PHIDIPPUS REGIUS CARE SHEET

Feeding: when you first receive your spider the food you need to feed will vary depending on the age of your spider. If you receive a spider which is around L4/L5 you will most likely be feeding it on hydei fruit flies. Once it passes this stage you will need to find larger feeders. What you feed can vary depending on the size of the jumper but personally I like to use a mix of green bottle flies, blue bottle flies and locust with the odd mini mealworm and wax worm/wax moth. You want to make sure you don’t over feed your spider so as a guide you will need to keep an eye on the abdomen size to make sure it isn’t too small or too large. 
Never leave food such as crickets or mealworms unattended in an enclosure as they can cause harm to your spider.

Misting: Firstly you want to ensure your jumper is hydrated so misting the enclosure walls once a day will allow your spider to drink if they need to. Secondly you will want to most the substrate and enclosure to maintain a good humidity. This will help your jumping spider when it’s time to moult.

Housing: you can start with a simple smoothie cup or spiderling house and as the spider grows you will want to move them into a larger enclosure. I personally use a mix of 20x20cm cubes or 15x15x20cm enclosures for my adult Regius. I like to have them set up as natural possible so I use a substrate base, moss, planted plants (I find this easier to keep them alive) and wood such as cork bark) and I also include springtails as clean up crew. You can also add isopods if you wish as clean up crew.

Lighting: jumping spiders originate from bright sunny countries so they require a bright LED light to help aid with hunting. This could range from a single plug in LED lamp all the way to LED strip lighting so choose what suits your set up.

Temperatures: Phidippus Regius are best kept at around 24-26c. If you are unable to provide these temps using normal heating I would suggest buying a heat mat and a thermostat to ensure your spider is kept at the correct temps to maintain optimum husbandry.

House hold dangers: Chemicals such as flea treatments, cleaning products, candles can be a huge danger towards your jumping spider.

For further in-depth information please feel free to message myself or visit UK jumping spiders on Facebook