Jumping Spider

[Coconutcass]

New Spider Mommy

Hi, I'm new to these forums and thought you guys could help me out with a few answers. I caught a jumping spider in my boyfriend's home nearly a week ago, and just came to the realization that our new pet "Kevin" may actually be a girl!!

Kevin is about 2 cm in length (I am rounding, because it is really hard to get a spider to hold still so you can measure it) with a black body, white stripes on his legs and white markings on his backside. He has the green... chelicerae (I am still learning all of the terms) and the very distinctive eyes. However, his palps are thin (kind of foot shaped at the end. In other words,they aren't completely thin all the way through, but they aren't swollen either). I don't have a good camera with me to take a close up picture, but he (or she) really looks like pretty much any picture of a black and white jumping spider you can find on google.

I read that many people who keep these as pets have been able to keep them for about a year? Considering the time of year when I caught mine, how much longer will it be likely to live? And do you think Kevin is a he or she? Regardless, what should I be feeding him or her? We have been feeding it other spiders we find in the house that look like they wouldn't be a threat, and gave him a large fly that we killed on accident :/, but when we went to Petsmart they told us to not feed him crickets because they might eat him! Is this true? Also, what kind of habitat would he (or she) benefit most from? We currently have Kevin in a tupperware container 10x8x4 with some dirt on the bottom and pieces of various plants and flowers inside.

Sorry for the essay lol. I'm just really excited to have my first pet spider that I hasn't been let go or passed away. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[audax]

I'd really be surprised if it let the come close enough to eat it considering its excellent eyesight. At 2 cm he should be able to handle it. Dirt isn't really necessary and with dirt you gotta watch out for mold. Also they really like to be able to climb so vertical space is good.

 

[Amagire]

I've had a pet Johnson jumping spider (Phidippus johnsoni), for about a year and a half? Mmm... sixteen months, actually: I caught her as an adult in April of last year. She lives in a small Kritter Keeper with some coco coir, moss, and a stick to climb on: I mist her occasionally to keep the moss alive, but she doesn't care about the moisture so much as having a hidey place to spin her sleeping bags.

She was one of two adult females and one male of the same species that I caught about the same time: the other female lived in captivity for about eight months, while the male lasted perhaps half that (although he mated with both ladies and lived to tell the tale). Of course I have no way of knowing how old any of these spiders were really, since they were all fully adult when I caught them, but I've heard of Phids living two years. Hoping mine goes the distance. :>

Jumpers are voracious little animals and can handily dispatch pretty much any prey about their size: my Lady Crimson has taken down moths and crane flies much bigger than she is, but I mostly keep her on pinhead crickets from the feed store. If your jumper is too small for pinheads, you can always try raising fruit fly cultures: Petco/Petsmart often sell them.

 

[Vespula]

From your description, kevin sounds like a Phidippus audax. Black and white with green Chelicerae... It will be fun to keep kevin and watch it grow. Jumpers are fun and exciting spiders. They're kind of like kittens in some ways.