I suspect, like many of you reading this, I spend more time than I should, watching my spiders go about their spider business. There are times I’ve burnt food or forgotten to get dressed because my spiders are absolutely fascinating little critters. Some of these actions and behaviours may seem confusing or even concerning to a new spider parent. It’s okay; it’s a good thing and shows you want the best for your eight-legged friend. Let’s look at just some of the jumping spider behaviour I have learned so far.
My jumping spider is sat still, waving their front legs and pedipalps slowly: The hairs on your spider's legs and pedipalps are extremely sensitive and can pick up tiny vibrations in the air around them. Not only this (and this is a fascinating bit), among those hairs are scent-sensitive hairs. That’s right, hair that smells. If you see them doing this, they are having a feel and a sniff at their surroundings, sensing things of which you and I are unaware of.
My spider looks at me with its front legs and pedipalps spread wide: Two things look like this, and they are not to be mixed up. The first is a sweet reason; is this a male doing the waving? Then it is likely a mating dance. Fun fact time: many breeders have noted that when pairing their spiders, the male can become distracted and dance for the breeder instead. Well, we are their nurse Rached deity.
The not-so-sweet side to this display is a threat display. If you have startled your jumping spider, or perhaps they are having an off day, they will throw their legs out wide, sometimes making threatening dashes at you with bared fangs before retreating. It is wise for you to retreat too and let the little one calm down unless you want to get nipped.
Why is my jumping spider going along one side of the enclosure back and forth? I have found that some have little paths they like to walk as they hunt; others have been trying to reach something outside their enclosure.
My spider has been sitting perfectly still on a stick for ages with its legs tucked close to its body. Is it okay? Shhhhh, they’re napping
My spider is running away from their dinner: This is most likely the start of pre-moult (pop by my blogs on moulting for more info) and will likely retreat to their hammock in the next few days.
My spider is walking weirdly, throwing its legs wildly or flipping over. What is wrong with them? You may see this referred to as DKS (Dyskinetic Syndrome), but scientifically speaking, this is not a well-documented syndrome; very little is known about what causes this, and many other health issues in spiders display with much the same ailments. The truth is, tiny jumping spiders are so small that we cannot say for sure what is wrong or what the health issue is, and we can only hope that they pull through.
The spider is dragging its back legs and abdomen, is it hurt? The chances are it's not injured but there is a possibility. Often the cause is that the spider is too cold, or it has water stuck to the underside of its abdomen where their book lungs are located, and they are trying to clear it.
My jumping spider has curled all of its legs under: This is called a death curl, and although this occurs right after a moult (a natural slowing of the fluid pumping process just after they have shed their skin), it is not a good sign if they do this outside of moulting.
Back to lighter notes to finish off this blog post:
My spider has its head down and bottom in the air. What the heck is it doing? Probably spying. Jumping spiders can’t look beneath themselves easily, so to do this, they go up on their tiptoes, hinge in the middle and downward dog to spy on you or the neighbour. I see mine do it all the time, and it still makes me laugh.
My spider is wiggling its butt back and forth. Is it twerking? It looks this way and goes well with most of the chart-topping tunes these days, but no. This is the web-laying booty dance. Either a new hammock is coming, or the old one is getting an upgrade. Get your phone, film it, add some music and pop it on TikTok. Don’t forget to tag Arachnamoria so I can have a dance too.
