Sassacus Cyaneus and Jumping Communities?

[River Dane]

Hello,

I've been getting into spiders recently, but most particularly Sassacus Jumpers.

I've seen papenhoei and Vitis where I live, (LA County, Cali) and I was wondering what other species live here? I saw Sassacus cyaneus, but is that only on the east coast, it is it here, too?

Also, can jumping spiders be housed in groups? If the habitat is about a gallon sized?

Another thing, my jumping spiders mostly stay at the top of their habitats, which is kind of annoying, because they have lots of foliage to climb around on below. Is there a way to encourage them to stay lower in the vegetation? Or will they just stay up there?

And lastly, how do you tell when they're fully grown? How long can they live as adults? And does anyone have any breeding tips? The male is larger than the female, but I'm not 100% sure they're adults, yet.

btw, I'm talking mostly about those in the Sassacus genus here, but if you have advice or other species, that'll be appreciated also. 

Thanks!

 

[CosbyArt]

@FluffyMantid Lots of questions, and hopefully by now you got some answers already.

For species in your area to be honest the only way to know is to collect them. You may find some help at a local university or cooperative extension office, such as UC Cooperative Extension for a more complete confirmed list. A non-complete list of arachnids can be found here for California.

Regarding specifics about Sassacus cyaneus, I found this scientific article about them, but does little to answer keeper questions. If you found that useful though, there are many other such sources for jumping spiders and known species, and most can be downloaded for offline viewing too. For example Salticidae.org, The Peckham Society, TOL Salticidae catalog, Journal of Arachnology Online (readable scientific issues), Jumping-Spider.com, etc.

They really do make great pets, are extremely inquisitive and similar to a cat in behavior, and are easy to care for; however, as they are small spiders, jumpers tend to be ignored by most people (being spiders) even exotic pet owners that have arachnids (due to small size and no threat). In that aspect there is little real husbandry knowledge found online about them. Another thing it seems is as they are available so readily (in most areas in the US) they are overlooked, much like the Stagmomantis mantid species.

For many husbandry/keeper basic questions like feeding, breeding, housing, handling, etc take a look at all the videos by Bob TheSpiderHunter. Forum help would be the Arachnoboards hands-down for questions, and searching for answers. Jumping spider basics, and some species specific information, about the common Phidippus audax is here (and has other species).

Jumping spiders are not communal, and in the wild will defend/frighten off others (almost always handled in displays, and shoving matches); however, in a cage they are know to kill one another. Larger containers does not matter on the communal aspect, and will only lead to unseen pets (or for them to go without finding prey). I've kept many dozens of jumpers in 8oz containers, and seems to be perfect for their size. For females that have been breed or suspected of being, I place them into 1 quart containers for plenty of room for their spiderlings once they hatch.

Yes, much like mantids jumpers tend to stay close if not actually on the top of their habitat. No, there is nothing that can make them stay lower in the container besides completely blocking off the top half. I've rarely had a few that would spend much time in the leaf litter or bark in the bottom of a container, and those tend to be small juveniles to better hide (and stopped completely when they grew larger).

To tell if they are adults or not you have to look at their size, markings in some cases, palp ends (males), and behavior - basically a experienced eye to be honest. Life expectancy/lifespan tends to depend at what instar they were captured, with captured adults living a few months to just under a year (females live longer than males).

Breeding is another whole aspect, and can lead to problems (cannibalism, escape transferring them between habitats, and many other things). Females are also larger than males, so either they are not fully grown, possibly misidentified in gender, or even different species. To put breeding simply though, introduce the male to a female, and if they are interested will preform the courtship. Again see Bob TheSpiderHunter as he covers it in one of the videos.

 

[River Dane]

@CosbyArt Thanks for all the info! And the links, too!

 

[CosbyArt]

@FluffyMantid Your more than welcome, just sorry I didn't see it much sooner. If you have any other questions feel free to ask, or shoot me a PM.