New jumping spider won’t eat

[mblaney]

I got my first jumping spider a week ago. She is a sub-adult (I think) P. regius. When she first arrived, her travel container had a dead mealworm in it that I assume she ate en route to my house. But she hasn’t eaten since then. She was fed small mealworms by her seller and was domestically produced.

When she arrived, she was active and curious, though ‘shy.’ She drank water and looked around her house. The next day I saw her stalking some prey in the dish, but after touching it, she fled. (Mealworm was the same size as that in her shipping container.) After a couple days or so more of activity, she has stayed in her web hammock and I haven’t seen any movement. I’m not even totally sure that she’s still alive.

Since her arrival, I have offered mealworms of varying ‘small’ sizes, an ultra-small hornworm, buffalo beetles (I think that’s what they are called), and buffalo beetle larvae. I have offered them in a small food dish as well as left them loose at the bottom of her enclosure. Twice (a couple days apart) I offered extra small mealworms directly to her via tongs, but that was a total fail. I also haven’t seen her drink since the day she arrived, though I have not stayed to watch her after spritzing water on the wall, as I was afraid my presence might discourage her from coming out to drink.

I’ve also made changes to her environment over the last week. Initially she was in my bedroom. It’s dim in there, so I moved her to the main room of my house, but with cardboard ‘walls’ on 3 sides of her enclosure, in an effort to reduce stress. I live alone and my home environment is generally not very busy/loud. At one point, I covered just the top of her enclosure with a thin napkin, and for awhile I even covered both the front and top. I’m desperate now, so I took the decor off the floor if her enclosure, so that I could put prey items on the bottom and they’d be unable to hide. Today, I brought her down to my reptile room, in the hopes that a third environment might be more successful.

What really worries me is her abdomen- it’s quite a bit thinner than I think it should be. I’d assume she was just molting, but she most definitely doesn’t have the full abdomen I would have anticipated if that were the case.

I’m pretty desperate, does anyone have any advice? I know by my description it sounds like I’ve been constantly harassing her and making changes, but I’ve been very careful trying to minimize stress, and I’ve not been trying to handle her.

I’m going to contact her breeder as well, but I thought I’d post here for any input others could offer.

These photos aren’t in order and aren’t from the last couple days. You can see her and the mealworm in her web on the lid of her shipping container. The pics show her enclosure, and as best a closeup as I could get of her a few days ago, in a web she has since abandoned.

[crestie-lover]

I’m very sorry to hear that, I can’t give you advice. Hopefully he will start eating

[caron]

I know nothing about jumping spiders but imho I think you are stressing way too much. I think the best thing you can do is contact the breeder first and foremost. You may be trying to overthink the situation. Maybe your little friend just needs a few days to adjust in a consistent quiet place, kind of like a new snake? I would think these guys are very fragile and even the slightest incident could stress them out. And maybe the breeder had a specific way of feeding……. ?

I hope everything works out!

[noodlehaus]

Have you tried appropriately sized crickets or possibly fruit flies? I know those always worked for my picky regius.

[mblaney]

You guys make great points! I’ve left her be in my reptile room and I’m hoping she’ll eat before her energy reserves run out. I forgot to mention that I even offered her isopods and isopod mancae, to no avail. I’ll definitely order some more prey types, wish me luck guys!

[mblaney]

Brief update: this morning, while ‘misting,’ I found her out and about! I think it’s a good sign that she’s at least comfortable walking around (well, that and definitely the not-deceased part). I will try to stay out of my reptile room as much as possible, but my I do have some maintenance that’s unavoidable. I’ll put it off until the evening.

I’ve ordered some of the larger fruit fly species (M. hydei?), as well as some black soldier fly larvae- both are very mobile prey, so I hope that might help elicit a feeding response. If those don’t work, my last resort will be crickets. My sister has a very severe phobia of them, so I try to avoid having them in the house, in case they get loose or she might walk past the cricket container.

[crestie-lover]

So awesome to hear! Keep us updated if she eats some of those fruit flies

[noodlehaus]

P. regius love their “rain” so that doesn’t really surprise me. All good signs, hopefully you’ve just got a picky little one that merely wanted a more challenging prey item. Wishing you all the best! I loved keeping jumpers, but their short lifespans were too heartbreaking for me so I had to take a break. One of the only spider species that doesn’t scare the pants off me.

[jawramik]

My best advice is to a) leave her and her enclosure alone as best you can so she can decompress a bit and get comfortable in her new home, and b) perhaps try some more “lively” prey items. I don’t keep jumpers right now, but I know my tarantulas don’t always go for worms. It seems like some spiders need quite a bit of movement to trigger their feeding response.

I hope she starts eating for you! The fact that you’ve now seen her out exploring is a good sign, I think.

[caron]

Woo hoo for the home team! I’ll bet that prissy little girl will find her niche soon and settle right down for you!!

[g3m1kk]

How’s she doing? Eating yet?

[mblaney]

To be honest, I’m not sure. She has seemed a lot more confident in her current location, as I often see her out and about or watching me.

I tried an experiment 2 days ago where I offered 4 itty-bitty maggots I was able to grow from leaving hornworm food out to attract ‘wild’ fruit flies- not ideal, but I decided to try it. Since then, 2 of them have disappeared. They might have just managed to hide and desiccate or pupate unseen. The remaining 2 have pupated, and I’m hoping flies will hatch out soon- (edit: inside her enclosure) they would be flighted, but still offer variety.

When I went to offer her a small BSFL today (left in her ‘dish,’ I didn’t want to stay and watch out of fear of discouraging her), I noticed that her abdomen looked fuller. It could be a result of drinking a ton of water yesterday, but maybe she ate a maggot/emerged fly? Honestly- eew, of all the things to finally persuade one to eat, maggots would be at the bottom of my list.

Today was the first time offering her BSFL. Fruit flies are currently en route to my house. After that, if no success, I will cave and get crickets, I’ll just have to be extremely careful not to let any escape (because my sister has a significant phobia).

[mbullock42086]

Your jumping spider is likely dehydrated and needs water.

spray the side and nudge it into the droplets and it should drink.

spiders cannot feed if too dehydrated because they use hydraulics to function. they pump hemolymph into limbs to move them.

[wrai]

I’ve always had the most success with feeding jumping spiders flightless fruit flies, particularly D. hydei. I fed mealworms occasionally but they were typically not interested in larger food items, they ran from mealworms and small redrunners, in my experience.

[mblaney]

@mbullock42086

Your jumping spider is likely dehydrated and needs water

I have been misting the side of her enclosure with an atomizer (teeny spritz bottle) twice daily. I was considering putting a water-soaked cotton ball fragment in another mini ‘food dish,’ but I wasn’t sure if maybe aquarium filter floss was a better idea?

@wrai

I’ve always had the most success with feeding jumping spiders flightless fruit flies

They are on the way! I’m disappointed with how long it took the seller to ship. (I don’t generally drive to stores to buy pet supplies because I am significantly disabled.)

[rlee45283]

Get medium to larger crickets. If you can’t ger crickets, get lobster or red runners(no dubias, they don’t move enough to illicit a response). Fruit flies are too small for the ones at your size, and in my experience phidippus only went after mealworms if they had no other options. These are visual hunters, they need to be able to see their prey actively moving about in order to maintain interest and decide if it’s worth pursuing. These are intelligent animals, they are designed to hunt, and they will actively take down prey much bigger than them. See photo attached, phidippus otiosus white color morph with a lateralis roach twice her size.

[slpocrnich]

Mine that Ive kept ( I just caught them outside …the are all over my house) I always just fed a wax worm or 2 a week. & sprayed the cage like every other day

[caron]

@mblaney did you ever get to talk to the seller?

[mblaney]

Yes, they got back to me quickly to verify that she had been eating mealworms for them and to suggest offering a cricket. BSFL and fruit flies didn’t seem successful, crickets are arriving sometime today, with dubia and silkworms on Saturday (in theory). If none of those succeed then I’ll try different, simpler housing, then just keep offering things daily unless it becomes apparent that she’s molting.

I just wish she would eat.

[caron]

You know I never thought about it but I bet she was probably in something a lot less elaborate where she came from so maybe for now less is more. Maybe she is kind of like a baby ball python when you first get it, small everything, security first to ensure eating? But I am no expert…….

You surely are going above and beyond for this little critter. She is probably testing you to see how many hoops you will jump through! Lol! . Bless you!