Posted by Sean Murphy on June 21, 2006

Q: Good Evening,

My name is Christina I recently had a student bring in a rather large spider that I was able to acertain as a jumping spider. However recently it has gotten rather fat. I do mean fat we have fed it regularly and it seems to like to eat once in the morning and then later in the evening usually flies and crickets(its a voracious eater) . It has gotten so fat that it is rather butt heavy if you know what I mean climbing the sides of the enclosure takes it quite a while. I am curious if it might be a female and she might be pregnant. Is there anything you can tell me?

Habitat: suburban/yard

State: Ohio

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: Delighted to read that you're providing an opportunity for your students to learn about spiders! Jumping spiders are quite interesting and even "cute" little animals. I love the way they seem to watch your every move. This is a good spider to help people get over their unfounded fears of spiders.

I haven't had much experience with jumping spiders so I'm not sure what is happening with yours. Sounds to me that it is being very well fed so maybe that's why its abdomen is getting larger as it stores calories - can't be sure though. IF your spider is a female and IF it was fertilized before you caught it, maybe it is producing eggs (I don't know if eggs are produced before or after fertilization!). I think it will be interesting for you to keep an eye on your spider and see what happens. Maybe it will simply continue to stay fat or maybe one morning you'll look at your little guy and see that it is much slimmer with an egg sac somewhere in its enclosure. Will be interesting to see what happens. Thanks so much for asking and sharing. Would love to hear back on the outcome of this story.

John Wiessinger ( June 22, 2006)