It's another #spiderday

Looks like it's another #spiderday

Currently I am keeping a daring jumping spider as a pet but this photoshoot is from a spider I found a couple years ago and kept as a pet.

These daring/bold jumping spiders are common around here and I usually see around two on my balcony towards the end of summer and fall.

Their Latin name is Phidippus audax and they are called daring or bold jumping spiders because they are not too shy and will often jump on you if you put your hand in front of them. This one was very tame and I brought out my pressed leaves to use a backdrop.

As they crawl around they make safety line attachments just in case they fall while jumping.

This one is about half its full size.

Usually when you see a bold jumper with orange spots this means it is still a juvenile and has to molt a couple times before it is an adult. Once they reach adult size these spots turn white.

I found this one on the floor of my condo when I left the balcony open. It was pretty skinny so I kept it for a week and fattened it up with some caterpillars. At this point it was nice and fat.

This what it looked like when I first caught it and fed it a horned caterpillar. It was so hungry it instantly attacked it.

It is quite the content little spider feasting on the horned worm. I usually buy these horned worms for my tarantulas. Fortunately there was a smaller worm available for the little jumper to catch.

I ended up keeping this spider until it was full grown then let it go in the spring. I'll do the same with my current jumping spider. Here is some video I tried taking of this spider but at this point it was quite used to me and kept jumping on the camera lens.

They make great pets and they are quite useful on my balcony eating the bugs on my tomato plants.