My jumping spider hasn't left his web in days

[Trailblazr80]

I don't know what species he is other than he is a tiny, metallic bronze found around Southern CA. He's been up in his little web hideaway for over a week now, maybe two. I don't see him coming out anymore to eat, drink water, or anything. Also, even though the webbing is kind of thick, it does look like his abdomen is shrinking. Is he dying?

 

[Vinegaroonie]

I think I have the same sp or similar as mine matches your description exactly. She has holed herself in a web hideaway with an egg sac. I knew she was pregnant (she was very fat ^_^) so maybe yours is pregnant too?

 

[Lucidd]

Hold the egg sac up to light, if possible, to get a better look and see if there are any eggs in the sac.
Are you sure the spider isn't molting? When my spiders get less active I try to keep the humidity up in their enclosures and give the walls a couple extra mists in case they're going to molt.
Thick web sac makes me think eggs or molt. And if it's eggs, she probably won't leave the sac much at all. My P. undatus didn't eat for a month after laying her egg sac. After that she ate very sparingly but always went back to her sac. Make sure to offer her "easy prey" like flies or moths at a delicate time like that.
It could also be old age. I had one die of old age recently, who rarely left her sac. At older age they also need easier prey to eat when they're old.

 

[Smokehound714]

http://bugguide.net/node/view/429099/bgimage -messua limbata

http://bugguide.net/node/view/42637 -sassacus vitis

some jumpers dont live very long. The smaller species like habronattus, messua, and sassacus generally only live through two seasons, unlike phidippus.

it could just be near the end, but it could also be illness. hard to tell. senility is commonplace amongst male spiders, they'll sometimes just waste away, refuse food, and water.

 

[gunslinger]

Jumping spiders will also hide away in a web during the molting process.

 

[Fyreflye]

Trailblazr: How long have you had your spider, where did you get it, and do you know its gender? I agree with what everyone else has written so far. Jumpers will stay in their web (I think of it as their sleeping bag, as they generally only go there to rest) when they are resting, molting, or laying eggs.

If your jumper is molting, it will stay hidden in its web until it is strong enough to hunt again. A freshly molted spider will have a much smaller abdomen after it emerges from its old skin.

If your spider came from the wild, and was very fat when you got it, it could be a female that is laying eggs. In my experience the female will make her webbed area much bigger, and will spend almost all of her time with the nest. If you shine a flashlight BEHIND the web, you would be able to see the eggs if she has any.

If your spider is neither molting nor nesting, then it may be ill. I don't know what you can do for it if that is the case.