Jumping Spider Help?

[voompwoomp]

I need so much help. I have never owned a spider especially since I'm usually terrified of them, but recently a jumping spider had moved into my window. I fell in love with this Lil guy and let him stay because he was doing no harm and I found him to be cute. What I didn't know was that winter was getting harsher and that meant my window colder, so he started freezing to death.

In the spur of the moment, I decided to take apart my window and put him in a glass jar with a tiny thing of water, some tissues, and ventilation at the top.

That's about as far as I got. I have no idea what I'm doing and I don't want him to have to die. Any advice or concerns about this would be really great and totally appreciated.

 

[RTTB]

Let him/her roam freely about your heated home perhaps.

 

[voompwoomp]

Let him/her roam freely about your heated home perhaps.

Cat + Dogs and a fear of spiders when not contained it'd be hard for me to do that. If i have to I can though.

 

[chanda]

Jumping spiders actually do pretty well in captivity. I've kept them in 32 oz deli containers with ventilated lids and a bit of something in the bottom to help keep the humidity up. I usually use coconut fiber and/or sphagnum moss, but a folded paper towel works, too. Give your little friend a few twigs or a bit of dried plant to climb on. Jumping spiders seem to like making their silk retreats right at the top of the enclosure - usually where the lid meets the cup - so I will also cut a 3/4 inch (roughly) hole in the lid and then use a piece of sponge to plug the hole. That way I can feed/water the spider through the hole, without having to remove the whole lid, destroying the webbing, and risking injury or escape.

And that brings us to... food. If you want to keep the spider alive, you're going to have to feed it, and you can't just go out and buy a bag of spider kibble or offer leftovers from your own supper. It's going to want bugs - and they'll need to be alive. Prey should be no larger than the spider's abdomen. You can buy small crickets at most pet stores or catch flies, mosquitoes, or whatever other bugs are roaming around your house. He'll need to eat roughly once a week.

If feeding him sounds like too much of a chore, just turn him loose and let him fend for himself in the house. Spiders do quite well at that sort of thing - and he is, of course, quite harmless to you, your family members, and the family pets.

 

[RTTB]

I commend you for rescuing him/her.

 

[voompwoomp]

Im pretty okay with getting him food, its just finding it for him will be a lot of work (that i'm willing to do). Thanks so much for the input it helped a ton! I'll be sure to reinforce tomorrow so that he can feel more comfortable building homes on the top and make it so they don't get destroyed.