A tiny neighbor.
An extraordinary world.

Eight eyes. One curious face.

Those big front eyes aren’t just charming. Jumping spiders use sharp vision to explore and hunt. Watch one notice movement: it may turn to get a better look.

A little observation: can you spot the two biggest eyes in a close-up photo?

Look. Stalk. Leap.

Instead of catching dinner in a snare web, jumpers actively hunt. They approach prey, judge the distance, and pounce. A silk dragline acts as a safety tether when a jump doesn’t go to plan.

After catching prey, spiders use digestive fluids to break food down and take in the liquid meal.

A little bigger, one molt at a time.

A spider’s outer skeleton cannot grow along with it. To get bigger, the spider sheds that outer layer: this is a molt. The growing stage between molts is called an instar. In our journal, “i7” means the seventh instar.

Jumpers make silk retreats where they can rest and molt. A quiet spider tucked away in silk may be busy growing. Observation is more useful than disturbing its retreat.

How long is a spider’s story?

Many jumping spiders live around one to two years, though lifespan varies with species, sex, and conditions. A purchased spider’s hatch date may be unknown; a month and an honest estimate tell a better story than a made-up birthday.

Journal idea: notice changes in size, markings, and behavior after each molt.

A bedroom, a nursery, a safety line.

A jumping spider may not build a prey-catching web, but silk is still an essential tool. It makes a sheltered retreat for resting and molting, protects eggs, and trails a line as it moves.