Common types of food given to Jumping spiders: Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila Hydei, solder fly, house fly, green and blue bottle flies, mealworms, wax worms, and crickets.
When deciding on food for any spider first take a good look at the size of the spider you are feeding and pick a feeder that is approximately the size of the spider or it’s abdomen. Then you will have an appropriately sized feeder. However, some spiders will definitely take larger prey. You can always offer larger prey and then if not eaten remove and go down in size. If trying larger crickets or mealworms you can slightly disable them to make it easier for the spider. Flies are ok to leave in with your spiders if not eaten immediately. If they are in pre-molt, molting or on an egg sac they may be annoyed by flies so if they don’t eat, take those out, later on to the next day. Crickets and mealworms, take out if not eaten within the day since they are capable of injuring jumping spiders especially if they may be molting. Do not feed ants as some spit formic acid that can hurt your jumper. It’s not recommend to feed any wild caught bugs as they may have pesticides on them that can affect your spider.
As slings, they start off on D. melanogaster fruit flies, then on to D. Hydei, and then pinhead crickets/solder fly/house fly spike or fly. Once larger subadult to adult. You can try any of the following, as long as you follow the size of the spider when picking out prey, green/blue bottle flies, mealworms, wax worms and larger crickets.
My personal recommendation
How often to feed. My suggestion is to check in on them all daily, if there is a problem with your spider you can find out maybe one day sooner by just checking in and taking a look. Even if you are not feeding or watering just look them over. Are they on the bottom and this isn’t normal for them? In case they need a spritz of water if needed depending on your humidity levels. For slings, feed them daily or at least make sure they have a fruit fly available if their abdomen is the width of their head or smaller. As they get bigger and become juveniles/sub-adults you can still offer food if their abdomen is the size of their head or smaller. Not a huge meal but at least a small cricket or fly, some smaller juveniles can still eat D. Hydei fruit flies. I offer the food and if it is a fly I just leave it in if they do not eat. If it’s a cricket/mealworm then I’d remove it after like 20 minutes. Usually if they are hungry they are going to eat right away. If I feed a bigger meal of a larger mealworm or wax worm then you may want to skip feeding until their abdomen thins down to about the width of their head. Those type of meals tend to fill them up more. The tricky part comes when they become adults. Males will start eating much less but they come out more and wander around looking for the chickies. Females when they decide it is time to lay eggs will just keep gaining weight until they look about to burst and then will lay eggs and thin down and want to start eating again at some point.
Others recommend:
Some other people say they only feed their jumpers every 2-3 days and water as well. Or some feed once a week. I have started trying to base most of my feeding off of abdomen size and if it gets to much bigger then their head less food. Gravid females tend to get bigger until the lay eggs from my experience with audax. From sling to adult. Some of this depends on your personal feelings. People that say you should feed less frequently say that it makes your spider live longer and that if you over feed their abdomen can burst. I don’t know that the abdomen would burst but can make it more fragile if they fall from a good height with no soft landing. However, if they eat more food yes they will have that food and be ready to molt but they still have to prep for molt and go through it etc….As long as you keep hydrated and feed between every 3-7 days you should be good. Jumping spiders can go up to a month when they are molting or sitting on eggs. It is very varied between even just each spider of a clutch. It is definitely up to you to make those decisions for yourself and I totally understand that. If you want another opinion feel free to message me or ask on one of the facebook jumping spider groups, they can be very helpful.
Once a female becomes an adult she decides it’s time to lay eggs. This happens wether they are fertile or not. This take a lot of energy for the female so they will eat and eat and eat. Most jumpers will lay multiple egg sacs over time if they are fertile or not. If I have a female that I suspect is putting on some egg weight, I will feed them perhaps a little more frequently. When they are done laying/sitting on their eggs then they may not eat as often. My adult females will usually eat every few days. It can vary so sometimes I will put a fly in or something just to see if they show interest. If not then I just take it out and try again the next day. After awhile you sort of just learn how often your spiders will take a meal. Some will eat more than others. When I first was starting, I kept track of what I was feeding out and to which spider. It helped me sort of figure out their eating cycles. My adult males eat even less often. Sometimes, they will only eat once to twice a week if even that. I know this isn’t a super specific on amount to feed but with practice it becomes easier. I also check out their abdomen size before I feed them it can be a good indicator. If they have a very small wrinkled looking abdomen they are probably in the need of some food. Sometimes when they are sooo bursting big with eggs, I will skip a day or two until they thin out a bit. A lot of it is just getting to know your spiders.
Appetite
Jumping spiders can be very picky. If I find that mine are not eating after a few days, I may try a different type of prey. I have some that prefer only eat flying food like flies and moths. While others like mealworms, or fly spikes. It can be a bit of an experiment sometimes.
I have not had much luck feeding out any prey that is pre-killed except maybe a couple of my senior spiders. Sometimes tiny slings will also eat cut up larger bugs, I have heard this from several people but haven’t had the need to try myself. Most jumpers do require live prey. This is something to think about before getting a spider if you will be ok with feeding out live prey to your spider. Caring for a jumping spider also means caring for their food sources as well.
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