What's the best food for an audacious jumping spider?
What's the best food for an audacious jumping spider?
I have a large terrarium where I grow various types of moss. I keep springtails in there to handle any mold that pops up, but some creature (fungus gnat larvae?) was killing off the springtails. So I captured a jumping spider, thinking it would gobble up the fruit flies/larvae. The fungus gnats have disappeared, so it seems like the spider might have done the job, but now I'm worried about it getting hungry.
I gave it a mayfly a couple days ago, and that evening it was sitting in the corner of the terrarium like a toddler with a juice box, so it obviously likes those. Are there any specific things that are good to feed it, or can I give it anything that I catch that isn't predatory? For example, would a "regular" sized moth be dangerous? It'd be like 2-3x the size of the spider.
They're generalist predators. Anything that isn't going to eat the spider will work as long as your new friend can catch it. Meal worms should be cheap and easy if you're looking for a longterm relationship.
Thanks for the tip. It actually took on a month, but thats a pretty big size difference. I've been feeding it tiny crickets from my garden lately, seems to like those pretty well, and I think they're too small to bother it while it's sleeping.