When my husband and I first got married some 25-ish years ago, he woke up one morning and noticed the little bold jumping spider that lived on my bedroom ceiling. He was a little bit of a “city boy” back then, so when he woke me up to tell me there was a spider directly over his head, I don’t think he was exactly satisfied with my response: “Oh, yeah, that’s Spot. He lives up there.”
Lately he’s been hanging out in a couple of Facebook groups where people keep jumping spiders as pets, and is always showing me photos and exclaiming about how cute they are. So the other day when I saw one of Spot’s cousins hanging out on a pecan leaf, I brought her in and set her up in an empty peanut butter jar, and gave her to him.
He has named her Matilda, and bought her crickets and fruit flies and is reading all about how to take care of her. Since it looks like this is going to turn into a long-term relationship, I decided she needed something a little more classy than a peanut butter jar. Here’s what I came up with:
The rows of slits are for air exchange, but are only a kerf wide, which isn’t big enough for a baby spider to escape from, should Matilda decide to become a mother. (Not that I mind jumping spiders in the house – there are much WORSE things in here on a pretty regular basis, some of which jumping spiders prey on!) The door is held on with teensy magnets, because magnets are awesome, and also less fiddly than hinges.
I’ll have to post another photo after Matilda moves in, since the acrylic solvent fumes need some time to dissipate before it will be habitable. In the meantime, here’s a blurry photo of Matilda:
But I still don’t like spiders unless they are outside and not near me. I like that they eat other things I don’t like, so it is more of a love-hate relationship.
She’s beautiful! My spider habitat is the stand of my drill press. She’s found a nice little spot and I try not to gum up the web with too much of my dust.
Great story Unfortunately we have too many brown recluses in our part of the country so we have to spray to keep them at bay. Routinely find them in the house.
You know jumping spiders eat those, right? Other spiders are their main diet. We have tons of brown recluses here, too – it’s one of the primary reasons I love having jumpers in the house!
I love the spider habitat. Funny I just told my wife a couple weeks ago that I wanted to get a pet jumping spider. It didn’t go over too well. Your box would work for other pet bugs.
I guess I have to just continue taking photos in the wild.
Unfortunately we have too many brown recluses in our part of the country so we have to spray to keep them at bay. Routinely find them in the house.
