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My family has lived in Washington for almost five years now and every winter the strangest thing happens. When it rains for more than a week, I start thinking about getting a new pet.
Some people tackle the bad-weather blahs by cleaning their garage or prepping a new sourdough starter. Not me. My instinct is to wonder: You know what this house needs? Only to come to the conclusion no overtired parent should ever draw: another living creature. Mind you, I’m already outnumbered by both cats and children.
Of course, I’m not so delusional that I’m planning a fourth cat (though I’d be down if my husband was). Puppies are out, too. I have zero interest in revisiting the baby years now that our kids are 9 and 11 years old. Even guinea pigs are off the table (those little stinkers demand a surprising amount of real estate).
All I want is something low-maintenance, fascinating and cute. And kid-approved. Which is how one perfectly typical Tuesday I went down an internet rabbit hole and discovered the weirdly wholesome world of jumping spiders. Yes, spiders.
Before you scroll away, hear me out.
I once thought spiders were firmly in my “no thank you” category. Then I discovered the Instagram world of these fuzzy-faced spoods — and everything changed.
Meet the spoods
The jumping spider community — playing out mostly on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook — has adopted an innocuously adorable vocabulary to go with their unusual pets. Spoods, spooders and jumpers are all cutesy nicknames that make spiders sound a lot less scary.
Jumping spiders belong to the Salticidae family — one of the largest spider families in the world, with more than 6,800 known species, according to listing 104 in the World Spider Catalog. And most of them share at least one trait: Instead of spinning webs to catch food, they — you guessed it — jump on their prey to make it a meal. Just like the little fuzzy ninjas they were born to be.
As babies, jumpers are teeny-tiny, but within a year they can grow to about three-quarters of an inch long. They have eight eyes, including the two big front-facing ones that give them their wide-eyed, cartoonish expression. It’s part of what makes them so cute.
Their bodies come in jewel tones and camouflage colors, and most sport some super cool outwardly iridescent jaws. These mouth parts are called chelicerae, or “chells” — that literally shimmer in green, pink, purple or gold.
Jumpers are curious, too. They often turn their heads to watch people and then perch high up to observe their world.
A local expert
To make the case for why jumping spiders are great family-friendly pets, I turned to local breeder Kelly Bannister. A Bonney Lake mom, Army veteran and hospice nurse, Bannister runs a jumping spider business called Web Puppy Lodge.
“I first caught a jumping spider outside after watching some cute videos online,” she tells me. “She turned out to be pregnant and after she had babies, I started making tiny houses for them. A friend encouraged me to sell them. I started on Facebook Marketplace and the rest is history.”
Most beginner keepers start with the Phidippus genus. Phidippus regius (Regals) and Phidippus audax (Bolds) are especially expressive and friendly. Bannister offers a wide selection of Regals, red and yellow Apaches, Canopy hybrids, and will soon offer the sought-after Fartilis, known for its bright white coloring.
“My absolute favorite species are Hyllus walckenaeri and Agave,” she says. “They’re both very intelligent and highly active and interactive.”
Small pets, big personality
We bought our first spider, Pancakes, a peach-toned Regal, last October from a breeder in Texas. I found her an acrylic enclosure on Etsy (acrylic is easier for spoods to climb than glass) and even popped in a teeny-tiny disco ball decorated in moss and glitter (yes, Etsy has everything).
Pancakes has more personality than you’d expect from something with eight legs. She watches us, responds to movement and even asks for “uppies,” another spider community term describing when a spider raises its front legs toward your hand indicating it wants to be picked up. Ridiculously cute — and internet famous.
“It’s been said that they have facial recognition, which allows them to specifically develop a relationship with the person who cares for them,” Bannister says. “This can be seen when holding them, as they will often look up and make direct eye contact.”
It was so cute that within three months of getting Pancakes, I somehow procured four more jumping spiders! And along with them, four additional separate enclosures (no roommates allowed — jumpers will eat each other). I stacked them together to form the wonderfully enchanting Spood Castle. My husband, who is decidedly not a spider fan, even 3D-printed little signs for each inhabitant’s name (our spoods are each named after a breakfast food).
With five acrylic jumping spider houses, Spood Castle is complete and located in a corner of my otherwise completely normal living room.
Shedding their … pajamas?
As avid jumping spider owners, one of the coolest things my kids have learned is how jumpers shed. My introduction to this phenomenon happened when Pancakes arrived and brought her old exoskeleton in her shipping container, it was the weirdest little stowaway ever.
Spiders outgrow their suits and shed them to grow, a process called molting. Each molt reveals a slightly bigger version of themselves. Most jumpers go through 10 to 12 molts in a lifetime. In the spood community, keepers affectionately call these skins “pajamas” — as in “Pancakes kicked off her old pajamas today!”
Unfortunately, female jumpers only live a year or so after their last molt, and males even less than that. It’s a tough lesson for any pet owner, but perhaps another good reminder for keepers and their kiddos to live in the moment and appreciate their friends while they’re still here.
Why jumpers are great for kids
Jumping spiders don’t play fetch, but they’re surprisingly ideal for kids. Here’s why:
- They’re low maintenance and don’t require filters, heaters or baths like other typical pets.
- They’re educational. Kids can learn about biology, insect behavior and molting cycles from them.
- They help kids learn responsibility — feeding, misting and remembering to close the enclosure door.
- They provide gentle interaction for children and encourage calm movements.
- Owning them is an observational hobby. Kids can watch the spoods hunt, build hammocks and be their goofy selves.
“As long as the child is mature enough to follow daily watering and feeding schedules and maintain a calm presence,” Bannister says, “it teaches responsibility, the importance of a gentle presence and patience.”
The anatomy of a spood
Here are a few key terms to know when talking about jumping spiders with kids:
- Palps: The super fluffy sensory “arms” by their mouth
- Chells: Those metallic, colorful jaws
- Eyes: Eight total, with big puppy-dog ones in front
- “Paws”: Each spider leg ends in a clawed foot with a fluffy pad called a scopulae that lets them grip surfaces and walk on ceilings.
- Hammock: The silk pouch the spiders make for sleeping, staying warm or molting
- Spinnerets: Silk-releasing booty parts used for anchoring a safety leash to things to avoid falling, and for hammock-weaving
A jumping spider care checklist for kids
- Feeding: Tiny flies, crickets or roaches. Buy live feeders like these from a breeder or pet store. Don’t trap or catch wild bugs due to parasites.
- Misting: Spray distilled water using the mist setting on the inside of the enclosure walls every two to three days for hydration and humidity.
- Housing: For teen and adult spoods, look for 4x4x6-inch acrylic enclosures with front-opening doors and cross-ventilation.
- Temperature: Room temperature is fine; avoid extremes. Mine absolutely love a heating pad draped over a stand near the back wall.
- Fragrances: Avoid using scented products around them, including cleaners and candles. These can cause neurological symptoms in jumpers, according to this article from A–Z Animals.
Other fun and odd pets for families to consider
- Praying mantis: Come in flower-like species; live in similar enclosures to jumpers
- Button quail: Kept like lizards in a tank, adorably low-key and tiny
- Bearded dragons: Great for older kids ready for a heat-lamp setup
- Opae ula shrimp: Live in self-sustaining jars; no filter, no heater, no stress
A fuzzy-faced fad that’s here to stay
Thanks to viral videos and YouTube star Lucas the Spider, jumping spiders are having a pop culture moment. The hype is real — so real that an actual jumping spider species discovered in Iran in 2020 was named after Lucas: Salticus lucasi.
Jumpers might not be for everyone. But if you’re curious, patient and ready to try something new, these miniature, googly-eyed cuties might just steal your heart. And yes, Pancakes still loves her disco ball.
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