Help With Humidity!!!

[darksoul]

Hello. Today I got my first Jumping Spider, and it's my first Arachnid...actually my first official pet that I and I alone am responsible for.

They are a phidippus audax (Bold Jumping spider) the thermometer and hydrometer I have says it's 86% humidity in the tank, and as much I keep trying to find answers online I keep finding contradicting answers. I've read that 80's is fine, and I've also read that it's too much. It's kinda stressing me out because I just want to give the little guy or girl a good comfortable life. How could I easily drop the humidity without causing too much stress to the spider?

Additional info. I live in England, I used Coco Fibre as a substrate, I'm aware substrate isn't necessarily needed for jumping spiders but I wanted something soft in case they fall.

 

[Wolfram1]

do you know the difference between dry, moist and wet?


if you look at the coco peat, how moist is it, i recommend always having at least 1/4 to 3/4 dry, it can vary in between

the ventulation needs to be adequate and there is no need to follow strickt humidity numbers, it may even be harmful

one person may create a suitable environment that has high or low humidity and recommends that number, while someone else may have the same humidity but not providing a suitable habitat... so ignore numbers, give it some moisture but neither bone dry nor sopping wet.


the humidity numbers will mostly be influenced by your ventilation and temperature anyway

 

[TheraMygale]

Look at natural habitat of P Audax. That spider survives in highly fluctuating degrees of moisture and humidity. The one thing that is constant: air flow. They are very often found in trees. That is where i find most of my WC.

So maximize on ventilation. If you have a lot of cross ventilation, then you won’t need to worry about stuffy overly moist conditions. If you have trouble managing the moisture of your substrate, the ventilation will help with that. I usualy send the water in the corners and sides of any of my enclosures. The top stays dry, and a certain moisture in the bottom layer evaporates.

For my moisture dependant species, if they burrow, i keep that moist. For slings, i keep some of the top a bit moist.

Jumping spiders will like to have anchor points to make the web hamac and hunt. But not to cluttered so they can actualy fly and do their thing.

Don’t be afraid to give them something else then fruit flies, like very small crickets.

Do not focus on the numbers for the humidity. Focus on providing the basic requirements. See how that progresses.

For P audax, i will sometimes, gently mist only one part of the enclosure. That way it can get water to drink if it wishes. I did write GENTLY. I am not hosing it down. It is just to get some water droplets on the enclosure wall.