Before you get a pet jumping spider you should decide whether or not they are the right pet for you. You should also have supplies and an enclosure ready.
The most popular pet spiders are tarantulas, which are roughly 10x the size of most jumping spiders. But while jumping spiders are small, they are far more intelligent:
Weasels may be cunning, we might admire the intelligence of dogs and cats, but we can be forgiven for expecting the jumping spider, a diminutive predator with a brain not much bigger than a poppy seed, to be one of Descartes' automatons. Yet, jumping spiders, also known as salticids, alternate between entertaining and alarming us by planning prey-capture tactics ahead of time, adjusting their hunting behaviour in accordance with how the prey responds and giving us other examples of un-spider-like acumen
They are able to quickly form and reverse associations, navigate in virtual reality, learn by trial and error and learn from observing conspecifics. This means they are an intelligent and interactive pet that some people even claim to be able to train.
Even if you can't train them, they are fun to watch and photograph. Each has a unique personality and habits. I've loved sharing my life with these adorable and quirky creatures.
Care is fairly easy, they only need to be fed and watered every few days.
If you're looking for a cuddly pet, look elsewhere. While they are non-aggressive and bites are rare, they are not easy to handle. They are likely to be lost or harmed if handled.
They also require live prey as food: roaches, crickets, mealworms, or flies. You'll also need to raise and care for these in order to keep a pet jumping spider.
Sadly they also don't live very long, with the oldest recorded pet jumping spider living to about 3 years and most living to a year at most.
This is a male Phidippus texanus
Awesome! I hope this site provides a valuable resource. I also encourage you to join our Facebook group, which gives you access to our active community of knowledgable spider keepers
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