Some questions about P Audax moulting process.

[Nomad177six]

Hopefully someone more experienced can give me some insight. I have a wild caught Phidippus Audax and have had him for about 4 weeks. I believe he is a juvenile and may still have one or two molts left to go. The reason i think this, is because he still has orange spots and i have read that this means he is a young spider. But he is big though. He is probably almost as big as a quarter if his legs are all spread out.

Anyways my question is about his hammock. Well he hasn't really built a hammock or hideout for him to molt in, if he still has molting left to do. He has built several little tiny see through hideouts in several places where he has slept but he has not made a real good one anywhere like what i always see in videos and he seems to sleep in different places every night.

Could he be mature and not need to molt anymore, even if he still has orange spots on his abdomen and could this be why he hasn't made up his mind on where to build a good thick hammock like most jumpers do?

I do see him working a lot and doing his little butt wiggle like they all do when they are building their hideouts. But i see him doing this in several different places around his enclosure and he never seems to finish any of them and sleeps in all different places.

Has anyone ever seen this before and also has anyone ever had a jumper molt without a hammock? It's been over 4 weeks now and i worry that he may molt without one and idk if that would be a good thing or is a hammock something they can build real fast whenever they know they need to molt and should i not be concerned?

 

[SpookySpooder]

The orange spots indicate he isn't fully mature. They will turn white when he is done being a baby.

As for melting, I wouldn't be so concerned. I've kept a few of this species and they will often molt in crevices in bark or on those silk plant leaves. They don't necessary need a hammock to sleep or molt.

The current one I have didn't build a hideout or hide much despite giving him fake plants and some bark. Then one night he spun a hammock on the lid and molted in it.

 

[Nomad177six]

The orange spots indicate he isn't fully mature. They will turn white when he is done being a baby.

As for melting, I wouldn't be so concerned. I've kept a few of this species and they will often molt in crevices in bark or on those silk plant leaves. They don't necessary need a hammock to sleep or molt.

The current one I have didn't build a hideout or hide much despite giving him fake plants and some bark. Then one night he spun a hammock on the lid and molted in it.

Okay awesome. Thank you for your reply. I was worried that maybe he wasn't adjusting well to captivity and possibly needs to molt but isn't willing. I was even considering letting him go free because i was starting to feel bad and couldn't find enough info about it.

But other than that i think he is pretty happy and has a ton of area and good hiding places for whenever he is ready and he eats pretty good. About every three days he will pounce on a cricket and anytime between he doesn't show interest and will just walk right past them. So my only worry was about molting. But not anymore. Thanks.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Releasing him back into the wild is always a good option if you feel they are not adjusting well to captivity or think you cannot fully provide for their needs.

If he's eating and drinking then he is fine. They don't really need to eat every single day, maybe only a couple times a week at most.

Do you provide a water dish or do you mist the sides of the enclosure? IME, some wild spiders never adjust to using a water dish and will only drink from droplets.

 

[Nomad177six]

Releasing him back into the wild is always a good option if you feel they are not adjusting well to captivity or think you cannot fully provide for their needs.

If he's eating and drinking then he is fine. They don't really need to eat every single day, maybe only a couple times a week at most.

Do you provide a water dish or do you mist the sides of the enclosure? IME, some wild spiders never adjust to using a water dish and will only drink from droplets.

Well i do neither but only because i haven't got myself a spray bottle yet and i don't use a dish because i am afraid of him drowning. So i just crack the lid of a water bottle and every morning i let a few drops fall onto the flowers and around in his enclosure but not enough to ever make puddles and it seems to work okay. I see him walk up to droplets and drink fairly often and the fabric that the flowers are made of seem to hold the moisture pretty good too.

As far as feeding goes, I don't think i could over feed him even if i wanted to. In the very beginning i tried to make sure that he had something to eat every day but i learned that once he eats, he doesn't care about eating again for at least 3 days and if anything is in there on the third day then it's a gonner.

 

[SpookySpooder]

You don't need to worry about him drowning. Most spiders are hydrophobic and their tiny hairs will actually deflect water droplets so they tend to float above the surface tension of water.

A water dish would allow you to do less maintenance, granted he actually uses it. However if you provide droplets via dribbling or misting and you see him drink, then there's no need to worry.

I would cut back on the frequency of feeding and don't leave too many feeders wandering about. Spiders tend to be solitary and will try to avoid other insects when not hungry. Depending on how skittish yours is, feeders wandering about might cause him stress. A reason why he hasn't "settled in" could also be because there is too much activity from other insects in his enclosure.

Crickets can also easily injure or eat a spider during a molt.

If you've observed he eats every 3 days, then introduce food every 3 days. Feeding a little bit twice a week will also encourage a more active spider that you can watch hunt and take down it's prey.

 

[Nomad177six]

Okay awesome. Thanks for all of the advice. I'll make sure it's just him in there from now on unless it's his feeding day and if he doesn't eat before that day ends then I'll remove the cricket. He is not really too skittish luckily but i still wouldn't want a cricket to mess with him if he decides to molt.

He's a very calm and chill little guy actually. He is not scared of me at all it doesn't seem. Unfortunately i am scared of him though, well the thought of him being on me anyways. I'm arachnophobic but have always been very fascinated by spiders and after a few weeks with this one and getting to know him and learning about his kind. My fear has been slowly going away. But not quite enough to hold him yet though.

I let him out of his enclosure once in a while onto a big open cardboard sheet and i let him just kinda walk around and get some air and exercise and give him a drop of water and just watch him and try to work on getting myself to allow him onto my hand. I put my finger right next to him and he walks towards it sometimes even though he could go any other direction. I let him reach out and touch my finger once but i just couldn't force myself to let him climb on and moved my hand away, even though he seems to want to get on.

The calm curious and seemingly friendly personality that he has, really blows my mind... He's really easy to work with and never tries to run or get away and when I'm ready to put him away. I just hold a little cup in front of him and he walks right in every time as though he has done it all his life and then he climbs right out onto his flower and just looks at me like okay thanks, put my roof back on now.