A new housemate
!!! WARNING!!!
Spider talk and images lurk beneath the cut! If you are arachnophobic, please skip this post!
So, for a while I've had the occasional encounter of a lost little jumping spider wandering into my apartment when the weather finally warms up, and I always worry about their safety around the cats - not to mention being able to find any kind of food to boot... For the last few months I've been on-and-off researching different ways to build jumping spider vivariums on a budget, even going so far as to chopping up a clear shoe bin to see how well that theory works (Hint - it doesn't ... not easily at risk of snapping brittle plastic), before settling on a building method tutorial I liked enough to adapt and order the parts to make the viv with. Here's something to know about my state and its local jumpers... The biggest one clocks in at 14 mm in the females, and held by the Bold Jumper species. Everyone else? Sit somewhere between 5-9 mm on average between both genders. Little goobers. So.. surprise surprise, the day before my material is supposed to arrive, who shows up above my door frame when I came home from work, but this little dude -
I'm not sure if he's fully grown, as that's my pinky nail next to him, but the pedipalps being a bit thicker on the end lead me to think this lad may be a boy jumper. Still.. I'm pretty sure he won't say no to a fruit fly or two tomorrow when I make a side-tour to the pet store during lunch. So.. with no materials immediately available, and only an acrylic scoring tool on hand, I scrounged up an unlikely material from a project long abandoned from when I had leopard geckos in the form of anti-glare photo frame covers.
From there I took a leaf out of LostinExotics Youtube tutorial for his vivs to adapt one for the little lad utilizing some neodymium magnets from my sculpture supply, a good amount of hot glue seal, some coconut coir from my barley grass growing supplies (my cats are little cows when it comes to their salad time), holes drilled with some micro bits I had for my dremel, and a few silk plants -
It ain't pretty by a long shot, and sure I can't see the spider in there, but it's adapted with two lips inside so if he hammocks at the top I can still open the door flap without breaking it on accident, and keeps the substrate in one place without giving up full access to the entire tank -
Technically.. I could have made a little 3x3x4 viv for his temporary housing, but considering how super active little Zebra Jumpers like this lad was.. it felt better to give him a 5x5x7.5 space instead to zoom around in. Not being able to observe him exploring and thinking with his little pedipalps wiggling away will be worth giving him space to be comfortable until his final home is made. ... Now I need to think of a name for him... I still am keeping my eye out for the bold jumpers, but I had thought about starting up a hobby with borrowing a feral pair for a season to start up brood lines for these little guys as a domestic supply, then release the parents once the slings are up and out. However.. as I've researched more into them, these little guys are truly more on the ornamental side, and not of a size for interaction like the bolds and regals (of which I may look into adopting from a good breeder at some point for a chance to experience what that is like). Thinking... Zed for this guy's name perhaps?











