🕷️

Jumping Spider

Invertebrates

The tiny, curious-eyed hunter that watches you back and needs barely any space at all!

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🤓 Did you know? Jumping spiders have some of the best vision of any arthropod, with four pairs of eyes giving them nearly 360-degree awareness and sharp enough focus to visually track and judge the distance of prey before pouncing - hence the name. Many keepers report their jumping spider appearing to watch and turn to follow movement outside the enclosure, genuinely interactive behavior that's unusual for an invertebrate.

🗓️ The first week

The numbers a new owner needs in the first week, each from the article it links to. Rows with no link come from the encyclopedia.

Budget: $15 to $25 for a captive-bred spiderling, $25 to $60 for a juvenile or sub-adult female, which lives longer. Setup roughly $112 to $150, then $5 to $15 a month in feeders. Exotic vets rarely treat spiders.Cost guide →
Lifespan: Males 8 to 12 months after maturity, females 1.5 to 3 years. Expect 1 to 3 years overall.Cost guide →
Adult size: 0.5 to 0.75 inches (1.3 to 1.9 cm), females larger than males.
Enclosure: At least 4 by 4 by 7 inches, vertical, and 8 to 10 inches tall gives real climbing room. Front-opening, cross-ventilated, the door low since the silk retreat goes at the top. One spider per enclosure: they eat each other.Setup guide →
Temperature: 72 to 82°F, which is room temperature for most homes. Below about 70°F, a heat mat on the side wall through a thermostat, never under the substrate.Setup guide →
Humidity: 50 to 60% for Phidippus species. Mist one corner every 2 to 3 days with dechlorinated water, leaving drinkable droplets rather than soaking, with airflow so humidity does not turn to mold.Setup guide →
Substrate and light: An inch or two of coconut fiber, or fiber and sphagnum, to buffer humidity; not sand, vermiculite, or bare paper towel. Bright ambient light on a 12-hour cycle for a hunter that works by sight. No UVB.Setup guide →
Feeding, by life stage: Spiderlings every 1 to 2 days on 1 to 2 flightless fruit flies. Juveniles every 2 to 3 days, sub-adults every 2 to 4, adults every 2 to 5, with the abdomen deciding where in that window.Feeding guide →
The abdomen is the gauge: Shrunken or wrinkled means hungry, feed early. Plump and wider than the cephalothorax means skip the next one. Feed in the morning, and pull uneaten prey within hours.Feeding guide →
What they eat: Live prey only, no plant matter and no commercial spider food. Fruit flies for slings, then small crickets and flies, with flies the low-risk staple. Prey no bigger than the abdomen: an oversized cricket can kill a spider near a molt.Feeding guide →
Never feed: Ants, above everything. Hard-shelled beetles, pill bugs, fireflies, other spiders, and any wild-caught insect.Feeding guide →
Water: A shallow dish plus the droplets misting leaves on the walls. Never mist the abdomen directly: water between the book-lung plates can suffocate the spider.Feeding guide →
A spider that stops eating: Usually premolt fasting, days to weeks before a shed. A healthy adult goes 2 to 3 weeks without food safely; a spiderling has far smaller reserves. Wait 2 to 3 days after a molt before feeding.Feeding guide →
Dehydration: The leading cause of death in captivity: curled legs and lethargy, from low humidity or no drinkable droplets.Health guide →
Molting: Reduced activity, retreating into the silk hammock, and refusing food are the pre-molt signs. Never disturb a spider in its retreat: the new exoskeleton stays soft for hours to days.Molting guide →
Handling: Minimal, and bites are rare and trivial. Let it walk onto and off your hand, low over a soft surface: a fall is how keepers hurt them.Handling guide →
Bug spray: Every household insecticide is designed to kill arthropods. Ant spray, a plug-in, or a dog's flea treatment can kill a healthy spider overnight.Pesticide guide →
A power cut, and a trip: The spider lives at room temperature, so an outage is rarely an emergency. A full water dish, stable humidity, and a checked lid cover a short absence.Emergency plan →

🚨 Emergency card

Check humidity and the water dish first, then act on these today. Exotic vets rarely treat spiders.

Food refusal running well past two weeks with no molt
No interest in food for a week or more after a molt has completed
A visibly shrunken or wrinkled abdomen, especially with lethargy
Legs curling inward, or an inability to right itself if flipped
Visible injury or fluid leakage
A failed or stuck molt, partially out of the old exoskeleton with no progress for hours

Hobbyist-reported, not veterinary-established. A healthy adult goes 2 to 3 weeks without food safely, so refusal alone is not the alarm; the last three mean act now, and little can be done once a molt has failed.

From Jumping Spider Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating →

📰 Where to go next

How Much Does a Jumping Spider Really Cost?

$15 to $60 for the spider, $112 to $150 for setup, and why the short lifespan is the real cost.

Jumping Spider Enclosure Setup: Small, Simple, and All About Humidity

4x4x7 inches as a floor, 72 to 82F, 50 to 60%, and why the door belongs low.

Jumping Spider Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating

A schedule by life stage, the never-feed list with ants at the top, and how to read a spider that has stopped eating.

How to Handle a Jumping Spider (And Why Its Eyesight Matters)

Why a visual hunter behaves differently in your hand, and why the fall is the risk.

Common Jumping Spider Health Issues

Dehydration, retained molts, silk impaction, and the humidity underneath all three.

Jumping Spider Enrichment: They Can Recognize Individuals

The cognition literature on this species, and what it actually asks you to put in the enclosure.

🛒 What to buy

A small vertical, front-opening enclosure, 4x4x7 inches at the least and taller if you can

Coconut fiber, or a coconut fiber and sphagnum moss blend

Mini cork bark flats, small branches, and artificial or live foliage

A fine mist spray bottle and dechlorinated water

A digital hygrometer

A shallow water dish

A flightless fruit fly culture for a sling, small crickets or flies for an adult

A thermostat, if and only if the room needs supplemental heat

Prices and the reasoning behind each item are in How Much Does a Jumping Spider Really Cost?.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What size enclosure does a jumping spider need?

About 4 by 4 by 7 inches, oriented vertically, is the minimum for an adult, and 8 to 10 inches tall gives real climbing room. Arboreal species: height counts for more than floor.

How often should I feed my jumping spider?

It depends on life stage and varies a fair amount even among adults: spiderlings eat every 1 to 2 days, tapering to roughly every 2 to 5 days by adulthood. The guide is the abdomen, shrunken or wrinkled means feed, plump and noticeably wider than the cephalothorax means skip the next meal.

What should I never feed a jumping spider?

Ants, above all: jumping spiders show an instinctive fear response to them, and an ant can bite or spray formic acid. Also unsafe are hard-shelled beetles, pill bugs, fireflies, and any prey larger than the spider's own body.

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Jumping Spider

Phidippus regius

Animal facts & overview