How I Found My Pet Jumping Spider

[Nicole C G]

When I was eating a salad at my table, I saw there was a little spider on the floor! I am very interested in jumping spiders so I decided to wave my finger around to see how it would react to see if it was a jumping spider, and yup! The spider moved sideways and backwards hopping just like a jumping spider! So I ran and grabbed a jar. I noticed that this jumping spider was super hungry! I had never seen one so hungry.

So I decided to give it a gnat from my mother’s orchid as a snack before I let it go. (I had no intention of keeping it as I was planning on getting a Phidippus Regius) I then proceeded to identify the spider as a female juvenile Platycryptus Undatus. A female Platycryptus undatus is the exact species that got me interested into jumping spiders in the first place when I had seen one in my window screen a month prior. So I started to consider keeping her. When I saw her catch the gnat I started to get more and more attached and then I saw her looking at my with her adorable eyes and decided I HAD to keep her!

However, she was small, with a 5mm body. The enclosure I had bought only would work with a large jumper like a Regius (too many holes and gaps for her)

(No substrate yet, not that I could even use The enclosure)

So I did the best I could and used a souvenir cup given to me from my church and put some plastic mesh over the straw hole. It worked pretty well, except the vent hole was really small, so I didn’t want to keep her in there for too long.


then I got an enclosure that had no cracks or holes. Only the ventilation. I still put some organza over the vent to make 100% sure she couldn’t escape.

She really loves her enclosure! I’ve seen her crawl over almost every inch of it. However, she can’t climb the walls very well. She CAN climb walls, it’s not a problem with her feet, but I guess some areas of the container are slippery?

She loves her fruit flies (D. Hydei) so much she will eat as many as is put in her enclosure. However sometimes it takes her a day to find them all. I’m glad I can give her such a happy life! She should go into pre molt soon, so I’m very excited to see her grow up!


Speaking of growing, she is no longer starving! I think I gave her too many fruit flies.. XD

 

[Lucky123]

She really loves her enclosure! I’ve seen her crawl over almost every inch of it. However, she can’t climb the walls very well. She CAN climb walls, it’s not a problem with her feet, but I guess some areas of the container are slippery?

She loves her fruit flies (D. Hydei) so much she will eat as many as is put in her enclosure. However sometimes it takes her a day to find them all. I’m glad I can give her such a happy life! She should go into pre molt soon, so I’m very excited to see her grow up!

She may be of old age, on the last molt (6th) jumping spiders loose the hairs on they feet that help them stick to glass, and can have trouble climbing on smooth vertical surfaces.

Also dont feed her too much because they will eat more than they can handle if you give her too much, once she looks fat like that you can be sure she is full

 

[Nicole C G]

She may be of old age, on the last molt (6th) jumping spiders loose the hairs on they feet that help them stick to glass, and can have trouble climbing on smooth vertical surfaces.

Also dont feed her too much because they will eat more than they can handle if you give her too much, once she looks fat like that you can be sure she is full

I really don’t think it’s old age, because she can climb all surfaces including plastic and glass perfectly. She can climb some of the walls in her container too but not all, but I think it’s something wrong with the plastic itself Considering the fact she can climb every other plastic perfectly.
Here’s a photo of her on the roof on the enclosure she escaped from.

She also just seems very young. She is half the size of every other Platycryptus Undatus in my area, and she has no visible epigynum yet.

 

[Lucky123]

I really don’t think it’s old age, because she can climb all surfaces including plastic and glass perfectly. She can climb some of the walls in her container too but not all, but I think it’s something wrong with the plastic itself Considering the fact she can climb every other plastic perfectly.
Here’s a photo of her on the roof on the enclosure she escaped from.
View attachment 393834
She also just seems very young. She is half the size of every other Platycryptus Undatus in my area, and she has no visible epigynum yet.

hmmm thats interesting, she can climb all smooth surfaces but for some reason not her enclosure?

 

[Nicole C G]

hmmm thats interesting, she can climb all smooth surfaces but for some reason not her enclosure?

Yes. That’s why it’s a little confusing to me. She’s perfectly healthy. I’ve seen her climb hard plastic, soft plastic, glass, fabric, etc but for some reason she usually has problems climbing this enclosure.

 

[Nicole C G]

She just molted and now has no problem climbing the walls! She must have had injuries to her feet or maybe the hairs just wore out. She’s all better now!