😅 29 💞 Bad 😎 Boy 🍆♏️ Weast Coast 🦀

Fuck it I’m gonna make a Roleplay/Ask blog for my Spidersona because fuck it we ball!

Gooty Sapphire (P. metallica)

Looking up at me to see if she thinks I'm safe before climbing aboard my thumb.

@pennyplainknits absolutely! Jumping spiders are becoming a commonly-kept pet because they're small and friendly and their care is not difficult. Unlike tarantulas they have really excellent eyesight and can actually see you, and they can learn to trust hands. This doesn't mean every one of them will, but many of them do.

Their enclosure space requirement is pretty small. Most people keep them in well-ventilated plastic containers about 4x4x8 inches, decorated so they have things to climb and look at. An empty enclosure runs about $15-50, though some people make their own out of food storage containers. A decorated enclosure can run $30-300+ depending on the level of complexity. These ones from Wolf Spirit Arts run around $250:

And a couple by Spood Manor that are similarly priced (and I prefer the ones that open like this, since the spiders use the top portion:

Sling (baby) enclosures are about half size or smaller (the youngest slings are kept in the enclosure they were hatched in until they are out of the nest regularly and then get moved to itty bitty 2oz deli cups for a couple more molts until they can't get out the holes in an enclosure, but you're probably not buying them that small). Here's a younger ones from The Peculiar Creative for around $70-80:

But there's TONS of people making them, and you can decorate an empty one yourself fairly easily. You just need to make sure that you're using stuff that doesn't mold, and putting in enough stuff that they have things to climb on and jump to, and that the floor is as soft as possible because if they fall, they can die. I'm making my own adult enclosure for Willow right now, with live plants.

The spiders themselves I've seen run from $5-50, but the cheaper they are, the more likely they were wild caught. A wild caught male might be alright (but may not be very friendly), but a LOT of people are running into the problem of wild caught females laying egg sacs. And they don't lay just one, once they've mated they'll go and lay like 3-7 sacs. So, I would advise anyone interested in getting a pet jumping spider to find breeders and sit and watch them for a bit. Captive breeders are quite loud about their pairings and their joyous love for their parent animals and will likely be posting about the babies as they grow, too. Those are the people you want to buy from.

I got Willow from Heim's House of Spooders, and she's and her partner do a GREAT job with their spiders, if you're looking for a rec. They also make decorated adult enclosures for like $50, so you can get everything in one place.

a mini cat tree for a tiny arachnid kitty

I think one of my favourite jumping spiders is Opisthoncus necator just because its common name is just “The Murderer” for some reason, so if I ever go to look at it on iNat, I am greeted with this very accusatory title and what is essentially its mug shot