phidippusregius

[phidippusregius]

menemerus bivittatus

i thought lambent had passed away several months ago but when cleaning in the bug room i spotted them hunting down and catching a housefly like 5x their size…. safe to say they’ve been doing well

#one of my current bbies #menemerus bivittatus

[phidippusregius]

nothing makes me softer than the lovely comments from arachnophobes on my spider posts, especially on my jumping spider blog (and no this isn’t sarcasm) because i’m forever so honoured to be a small part of the journey to loving the unloved creatures. to be able to have this deep-seated fear, to look at this animal that utterly terrifies you, and yet manage to engage with cautious fascination and love is incredible. to everybody who does this, thank you for giving the scary ones a chance. <3 

[phidippusregius]

since this post is gaining more attention in this past week here’s some lore on this spider - her name is atlas and she was my first jumping spider. i actually bought her because i was looking for a male as my first jumper and with her colouration i thought at the time she was he/him/spider... she then decided to drop a lot of surprise spiderlings all of a sudden so i had to learn to be a spider sparent...spuncle... very fast. and it’s from there that we got many of the jumpers i posted on this blog in the early days

atlas was very friendly, very intelligent, and full of surprises. like, 100 of them. and it’s thanks to her that my love for jumpers really took off, much like how the spiderlings took off that one time when they escaped and went on the ceiling <3 (they all made it back home don’t worry)

wiggle

#atlas

[phidippusregius]

She jump!!

#platycryptus undatus #how lovely!

[phidippusregius]

unnamed and unknown species but look how sweet ))): (possibly a juvenile holcolaetis sp)

#jumping spider #unnamed

[phidippusregius]

p. regius, dill

#dill is such a handsome boy! #phidippus regius

[phidippusregius]

Regal jumping spiders (Phidippus regius) are one of the world’s largest jumping spiders. Endemic to the southeast US, mostly Florida, where they can be quite common among low vegetation in open, sunny habitats and prefer to make their silk lairs on palmetto fronds.

They’re probably also the best-known species of jumper, mostly in the context of being kept as pets. They often charm even individuals who are otherwise arachnophobes, though I think their undeniable cuteness can make people overlook the fact that they’re incredibly formidable predators even by spider standards, able to use their excellent vision and reflexes to stalk and subdue large, dangerous prey. Awhile back I saw one eating another venomous predator, a wheel bug (Arilus cristatus) that was at least twice the size of the jumper.

#phidippus regius

[phidippusregius]

Why is she so cute 😍

#phidippus regius

[phidippusregius]

whilst i’m here. i don’t like this growing trend of treating exotic bugs and spiders like toys or props to make “viral” videos and such. the amount of videos i see floating around showing people irresponsibly handling tarantulas (especially old worlds!!!) high off the ground, bothering jumping spiders constantly because they’re cute and not providing them with enough enrichment, etc etc. tarantulas gain nothing from being handled and you put them at risk of injury or death if they fall or if you flinch and drop them. jumping spiders are adorable, but that doesn’t mean they should be poked and prodded for videos all the time like i’ve seen some people doing. yeah, they’re really cool, fascinating and a lot of people are adverse to these animals, but it doesn’t give you the right to treat those animals like props. they’re still wild creatures, they still deserve to have peace, and most importantly they need to be safe. that’s your responsibility and they owe you nothing in return!

yes, handle at your own risk. yes, some tarantulas and trues may harmlessly walk onto your hand and allow you to hold them. that doesn’t mean you should wave them around in front of a camera for likes and comments telling you how cool and brave you are for putting your animal at risk. sorry to be the fun police or whatever but come on. advocate for your animals so that people know that they’re not monsters, but advocate for them in a way that’s fair to your animal and honest to your viewers.

the only inverts i actively handle are one of my jumping spiders and both of my mantids and i do so entirely on their terms. if they want to come onto my hand they can, if they want to go home they can. i know each of them very well and know their limits and boundaries. my peacock mantis for example seems to appreciate being held where they can observe the room around them. my L3 thistle mantis doesn’t like having hands close to her or above her as she’s very small, and she prefers to jump onto a finger on her terms. my phidippus regius spiderling is shy and needs plenty of time to work up to jumping onto a finger from above, but once she’s settled she seems to like the warmth of my hand. my phidippus octopunctatus jumper doesn’t want to be handled or touched, that’s fine and i give her plenty of space.

just respect your inverts for the wild animals they are

#psa from my main #<3 #advocate for your animals in a way that's fair to them and you AND your audience

[phidippusregius]

tiny small.

#phidippus regius #jumping spider #regal jumping spider #spider tw #spiders tw #arachnophobia tw

[phidippusregius]

um. she fell. ASDFGH

#phidippus regius #regal jumping spider #jumping spider #spider tw #spiders tw #arachnophobia tw #she's fine dont worry

[phidippusregius]

new girl alert! phidippus octopuntatus 

#hey girl! #phidippus octopuntatus #jumping spider #spider tw #arachnophobia tw #i posted a bunch of new spiders and bugs to my main if you wanna see them! #main is cyanocoraxx

[phidippusregius]

[phidippusregius]

💧 @hermannexotics

#hyllus

[phidippusregius]

p. regius, piper

#phidippus regius

[phidippusregius]

#phidippus regius

[phidippusregius]

Little Beauty 😍

#jumping spider #phidippus regius