Thank you so much for saying this! I have been waiting and researching a jumping spider for years, no exaggeration. I was so excited, but now I’m just terrified that I’m doing something wrong. I don’t love her any less for being so fussy, I wouldn’t mind if I weren’t terrified that her pickiness will be the end of her. There is a slight possibility that she has managed to eat something smaller and that I didn’t notice the corpse of the prey item, but I don’t think so.
If she will only eat crickets, then I can live with that, I’ll just let my sister know to not come to my house until Bengal (my spider) passes, preferably of old age. Crickets in my house don’t bother me much, but for some reason my sister is terrified of them. I’m just going to try my best not to let any crickets get free and establish a population. And if that does happen, hopefully it will stay on the bottom floor of my house, where my reptile room is.
Well I believe everything will be fine. Miss Bengal is a lucky little lady! I am so glad you are able to have her after yearning for her for so long! I bet that by this time next year you will be advising other first time jumping spider keepers! Your sister will just have to deal with the crickets for awhile! All the best to you!
Update: I’ve offered her crickets of varying size, both hobbled and intact, very small hornworms, silkworms, mealworms, buffalo beetle larvae, BSFL, and flightless fruit flies. I’ve offered them via tongs (tweezers) as well as left them in with her and left her alone. I have dubia I could try but I doubt I’d have any better luck.
Yesterday I put her in a simplified setup where I would introduce prey one by one. She jumped on a silkworm and a cricket, but then immediately jumped off, even the extremely small silkworm. At times she appeared to try to climb and was slipping and couldn’t do it. I left her overnight (after misting) in the hopes that she might eat, but when I found her on the floor today, with no food eaten, my heart just sank.
I misted the bottom and sides of her old enclosure, as well as added a bit of well-moistened cotton in one bottom corner. Then I placed her in it, along with a seed pod to provide a bit of security. I’m hoping she will drink and become more mobile, or that she’s going to molt. I actually even mixed up a slurry of Repashy Grub Pie, and left a few tiny droplets of it, in the hopes that, if she finds it, maybe she would drink and get some nutrients?
I don’t know if I should continue offering prey, or just leave her alone. She can’t climb, and she doesn’t appear able to subdue prey. That makes me wonder if she’s going to molt? Are there signs of that that I’m missing? Yesterday she did watch and then attack several prey items before jumping away immediately, so I think she does want to eat. Would she still try to eat if she was preparing to molt?
I’m sorry she’s still refusing to eat, I know how concerning and frustrating that can be.
She could very well be in premolt. I don’t really know what jumping spider premolt behaviour looks like. When my tarantulas are in premolt, they won’t approach or take down prey at all. They just completely ignore prey items, even when the prey bumps into them or climbs over them (this behaviour tells me they’re in premolt, so when I see it, I remove any prey items and typically leave them alone and just make sure they have water until they molt). My black widow, on the other hand…her molts always come as a surprise to me, because I’ve never noticed any change in her behaviour beforehand. She doesn’t stop eating, she doesn’t hide herself away. One day I’ll just look in her enclosure to find she’s molted, or is in the process of molting. So yeah, not really sure where jumpers fall on the premolt behaviour spectrum. It does seem to vary depending on the species, or at least the type of spider.
I hope she is just in premolt. Then hopefully she’ll have a good molt soon and return to being a voracious, adorable little predator!
Does anyone know if there are any prey items it would be safe to leave in her enclosure with her in a weakened state? I think she’s either molting or dying, but I don’t want to fail to offer food if there’s any chance she’s able and willing to eat.
Ok so I think ANY kind of slow crawling prey would be ok. Now one more thing! If something happens to your little girl, DO NOT feel badly about it. You went WAY WAY OVER AND ABOVE to get her going. We are going to think positively about the fact that she is molting. If not, and she passes, please keep in mind that maybe there was something wrong with her that you could not correct!
I would think a silkworm would be safe, since they only eat mulberry leaves. A dubia, fruit fly, or tiny hornworm would also probably be safe, I should think. I don’t think there’s a risk of any of those feeders nibbling on a freshly molted spider.
Thank you guys! So far she’s still with us. I’ll give an update with any noticeable changes.
If she does pass, I do feel like I’ve done everything I could figure out to try. Though I do want a spider, if Bengal passes so soon after arriving, I’ll definitely have to switch species. Possibly veer away from jumpers entirely for the time being. (Edit: for emotional reasons, because I would be very sad if she died so young and mysteriously.) If I did that I’d likely get a velvet spider, as I’d like to have one of those too at some point. I’d much rather Bengal goes on to thrive, and then I’ll just get a velvet spider later, though.
Here’s a quick question. When you spray her enclosure do you spray her as well or just a small area? I read somewhere that spiders don’t like to be sprayed…… ? Or am I all wet? Lol!
Usually you just spritz the side of the enclosure, and/or the plants or decor. You’re just trying to give them some little water droplets to drink from, you’re not actually trying to get them wet (it’s not the end of the world if they get a little wet, but most don’t like it and will run away from being actively sprayed).
For the first week or so of her not eating, I only spritzed the sides, as is normal when caring for a jumper. Now it’s apparent that she can’t climb normally, so I spritz closer to her than I would have otherwise. I also have two areas with well-moistened cotton that I think she could sip from.
I hope that I wake up tomorrow to find that she’s successfully molted or eaten, but I’m trying to be realistic about my expectations. Everybody cross your fingers and toes!
This is why I no longer keep jumpers. The short lifespans & sudden deaths were far too difficult for me to deal with, emotionally. I had two die suddenly and the third lived a natural lifespan of about 11 months. Oddly enough it was the one that was wild-caught and not the captive bred that lived the longest.
It doesn’t look like she’s eaten, but I’m not giving up! I ordered some waxworms and butterworms. She’s definitely still alive, and moves around her enclosure periodically.
My leopard geckos have been enjoying eating some of the insects that’ve grown too large for Bengal. They especially love silkworms.
Ok. The fact that she is still alive definitely means something. She has got to be getting sustenance from somewhere . At least your leopards are getting something out of this! Yes fingers crossed !
She ate!!! I got her butterworms and waxworms, and she rejected them both. In desperation, I decided to try releasing ~5 fruit flies at once, which I hadn’t tried. And she ate a fruit fly!!! I almost cried, I was so relieved.
She’s big enough that she should theoretically be eating bigger prey, but I guess she’s just slower to accept change, hehe. To be fair, I would be hesitant to eat crickets too, so I shouldn’t blame her.
CONGRATS!!! I’m so happy for you! Perhaps she just needed more visual targets? Picky lady wants a challenge. Eating is eating, she’ll move up in size when she’s ready. What size crickets did you purchase, out of curiosity?
I got both small and medium and offered a range of sizes (one at a time). I even hobbled some for her- which I hate doing- when it was apparent that she was weakened, and she still rejected the variety of sizes I offered, both restrained and loose. Now I have a ton of crickets I’m not sure what to do with. They’re the only prey item I purchased for Bengal that I don’t want to feed to my leopard geckos. Though I suppose I could tong feed them?
They were definitely mentioned, I just meant to say that I hadn’t tried releasing a bunch at one time. I’d previously offered her a max of 3 at a time. I guess she likes a bustling work environment?
I have been waiting and researching a jumping spider for years, no exaggeration. I was so excited, but now I’m just terrified that I’m doing something wrong. I don’t love her any less for being so fussy, I wouldn’t mind if I weren’t terrified that her pickiness will be the end of her. There is a slight possibility that she has managed to eat something smaller and that I didn’t notice the corpse of the prey item, but I don’t think so.
It does seem to vary depending on the species, or at least the type of spider.
I’ll give an update with any noticeable changes.
. lol! Congratulations!! 
