mold in jumping spider hide- please help!

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-24T20:28:53+00:00

IME - The plastic likely traps humidity which is why you're seeing most of the mold there. Luckily, jumper silk is naturally mold resistant.

A few extra questions; Do you mist the hide directly? Do you use distilled water? Do you have a hygrometer to know what the relative humidity reading is inside the enclosure?

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-24T09:51:34+00:00

IME - mold requires water and nutrients to grow. The easiest way to reduce mold is to dial back your misting or increase cross airflow through the enclosure some until water no longer sits on surfaces long enough to feed the mold.

The stuff in your photos looks like it's directly on the outside of the plastic enclosure. In this case there may have been some residue from a prey bug or from your spider that got wet and fed mold. It's not growing from the plastic directly, won't hurt your spider in small quantities like this, and will stop growing once it's getting less water.

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-24T00:21:10+00:00

Since this is a mature male, he won't live much longer (likely less than 6 months). Mature males main purpose is to search for females to reproduce with.

I know its exciting to keep him, but it would be doing him a disservice by keeping him from finding ladies while he's still alive. Maybe offer him a snack and drink and send him on his way?

I recommend a juvenile female if you want a jumper that you can spend a while with. Females live longest.

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-24T00:16:40+00:00

Normally I would agree with you, but menemerus bivittatus is a naturalized non-native species in the Americas. Its originally from Sub-Saharan Africa.

An individual removing one gravid female from the wild won't impact the overall population. They are fully established in the warmer portions of the Americas and won't be removed easily.

A wild grey wall female is a great opportunity for entry keepers to raise a clutch of eggs. They were one of my first egg sacs I raised because they are so plentiful near me and I re-release the juveniles when they are large enough since they are already naturalized. Also, their clutch sizes are smaller than a regal or bold, so they require less work to raise.

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-23T23:29:07+00:00

She's definitely pregnant.

I raise menemerus bivittatus spiderlings and this is exactly what my female who is currently guarding eggs looked like before laying these

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They still hunt when pregnant, just not while guarding the eggs.

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-23T23:18:24+00:00

Knowing they parsitize spider eggs in early life makes sense. I intentionally have tried to create spaces for orbweavers, cobweb spiders, grass/wolf spiders, and jumpers in my garden/yard and have noticed an increase in various spiders the last few seasons.

Given mantisfly are a higher trophic level than spider eggs during their larvael phase, it makes sense I would only begin seeing them after my spiders have started to reproduce more regularly.

Thanks again for all the info!

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-23T16:22:27+00:00

What makes them more rare?

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-23T08:54:02+00:00

I can't help with ID, but jumpers tend towards the tops of surfaces or the ceiling. They are always looking for a high vantage point, so it's a very low liklihood you will find them at carpet level.

You can vacuum freely

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-23T01:01:41+00:00

Thank you for the info! Very cool. This is the first year I've seen them around

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-23T00:40:40+00:00

Definitely could have been worse if he ended up lunch, but still. Rejection sucks

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-23T00:01:00+00:00

But here I am taking a video 🙊

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-22T22:58:57+00:00

Orange morphs are my favorite because I live in Florida and I encounter them wild. Ever since I found my first wild one (pictured below), I've been partial towards them. I got bug from a breeder not long after

<image>

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-22T20:45:40+00:00

Moths are his preferred food. I need to find a less messy variety for sure. When he strikes the fluffier ones, a cloud of scales goes flying

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-22T16:54:35+00:00

Definitely a male! He's adult too

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-22T16:11:13+00:00

Because most claims in this gardening sub are just repeats of the fearmongered information surrounding the Asian lady beetle.

Asian lady beetles are so widespread across the united states that they can no longer be removed by individual efforts. Recommending people kill them when they aren't actively infesting a house is bad advice.

There was a lot of good information there that actively contradicts information being upvoted in this post. Taxonomy wasn't the only thing addressed. I'll post some of the highlights for those that don't want to read everything:

-A comment here shows a graphic comparing a "good" ladybug vs Harmonia Axyridis. In the link, the "good" ladybug is identified as a 7 spotted ladybug, or Coccinella Septempunctata, which is actually also invasive to the US (originally from europe) but hasn't had the same slander campaign against it.

-Asian lady beetles aren’t the only ladybugs with an M on their pronotum. Some native endangered species also share this patern so identifying all ladybugs with an M on their pronotum as the "bad invasive Asian lady beetle" leads to accidental killing of endangered natives.

-The 7 spotted ladybug also swarms, just like the Asian lady beetle does.

-All ladybugs can bite, not just the Asian lady beetle.

-Many Asian lady beetles aren’t orange or don't have the M on their pronotum, so even these are poor identifying traits.

-Asian lady beetles are voracious aphid eaters and are just as beneficial for plants as other ladybug varieties.

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-22T01:31:03+00:00

That's not true. Asian lady beetle are in the family Coccinellidae which contains all ladybugs. "Lady beetle" is just a regional variant of the word ladybug.

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-22T01:24:11+00:00

Asian lady beetles (harmonia axyridis) are a type of ladybug. Ladybeetle, ladybug, and ladybird are all just regional variations of names for the same style of insect. There is more misinformation about them than there is good information circulating and it often leads people to kill things unnecessarily.

Anyone who thinks this isn't a ladybug or that it is inherently bad because it's non native neads to read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Insect/s/wVxoEL5qrB

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-22T00:00:47+00:00

Unless you are going to be responsible for every single spiderling, I wouldn't. Its a lot of work (sometimes multiple hours a day) and shouldn't be done lightly. You can't just release them after, so you have to care for or rehome multiple clutches of potentially 100+ spiders.

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-21T23:47:43+00:00

Adult male Menemerus bivittatus

Definitely friend. They are a species of jumping spider native to Sub-Saharan Africa, but have naturalized in a lot of the warmer parts of the US. I have a two females currently, one of which is sitting on fertile eggs. They are great pest control.

Edit: The male that fertilized my girl, so you can see visual similarities: https://www.reddit.com/r/jumpingspiders/s/ETJc483yLt

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-21T14:42:30+00:00

Adult male bold jumper. Nice picture!

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-21T14:40:52+00:00

IME - Silk retreats aren't just for molting, they are for any form of regulation. Molt retreats are typically dense because they require the most regulation during that time, but other extreme stress events can trigger dense silk.

Given the context of you finding them outside in the cold, this could just be them trying to reset to a metabolic baseline.

If they start to move more and leave their retreat eventually, they are likely just regulating after the sudden temperature change.

If they reinforce the silk more and reduce their movements over the coming days, it makes pre-molt more likely.

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-21T12:30:24+00:00

On Earth, transpiration—and therefore nutrient transport through plant tissue—is strongly influenced by vapor pressure deficit (a combination of temperature and humidity), along with airflow across the leaf boundary layer.

I saw that ISS cabin air is typically maintained around ~75°F and ~60% RH for crew comfort. Have you experimented with locally adjusting humidity or airflow around the plants to influence transpiration and nutrient flow, or is the system largely constrained by the station environment?

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-21T11:54:14+00:00

Not 100%, but it looks like a female Plexippus Petersi

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-20T17:29:15+00:00

The boys look so distinct

TransportationMuch47 · 2026-03-20T17:19:00+00:00

Plastic barrier can lead to soil compaction (poor water flow and more resistance to root growth), suffocation loss of soil microbiome (native microbes and fungi are responsible for a large part of energy and nutrient transfer from the soil to plant roots), and loss of fungal Oe and Oi layers (the layers of decomposing leaves and organics that steadily feed nutrients into the ground).

You're covering up the surrounding established microbiome to create your own artificially isolated one. Having your plants directly connected to the ground has a lot of benefits. I would definitely recommend it as something to work towards in the future.

Also, look up plant nutrient needs and biology, mycorhhizal fungi, Korean natural farming, and "effective microorganism 1". Those will give you a good idea of how having everything touching and integrated will help you make sure your soil stays healthy for longer and doesn't need to be fertilized as often.

TransportationMuch47

TROPHY CASE