Baby Jumping Spider Care Guide 🕷️ | How to Care for Slings
Baby jumping spiders, often called slings, are tiny, delicate, and incredibly enchanting little versions of their adult counterparts 🕷️✨ Despite their size, they are active hunters with curious personalities, already showing the intelligence and charm that make jumping spiders so beloved.
Caring for baby jumping spiders (slings) is slightly different from caring for adults. They require smaller prey, more frequent feeding, and careful attention to hydration and their enclosure setup 💧
If you’d like to learn about baby jumping spider care, understanding their early needs is key.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know to help your baby jumping spiders grow into healthy, thriving juveniles 🌙
If you’re looking for how to care for juvenile or adult jumping spiders instead, you can read our complete jumping spider care guide 🕷️✨
🕷️ What Is a Baby Jumping Spider (Sling)?
A sling (spidering) is a newly hatched or very young spider 🕸️ At this stage, jumping spider slings are extremely small, often just a few millimeters in size, more fragile than adults, still developing their hunting skills, and growing rapidly through frequent molts. They may be small, but there’s so much happening during this early stage of their lives ✨
Because they are so tiny, their care needs are more precise, but don’t worry, once you understand the basics, they are very rewarding to raise 💜
🏡 Enclosure Setup for Baby Jumping Spiders
Slings need a safe, secure enclosure that prevents escape while maintaining proper airflow and humidity 🌿
An ideal enclosure features:
- Ventilation holes - small enough to prevent escapes
- Cross ventilation - air holes on the sides
- Secure lid - no gaps, they are escape artists! 🕷️✨
- Simple decor - avoid overcrowding as it'll make it more difficult for you to get the slings out when it's time to separate them
- Foliage - for anchor points 🌿
We use 32 oz deli cups and carefully poke many tiny ventilation holes throughout the cup using a leather tool to ensure plenty of cross ventilation. It's best to avoid large enclosures because baby jumping spiders can struggle to find food in bigger spaces.
For anchor points, we used to use excelsior in the past, but we’ve since switched to artificial plants, as excelsior can mold easily in higher humidity.
Craft pipe cleaners are also commonly used, however, I don’t recommend them, as they tend to rust fairly quickly in humid environments.
🕸️ Should You Keep Baby Jumping Spiders Together?
In the early stages, baby jumping spiders (slings) often do best when kept together in a communal enclosure. Smaller slings may occasionally scavenge leftover prey from their larger, stronger siblings.
In my experience, they tend to thrive when kept together until around i4, as long as they are well-fed and closely monitored. After that, it’s best to separate them into individual enclosures, as jumping spiders are not social animals and may begin preying on each other as they grow.
It’s important to keep a close eye on them and separate sooner if you notice uneven growth or any signs of aggression, even in earlier instars. 💜
🪰 What Do Baby Jumping Spiders Eat?
Baby jumping spiders will start eating after they leave the nest on their own. They typically begin eating a few weeks after hatching, once they’ve molted for the first time.
They need very small, live prey that matches their size 🕷️
Fruit flies are the most popular and safest option, even if they’re not always the easiest to work with. They tend to jump everywhere, and many keepers use tricks like placing them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to slow them down, or use specialized (often handmade) containers to manage them.
They can be a bit of a headache for us keepers, but they are perfectly sized for slings, and their movement helps stimulate their natural hunting behavior. They absolutely love the flies! ✨
For a more detailed breakdown of feeding amounts and schedules for juveniles and up, see our complete jumping spider feeding guide.
🌿 Feeder Progression by Instar (General Guide)
As slings grow, their prey size should increase gradually. This is a general guideline for regal jumping spiders and species of similar size:
- D. melanogaster — Ideal for very small slings (i2–i3). These are small and slow fruit flies that are easy for young slings to catch
- D. hydei — Suitable starting around i3+, a larger fruit fly that provides more nutrition as slings grow
- Mini mealworms — Can be introduced around i5. Mealworms are slower-moving prey that works best once slings are housed individually
- Pinhead crickets — Sometimes used around i5+, very active prey that should be monitored closely
- Small roach nymphs — Suitable starting around i5+, active prey also better suited for when they're housed individually. They should not be left unattended as some species may hide or burrow
🪲 Additional Feeder Options
- Springtails — Useful for very tiny slings or smaller species, best used for slings that are too small for fruit flies
- Confused flour beetles — Used by some breeders with success, can be offered as small larvae or beetles, though they are less active than flies and may not always trigger a strong feeding response
⏱️ Feeding Schedule for Slings
Once you’ve chosen the right feeders, understanding how often to feed is just as important. Baby jumping spiders eat more frequently than adults because they are growing quickly 🌙 We recommend keeping feeders always available in their enclosure until they reach around i4, ensuring they have consistent access to food.
In general, slings should be offered food every 1–3 days during this stage. Once they reach around i5, feeding can typically be reduced to every 3–4 days (if they are no longer kept communally).
Baby jumping spiders require consistent access to food, hydration, and proper humidity. Young slings shouldn’t be left unattended for more than a couple of days due to their sensitive care needs.
💧 Hydration and Humidity
Slings are more sensitive to dehydration than adult jumping spiders ✨
How to provide water:
- Lightly mist one side of the enclosure
- Create tiny droplets (not large beads of water as they can drown)
- Mist every 1–2 days
- Depending on your humidity levels, you may need to mist more often
Never use water dishes.
How to provide humidity:
For environments of around 50% humidity or higher, misting the enclosure is generally enough to provide your jumping spider with proper humidity levels. In lower humidity environments, additional moisture support may be necessary:
- A small piece of moist organic cotton can be added to the enclosure, but it must be replaced daily or every other day to prevent mold and bacteria buildup
- Sphagnum moss can also be used to help maintain humidity, however, I recommend avoiding loose moss on its own for small slings, as they can hide inside it and may be accidentally discarded. A trick for this is to place damp sphagnum moss inside a breathable, organic material (such as a tied stocking, preferably white or light colored) and position it at the bottom of the enclosure. Keep it moist, not dripping, and ensure it does not release water when squeezed.
This can help maintain humidity for longer periods in drier environments, or during short absences ✨
🌱 Growth, Development, and Molting
Baby jumping spiders grow quickly when properly cared for ✨
As they grow:
- They will molt frequently
- Their colors and patterns become more defined 🎨
- Their hunting skills improve dramatically
Each molt brings them closer to becoming a confident little hunter 🕸️✨
Because slings molt so often, maintaining proper moisture levels is important to support successful molts and keep your tiny spoods comfortable. A slightly higher humidity (around 80%) can help prevent issues during this process 🕸️💧
If you’d like to learn more about the molting process and how to support your spider through each stage, you can read our complete jumping spider molting guide.
⚡ Common Mistakes to Avoid
Even experienced keepers can run into issues with slings. Here are the most important things to avoid:
- Feeding prey that is too large
- Not maintaining proper temperature and humidity levels
- Using enclosures with poor ventilation
- Water droplets that are too large
- Handling too early (they are very fragile at this stage and handling is not recommended)
Slings are resilient, but small mistakes can have a bigger impact at this stage.
💜 Final Thoughts
Caring for a baby jumping spider may seem delicate at first, but it quickly becomes a rewarding experience 🕷️✨
With proper feeding, gentle hydration, and a safe enclosure, your tiny slings will grow into curious, bold, and fascinating little jumpers 🌙
Watching them develop from a tiny speck into skilled little hunters is truly magical and one of the most special parts of keeping jumping spiders 💜🕸️
