 

[Aquarimax]

All this talk about jumping spiders inspired me to take a little foray into the backyard this afternoon...it was sunny and about 57 F out. Within about five minutes, I spotted a young Phiddipus audax on the side of the garden shed. In the process of collecting it, I had a brief run-in with a blackberry cane, but emerged with my prize. I put it in a temporary 32 oz. container, and gave it a cricket, which it obligingly pounced upon. I think I'll keep it.

 

[BobBarley]

All this talk about jumping spiders inspired me to take a little foray into the backyard this afternoon...it was sunny and about 57 F out. Within about five minutes, I spotted a young Phiddipus audax on the side of the garden shed. In the process of collecting it, I had a brief run-in with a blackberry cane, but emerged with my prize. I put it in a temporary 32 oz. container, and gave it a cricket, which it obligingly pounced upon. I think I'll keep it.
View attachment 206153

Awesome, I just caught one as well, what's its coloration like? Mine is speckled orange.

 

[Aquarimax]

Awesome, I just caught one as well, what's its coloration like? Mine is speckled orange.

The three spots on mine are orange too. I hear that is the most common coloration for juveniles. Beautiful little things, aren't they?

 

[Aquarimax]

I put it in a temporary 32 oz. container, and gave it a cricket, which it obligingly pounced upon. I think I'll keep it.

After it had worked on the cricket for a while, it dropped the somewhat shriveled body and left it there all night. This morning, it picked it back up for a second helping.

 

[Exuviae]

I've seen jumpers go back to leftovers, too. Pretty neat.

 

[Venom1080]

anyone know any kinds of yellow jumping spider? i saw one at my pond last summer for a few seconds before it disappeared into the grass. i only got a glance but im pretty sure it was a yellow color. i live in southern Ontario.

 

[Aquarimax]

In addition to the cricket and some wingless fruit flies, my P. audax has dispatched a number of fungus gnats that made their way into his enclosure. I am surprised it bothered with such small, thin prey, but I'm not complaining. : )

 

[Aquarimax]

I am trying to figure out exactly how much to feed my juvenile P. audax. Though they were always enthusiastic eaters, the ones I've had in the past were adults when I caught them, and I always released them after keeping them for a while.

I'm planning on keeping this juvenile long-term, and since it is a juvenile, I want to make sure it gets enough food to grow as it should without getting too much. Two days ago, it had a few fruit flies. Yesterday, it ate two bean beetles. I tested to see if it was hungry today, offering it another appropriately sized cricket. The jumper had pounced on the cricket within about 20 seconds. Any suggestions on a good feeding regimen for young, growing jumping spiders?

 

[Vanessa]

I recently saved a juvenile P. audax from work where he was going to meet a gruesome death by air freshener. I have him set up in a small (not mini) Kritter Keeper. I put the lid in nylon stocking to prevent him from getting through the slats. I have fed him FFF's and he has just made himself a nice little web hammock in the top corner of his enclosure.
I am calling them 'he', but I don't know sex. Could be a she. They are so adorable and chocked full of personality.

 

[Bemottled]

I recently saved a juvenile P. audax from work where he was going to meet a gruesome death by air freshener. I have him set up in a small (not mini) Kritter Keeper. I put the lid in nylon stocking to prevent him from getting through the slats. I have fed him FFF's and he has just made himself a nice little web hammock in the top corner of his enclosure.
I am calling them 'he', but I don't know sex. Could be a she. They are so adorable and chocked full of personality. View attachment 207079 View attachment 207080 View attachment 207081 View attachment 207082

Adorable!
I never thought to use nylon stocking to keep the cage closed! What a wonderful idea. I had a wolf spider escape that way and was at a loss as to how I could have prevented it.
Thank you for the info and for sharing pics of your cutie!