Jumping spiders are active hunters that eat live insects and other small arthropods, with flies, leafhoppers, caterpillars, and crickets topping the list.
A jumping spider that ignores its food is usually being offered the wrong thing. These spiders hunt by sight, not by scent, so a prey item has to move — and it has to be small enough to grab. Get the size and the species right and feeding becomes the easiest part of keeping one. Get it wrong and you get a spider that starves next to a bowl of dead crickets. What follows is the actual prey list from field studies, the feeders sold for captive spiders, how often to feed by life stage, and the mistakes that cost spiders their lives.
What Do Jumping Spiders Eat in the Wild?
Wild jumping spiders eat mostly small insects, and flies dominate their diet more than any other group. The rest of the diet read like a sample of everything small that moves: Hymenoptera (wasps and ants), Homoptera, Coleoptera (beetles), and other spiders, each contributing roughly 10–12% of recorded prey.
Species and habitat shift the menu. Research on Yllenus arenarius documented predatory responses to leafhoppers, caterpillars, and thrips, with leafhoppers and caterpillars confirmed in the natural diet.
Jumping spiders are not strictly carnivorous. Some species take nutrients from floral nectar and extrafloral nectar, so plant-derived food plays a small supporting role alongside arthropod prey.
What Should You Feed a Captive Jumping Spider?
Feed captive jumping spiders commercially bred live insects sized to their body, starting with flightless fruit flies for the smallest spiders. The reliable feeder list:
- Flightless fruit flies — Drosophila melanogaster (small) and Drosophila hydei (larger); the standard staple for spiderlings and juveniles.
- Pinhead or small crickets — good for larger juveniles and adults, but strictly size-controlled.
- Blue-bottle and green-bottle flies, and house flies — close to the natural diet and eagerly taken.
- Small cockroach nymphs — a solid meal for bigger spiders.
- Waxworms and small mealworms — occasional treats, never the sole food.
The sizing rule matters more than any species chart: a feeder should be no larger than the spider’s abdomen. Oversized prey can injure or kill a spider, and a spiderling offered an adult cricket is in real danger. A reader stocking up will find the practical side covered in this roundup of the best food for jumping spiders, including which feeders ship live and stay alive long enough to be useful.
How Often Should You Feed a Jumping Spider?
Feeding frequency depends on life stage, running from roughly daily for spiderlings to every 3–5 days for adults. Published husbandry guidance settles on these ranges:
- Spiderlings: about daily to every other day
- Small juveniles: every 1–2 days
- Larger juveniles: every 2–3 days
- Adults: every 3–5 days
Treat those numbers as starting points, not law. Body condition, recent meals, temperature, species, and the individual spider’s behavior should drive the schedule. Offer one properly sized prey item at a time and pull uneaten prey within about 24 hours — a live cricket left in with a molting spider can maim it. A plump, rounded abdomen means the spider is eating well; a shrunken one means something is off.
For water, most jumping spiders drink droplets off enclosure walls and décor rather than from a bowl. A light misting that leaves droplets they can reach covers hydration. Keep it light — standing water deep enough to trap a spider is a drowning risk.
| Life stage | Typical feeder | Feeding interval |
|---|---|---|
| Spiderling | Drosophila melanogaster | Daily to every other day |
| Small juvenile | Drosophila hydei | Every 1–2 days |
| Larger juvenile | Pinhead crickets, small flies | Every 2–3 days |
| Adult | Small crickets, bottle flies, roach nymphs | Every 3–5 days |
| Molting spider | None — remove live prey | Resume after molt |
What Mistakes Hurt Captive Jumping Spiders?
The most common feeding mistakes are oversized prey, wild-caught insects, and non-insect food. Each of them does real damage.
Collecting insects outdoors is risky. Wild insects can carry pesticides, parasites, or pathogens, and there is no way to check exposure. Commercially bred feeders are safer for captive animals. Do not offer fruit, vegetables, or table food as a substitute for arthropod prey — jumping spiders cannot live on it.
Ants deserve a warning. They show up in the natural diet of some species, but they are a poor default feeder. Defensive chemicals and biting behavior make them a hazard in a small enclosure.
The “live prey only” claim is also too simple. Lab work found Phidippus audax can survive on dead prey, but survival was lower and development from instar to instar took longer than with live prey. Live is better; dead is not instantly fatal.
The most-cited science on jumping spider prey selection — including the leafhopper and caterpillar findings — is published in the Journal of Arachnology field study of Philaeus chrysops, which remains the clearest picture of what these spiders actually catch.
Common Questions
Can jumping spiders eat dead insects?
Sometimes, but live prey is clearly better. Laboratory work on Phidippus audax found the spiders could survive on dead prey, yet survival rates were lower and each stage of development took longer than on a live diet. These spiders hunt by movement, so a still insect often gets ignored. Use dead prey only as an emergency stopgap.
Do jumping spiders need a water bowl?
No. Jumping spiders typically drink droplets from enclosure walls, leaves, and décor rather than from standing water. A light misting that leaves reachable droplets is the usual captive method. Keep the misting light enough that water never accumulates deep enough to trap or drown the spider.
How big should a feeder be for a spiderling?
No larger than the spider’s abdomen, and smaller is safer. Spiderlings do well on Drosophila melanogaster, the smallest common feeder, while larger juveniles can move up to Drosophila hydei or pinhead crickets. Prey that is too big can injure a young spider, so size control matters more than any feeding chart.
Sources
- American Arachnological Society — Journal of Arachnology. “Field study of Philaeus chrysops prey composition” Supports Diptera dominance at 50.2% of recorded prey.
- Florida Entomologist (BioOne). “Feeding Habits of the Jumping Spider Anasaitis canosa“ Supports the ant attack and success-rate figures.
- Journal of Arachnology (BioOne). “Alternative responses by two species of jumping spiders” Supports prey-acceptance and diet-variation findings.