Feeding & Prey Selection

Prey sizing

One rule matters more than anything else: match the prey to your spider's body size. The prey item should be no larger than the spider's abdomen (the rear body segment). Same size or slightly smaller is ideal.

Too-large prey can injure or badly stress your spider. A cricket that's too big may fight back, bite the spider, or just be too intimidating for the spider to bother with. Prey that's far too small gets ignored. Jumping spiders are visual predators and won't always register tiny prey as worth hunting.

Prey types by life stage

Different prey items suit different life stages:

• Slings and tiny juveniles: Drosophila melanogaster (flightless fruit flies). Small, slow-moving, and easy for young spiders to catch.
• Larger juveniles: Drosophila hydei (larger flightless fruit flies). Roughly twice the size of D. melanogaster, good for bridging the gap to bigger prey.
• Sub-adults and adults: houseflies, blue bottle flies (Calliphora), small crickets, or curly-wing flies. Adults of larger species like Phidippus regius can take surprisingly big prey.

Flies are generally the best staple prey for jumping spiders. They trigger the hunting instinct well and are nutritionally adequate. Crickets work for larger spiders but should always be size-appropriate.

Feeding frequency

Juveniles are growing fast and need food more often. Every 2 to 3 days is a good rhythm. Adults can go every 3 to 5 days. You don't need to feed daily, and overfeeding just leads to an unnaturally distended abdomen.

A spider approaching a moult will refuse food. This is completely normal. Pre-moult food refusal can last anywhere from a few days to over a week. Don't keep offering prey during this period (see the section on prey refusal below).

Prey refusal

If your jumping spider stops eating, it's most likely entering pre-moult. Other signs: dull or faded colouration, less activity, and retreating into a web sac. This is a normal part of the growth cycle. Not a problem.

What IS a problem is leaving live prey in the enclosure with a spider that isn't eating. An uneaten cricket or fly left overnight can harass, stress, or even injure a moulting spider. Crickets in particular will chew on moulting spiders, which can be fatal. If your spider doesn't take the prey within a few hours, remove it.

Water

Jumping spiders drink water from droplets on surfaces. They don't use water dishes. Lightly mist one side of the enclosure every day or two to give them drinking droplets. Use dechlorinated water.

Do NOT mist directly onto the spider. Water droplets can trap very small spiders (especially slings), and sudden misting startles them. Mist the enclosure walls and decor, and let the spider find the droplets on its own.

Variety

A single prey type like fruit flies or houseflies can sustain a jumping spider just fine, but offering variety helps. Flies, small crickets, the occasional waxworm, small moths: they all have slightly different nutritional profiles.

It also keeps things interesting for the spider. Jumping spiders are smart, visual hunters, and different prey types give them different hunting challenges. You can tell they enjoy the novelty.