Keeping Jumping spiders in captivity for observation.
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Salticid spiders can be kept in a classroom setting with a little care in placement of the containers and how it is set up. Some species can be found around building, water barrels and flower beds. Since they hunt for food, they do not spin the typical web that many students associate with spider. They do produce silk threads which act as a safety line when they miss a jump. They will hunt living pray and students can observe the spiders as they stalk and then pounce on the victim. For baby spiders, flightless fruitflies can be kept in culture to feed them. Depending on the age of the students, mainitaining a flightless fruitfly culture may be taken on by the students or left to the teacher to maintain. (The flightless fruitfly may lead to some discussions on its own.). The spiders do not attack people and care will need to be taken to prevent them from jumping out of the container during feeding and cleaning. This group of spiders has excellent vision, and the students should be impressed the first time they see one of them stalk and capture prey. There is also some indication that they can learn to take complex paths to get prey items, though this will require a great deal of patiences and time on the part of the students that attempt this. Once the spiders mature, the sex of each animal can be determined and students can observe the territory and mating behavior of the males as they defend their space. The containers I am using can be placed next to each other so the males can see each other, soliciting a variety of responses as they interact. Larger containers can be used to place several spiders together to see how they divide up the space. The inevitable can occur in this situation so the teacher may not wish to do this with younger students or if the spiders become favored pets in the class. They may live two or three years in captivity.
Spider care Environmental data Since there are many sites which decribe the habitats and biology of this group of spiders, I have provided links to two of the sites at the end of this page which will connect you to many other sites on the web. Housing I keep the spiderlings in clear plastic display boxes with straight sides and a flat top which recesses into the box. The size of the container I am using is 7 13/16" long x 3 13/16" wide x 3 7/8" high and purchased from Pioneer Plastics Inc. (See details below). There is room to place small pieces of material for the spiders to hide under. As soon as I determine their habitat needs, I will attempt to mimic it. Given the location of the parent, a flat hiding place will probably be enough. The box is placed upside down. This facilitates feeding due to the spiders building a web shelter in top corners. By turning the box right side up to add food and remove debri, I do not disturb the spiders which tend to stay in the web nests they make when not feeding. Feeding Humidity seems to be an important factor as well as timing for separating the spiderlings. Once they become active, they need to be placed in their own containers to avoid cannabalism. Initially, they can be fed 1 to 3 fruitflies, Drosophila melanogaster, every 5 days. As they grow, the frequency of feeding and number of flies per feeding will increase. Eventually it will become more practical to provide larger food items about the size of house flies. Sweep netting in a yard or near by park should provide a variety of potential food items which you can try with the spider. When introducing new items for the first time, observe the interactions. Some critters you catch in the net may have defenses for spiders or may become the predator instead of the prey. |
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Personal Experience To Date I have baby spiders at this point. The mother was found under the hive cover of my bee hive. This particular species seems to frequent my hives and has taken honeybees as prey. The specimen I have at present is on its second clutch of hatchlings. The first clutch produced 30 spiders. I have not counted the present clutch. Updated 03/21/2004 |
| Sites dealing with Jumping Spiders |
Salticid Page of David Edwin Hill |
Jumping Spiders of the World |
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Pioneer Plastics Inc L7 13/16 x W 3 13/16 x H 3 7/8 |
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