Strange jumper

WolfRunner

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 26, 2020
Messages
6
Hello,

This is my first post and I am hoping someone can help me with a mystery. Last week we caught 2 spiders in a tupperware, one small garden spider and the other is a beast of a jumper. Several days after catching them, we noticed something odd. The garden spider was eaten by the jumper, who I have subsequently named T.Z. (Twilight Zone) due to the impossibility of what we found in there with them. A third spider had somehow appeared inside the tupperware, and it was nearly as big as TZ but looked like it had been eaten/dismembered! I read about spiders molting but have never seen it. Is that what happened? Also, today we caught another giant jumper (in the glass jar) whom I've named Beastly and I don't know if these two are male or female. Can anyone help me ID gender and solve the mystery of the duplicating spider? TZ is in the turquoise lidded container and Beastly is in the glass jar.
 

Attachments

WolfRunner

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 26, 2020
Messages
6
Thank you! I have always been terrified of spiders (eyes, not the legs) but the more I learn, the less scary and more interesting they become :) I want to set up a habitat for these two, but I'm not sure if they can be together or if they need seperate homes. Can they eat small crickets? How much folliage do they need? How much space? Would a gallon mason jar be big enough? Will they jump at me when I try to move them? Do spiders hibernate? If so, could a few minutes in the fridge slow them down enough to walk without jumping? For now I'm okay looking without touching lol any advice for the ideal setup would be great, as this community seems quite knowledgeable and experience trumps Google/YouTube every time in my experience :)
 

BenLeeKing

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
239
Thank you! I have always been terrified of spiders (eyes, not the legs) but the more I learn, the less scary and more interesting they become :) I want to set up a habitat for these two, but I'm not sure if they can be together or if they need seperate homes. Can they eat small crickets? How much folliage do they need? How much space? Would a gallon mason jar be big enough? Will they jump at me when I try to move them? Do spiders hibernate? If so, could a few minutes in the fridge slow them down enough to walk without jumping? For now I'm okay looking without touching lol any advice for the ideal setup would be great, as this community seems quite knowledgeable and experience trumps Google/YouTube every time in my experience :)
For almost all spiders you'll wanna keep them separate.
- They will eat small crickets
- You can add some foliage, but I would recommend minimal, since they hunt in more open areas to allow them to pounce on prey.
- They are quite tolerable to a wide range of enclosure spaces, I'd say 5 by 5 by 5 inch cube is good enough, slightly bigger or smaller is ok too.
- They will jump, but it is predictable. If they are focused on something, staring straight at it then it is a pretty good sign that it is about to jump.
- Hibernation... not that I know of.
- They are quite predictable in behavior, since they are quite chunky jumping spiders they aren't really good at jumping and just use walking most of the time.
Additional thing you can do is to take a small piece of cut out from a toilet roll tube and roll it into a small tube and glue it on the top. They will use it as a hide, and it will act as foliage to let them rest in at night.
 

WolfRunner

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 26, 2020
Messages
6
There we go! Lots of air holes, some nice soil, a little gravel, a piece of dead bark for each and a stick to prop it into a lean-to.... now a cricket apiece and they should be good for a little while, right? How often do they need to be fed? I plan to use a thread to deliver water because TZ didn't make it out of the tupperware the first time and was starin' me down before I got the whole tupperware turned over top the jar, so I believe I'll keep the lids on those jars for a little while at least lol Beastly looks like she wants to pounce TZ too! The jars are right next to each other and Beastly is very focused! Also looks a little different than TZ.... much broader head
 

Attachments

BenLeeKing

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
239
with this little ventilation, no misting will be needed. throw a cricket in to feed it, just keep them plump and they'll be happy.
they like to construct webs on top, so using lids like this is going to be slightly incontinent.
 

chanda

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
2,229
with this little ventilation, no misting will be needed. throw a cricket in to feed it, just keep them plump and they'll be happy.
they like to construct webs on top, so using lids like this is going to be slightly incontinent.
With spiders that like to web or hang out at the top of the enclosure, what you can do - if you have lids at the top - is just cut a small hole in the center of the lid (the nests/webs are usually around the perimeter of the lid) then stuff a piece of sponge into the hole. (The sponge should be slightly larger than the hole, so it compresses to fill the hole completely.) The sponge is sufficient to keep the spider in the jar - and can be easily removed without having to open the entire jar when you want to drop in a feeder.
 

BenLeeKing

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
239
With spiders that like to web or hang out at the top of the enclosure, what you can do - if you have lids at the top - is just cut a small hole in the center of the lid (the nests/webs are usually around the perimeter of the lid) then stuff a piece of sponge into the hole. (The sponge should be slightly larger than the hole, so it compresses to fill the hole completely.) The sponge is sufficient to keep the spider in the jar - and can be easily removed without having to open the entire jar when you want to drop in a feeder.
I just do the "big brain" move of flipping the contaner and use it that way :rofl:
They don't need sub anyway.
providing hides are also perfect, unlike tarantulas, they actually use it when one is provided.
 

chanda

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
2,229
I just do the "big brain" move of flipping the contaner and use it that way :rofl:
They don't need sub anyway.
providing hides are also perfect, unlike tarantulas, they actually use it when one is provided.
That works, too - but it can make it a little harder to get the feeders in when the lid is on the bottom, depending on the type of container and the type of lid.
 
Top