Help! Jumping spider eggs......

Joanne

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
12
Hi everyone - I have a jumping spider that I thought was a male, but has just laid eggs, so she is obviously a female. :D I didn't have much interest in spiders until my 8 yr old son developed a fascination for them, and I started taking photos of them with my new macro lens. Now we have lots of fun observing, etc.
We found a really cute little (actually BIG) jumper about 3 weeks ago. We made him a really nice home..... aquarium tank with soil, real plants, sticks to climb up, etc... and have been enjoying watching his antics. Ivan (my son's name for him - Ivan the Terrible:) ) was getting nice and fat on the food we would catch for him. Then...... last night..... Ivan (now renamed Ivana!) laid eggs........
Does anyone know how long till they hatch? I don't know her species, other than she is some type of Phidippus.... I can't find any information anywhere on the gestation of the eggs.... only that she will stand guard until they hatch. I just don't know how long that will be! We are going away for 2 weeks soon, and were planning to take Ivan with us... we can't now, as the glass tank is absolutely huge........ and she has laid the eggs in it.
Any help or info would sure be appreciated!
Joanne
 

Joanne

Arachnopeon
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Oct 18, 2006
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thanks cacoseraph - I have tons of pictures of her - she's really quite entertaining and expressive. :)
Joanne
 

beetleman

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Jan 5, 2005
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nice little jumper ya got there,she will stay w/eggs untill they hatch,then the babies will disperse,they are TINY{D doesn't take that long for them to hatch either,ive had them years back i'm not sure exactly the hatching time(don't remember:wall: ) but i used to let all the babies go since they were native where i am. hope this helps alittle.
 

Spyder 1.0

Arachnoprince
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Jan 7, 2007
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ive had a black jumping spider in my collection for quite some time aswell. It moves and acts like a gorilla. Too bad it hasnt mated in the wild before i caught it. Its very interesting to watch them hunt small earwigs or baby crickets.
 

Joanne

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
12
nice little jumper ya got there,she will stay w/eggs untill they hatch,then the babies will disperse,they are TINY{D doesn't take that long for them to hatch either,ive had them years back i'm not sure exactly the hatching time(don't remember:wall: ) but i used to let all the babies go since they were native where i am. hope this helps alittle.
Thanks Beetleman, that does help - I wasn't sure if she was about to die soon or not..... I guess I will find out soon enough how long it will be! I'm planning to let the babies go free in my virginia creeper vine - it always gets leafhoppers by mid-summer, so they should have lots to eat, and I won't have to spray this year! :D
Joanne
 

Joanne

Arachnopeon
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Oct 18, 2006
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ive had a black jumping spider in my collection for quite some time aswell. It moves and acts like a gorilla. Too bad it hasnt mated in the wild before i caught it. Its very interesting to watch them hunt small earwigs or baby crickets.
I agree - they are so fun to watch!! I can't say that I was personally as happy when I saw her laying eggs - ha ha - this is the first spider I've purposely kept in the house..... :) What we do for our kids!
:D
Joanne
 

Joanne

Arachnopeon
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Oct 18, 2006
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Great pictures, she sure is cute. Here's a good article on Phidippus reproduction. It covers several species and talks about time to hatching for wild caught gravid females. http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v16_n1/JoA_v16_p95.pdf You'll have to cut and paste the link, but it is a good article.
Good luck!
:D :D :D Hey - thanks sooo much Jen!!!! That looks like an awesome article.... I searched the net for hours looking for something like that!!!! I'm off to read it now - wonderful !!!!!!!!!
:D :D :D
Joanne
 

syndicate

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awesome pictures.i to am very facinated my the jumpers.been trying to get pics of them lately but its quite difficult with the camera im using now.what camera/lens kit are u working with?
 

Joanne

Arachnopeon
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Oct 18, 2006
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awesome pictures.i to am very facinated my the jumpers.been trying to get pics of them lately but its quite difficult with the camera im using now.what camera/lens kit are u working with?

Thanks syndicate - I really enjoy watching them and taking pictures of them too. I don't find all spiders "cute" - but these guys sure are! :) I'm relatively new to photography - have had my camera for 2 yrs now, and sure have fun learning! I have a Canon Rebel XT, with a Canon 100mm macro lens.
She's finished covering the eggs in silk today now, and is standing guard - just took this an hour ago.
Joanne
 

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Joanne

Arachnopeon
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Oct 18, 2006
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Awwwww. She's adorable! {D {D {D
:) She is isn't she? It's amazing what one can notice with a macro lens - I am so glad that I got one!
I took a picture of this fly that she was done with once - just to take a picture of something - but then was amazed to see those 2 fang-holes once I looked at it on the computer.....neat stuff!

I know that she likely wouldn't eat many flies in the wild - since they would normally just fly away. But now that she's sticking right by her eggsac, I doubt she will take the time to catch many more...... does anyone know what else I could offer her? She's eaten mosquitos and moths, but again, those fly........ there aren't a lot of ground-crawling bugs around here aside from ants..... any ideas? Would she possibly eat maggots? (that I can buy at a fish-bait place and keep in the fridge?).
Joanne
 
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Arachnomaniak

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Great pics and really nice home for her! I absolutley LOVE jumping spiders. You can actually watch them watching you! Really neat to see them running around checking out their environments. If you could say that spiders are intelligent, this would be the family you could see it in! Your son sounds like me when I was little, only my parents didn't like animals :p Kudos to you for encouraging his interest while enjoying it yourself :clap:
 

Joanne

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Oct 18, 2006
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Great pics and really nice home for her! I absolutley LOVE jumping spiders. You can actually watch them watching you! Really neat to see them running around checking out their environments. If you could say that spiders are intelligent, this would be the family you could see it in! Your son sounds like me when I was little, only my parents didn't like animals :p Kudos to you for encouraging his interest while enjoying it yourself :clap:
:) Thanks so much - I was raised in the bush in the middle of nowhere, so creatures were always of interest to me.... though I must say that I was never interested in spiders as a kid, being a girl and all - lol! But now I'm raising my kids in the middle of a big city, so I like to encourage any appreciation for the wild things. I've seen cute little jumping spiders before, but never one so large as this one! She really is expressive, and you're right - she watches you're every move, and will leap from finger to finger, rearing up...... I read somewhere that jumping spiders have very large brains, and that they are (I think) the only spider that will actually eat bugs that are already dead, because they recognize it as food....... good eyesight must help too. I really tried to make her habitat as natural as possible.... apparently she approved since she laid the eggs.
My son just loves all creatures - spiders especially. We've really had some fun times just exploring and taking photos together. I must admit though - he's the one that puts things on his finger for the photos - lol - I havn't gotten past that one yet..... I love to look, but having them crawl on my is another story! :)
Hope this is o.k. off-topic since it's a moth..... but 2 summers ago my son was so excited to find this cool moth...... he absolutely adored it! When he realized it was dying a few days later, he was devestated...... but it was a life lesson..... :)
Joanne
 

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Pogi5

Arachnopeon
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May 18, 2006
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That was a great series of shots right there!
I think it's great that you're encouraging him to appreciate things from the wild.
Can you be my mom?
 

IdahoBiteyThing

Arachnobaron
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Mar 2, 2007
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598
coincidence

Glad I found this thread; I have a female Phiddipus somethingorotherus that has made a beautiful egg sac right above my bathroom vanity. She is guarding it ferociously. Not sure what I'm going to do when it hatches out though! Let loose a cloud of fruit flies? :confused: Very cool spiders.
 

rm90

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Mar 17, 2006
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Why is the boy crying in the last picture? Lol. :p
EDIT: Oh, was he crying because it was dying?
 
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