To other jumper spider breeders: is it common for the sling survival rate to be so low?

DarkSpidey

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 8, 2023
Messages
1
Hi all, so it's my first time breeding and raising jumping spiders. I'm wanting to know if it's a common thing for only a handful of baby jumpers to make it to sub adulthood? I did lots of research and talked to other spider people, but nothing was explained about the survival rate of the jumper babies in your care. I started out with about 60 slings, now I'm down to 12 slings ranging from i3 to i4. There were mass deaths of tiny i2 slings and it was upsetting and discouraging. I did what I had studied, misted water and provided tiny fruit flies. I thought it was over but now there have been 3 casulties within two weeks, all i4 stage. I can't help but wonder if I'm doing something wrong. any advice would be appreciated!
 

jbooth

Arachnobaron
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Nov 24, 2022
Messages
495
Never raised a jumper sac, any sac I've lost most of, it was too dry in there. Try moist or partially moist substrate if you haven't, and allow there to be a few drops of water around that never dry up. And maybe just freeze some flies and let them scavenge even. I'm not sure how big they are but my newborn wolfs can't catch a fly, it's twice their size so I just freeze them and they are so much easier to deal with too. But I only keep the big flies around.
 

Wolfram1

Arachnoprince
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Jul 1, 2018
Messages
1,392
I am not really interested in keeping them myself, but i know people who have bred and raised multible diffent sp.

Lots of people seem to have problems with them though....

perhaps show us what you have been doing and experts like @egyptiancrow might be able to help you out
 

SalticusScenicusStar

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 5, 2021
Messages
210
For me, only 1-10 survive for they are all so tiny and their prey are larger than them. Survival rates for them are low in wildlife as they also have predators. That's why the mother Salticidae lays over 200 eggs.
 

egyptiancrow

Arachnobaron
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Messages
403
What species are you raising?
for some species this is pretty normal, but for a species like Phidippus audax (your profile pic!) this would only happen in an elderly females later or last egg sacs.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,391
Suggested reading: Darwin et al on Natural Selection. Especially in his research he had a theory that over reproduction is as harmful to the species as under reproduction. 100 years later genetics has proved this theory.
 

Veno Manus

Arachnobaron
Joined
May 16, 2023
Messages
387
I currently have 3 sacs. The first container is full of 2i and 3i not sure on the rate but it is lower for sure. Started at 117 slings. Then she dropped another directly after and that on just sprouted and everyone's out of the nest as 2i's. Now she just layed another sac on the glass. We feed the slings twice a week by dumping a generous amount of fruitflys and I glued a small deli cup to the underside of a tall plastic containers lid and flipped it upside down so the lid is the base with the glued dish. Filled that with moss and used that as the humidity. I just make sure its constantly moistened. I'll post a picture of the setup tomorrow.
 

Kada

Arachnobaron
Arachnosupporter
Joined
May 17, 2023
Messages
500
From the things I have seen with jumping spiders breeding (limited!), it does seem to be nearly completely human based issues/failures. husbandry practices not being good. It may be common for some to lose half their slings , but we shouldnt strive to say that level of failure is normal I feel. Even if it were to turn out to be normal for a certain species, we ought to strive for better!

To be fair, to say normal we would need to.monotor wild hatch rates and survival minus predation Probably nearly impossible.

I feel we could take a page from the aquarium industries breeder OCD handbook (haha) and start picking up our game in regards to other fauna husbandry attempts :) But perhaps without so much chemical influence :rofl:
 

MYTHIC PHIDS

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 26, 2023
Messages
4
We raise audax and have rarely lost a single sling. In our first brood, we didnt lose a single one of (120+) ! I wonder if you might be over-misting? Could be too damp or causing a bacterial/mould growth? Something like that? Audax are pretty hardy, but they are native to where I live so our conditions here are ideal. At sling size, they get a lot of moisure from their food, so we only mist once ever 3-4 days making sure the enclosures dry out in between, ideally they are dry by the following morning. Where are you located? What are the conditions like?
Also, could be something in the environment, like smoke, chemicals (perfumes), cleansers etc that could be harming them? This is just a thought.
 

BugggGirl

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 25, 2019
Messages
4
We raise audax and have rarely lost a single sling. In our first brood, we didnt lose a single one of (120+) ! I wonder if you might be over-misting? Could be too damp or causing a bacterial/mould growth? Something like that? Audax are pretty hardy, but they are native to where I live so our conditions here are ideal. At sling size, they get a lot of moisure from their food, so we only mist once ever 3-4 days making sure the enclosures dry out in between, ideally they are dry by the following morning. Where are you located? What are the conditions like?
Also, could be something in the environment, like smoke, chemicals (perfumes), cleansers etc that could be harming them? This is just a thought.
But did you raise all 120 to full adulthood?
 

BugggGirl

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 25, 2019
Messages
4
I'm still raising slings from last fall and out of about 30, I was down to 5 survivors. 4 approaching subadult size, and one quite smaller than the rest. I did not count the molts so can't give you a specific age/size. I came home today to one of the larger 4 deceased which was previously healthy. Thus only 4 survivors total. This has happened to several babies while raising them. They appear to be very healthy, not dehydrated and suddenly out of nowhere they die. They are not exposed to any toxic substances. The only thing I can chalk it up to is that it's naturally bound to happen, and this is why mama lays so many eggs. I can't find any cause. It's a mystery. It's very frustrating and sad. Attached is a pic of the one I lost today so you can see the size.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Ultum4Spiderz

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
6,015
I'm still raising slings from last fall and out of about 30, I was down to 5 survivors. 4 approaching subadult size, and one quite smaller than the rest. I did not count the molts so can't give you a specific age/size. I came home today to one of the larger 4 deceased which was previously healthy. Thus only 4 survivors total. This has happened to several babies while raising them. They appear to be very healthy, not dehydrated and suddenly out of nowhere they die. They are not exposed to any toxic substances. The only thing I can chalk it up to is that it's naturally bound to happen, and this is why mama lays so many eggs. I can't find any cause. It's a mystery. It's very frustrating and sad. Attached is a pic of the one I lost today so you can see the size.
In the wild 😜 less then 5 percent survival rate .
 
Top