Hi, it looks like Lyssomanes viridis, a Magnolia Green Jumping Spider. They aren’t commonly found in February in New Jersey. It isn’t dangerous to people. Jumping Spiders chase and jump on prey instead of using webs. Some will chase the dot from a laser pointer or a cursor on a screen, if you want to play with the spider. Just avoid pressing skin against it, that pains them and leads to warning bites. They can be held, just not with a closed hand.
I’ve been keeping one of these for a few weeks now any ideas on what I might feed it? So far it’s mostly been eating termites, the flies around here are too big for it right now it rarely eats the little ants that I give it I also tried a little caterpillar I found but it’s been 3 days and it hasn’t eaten it yet
It might be male, they don’t eat much. Many animals won’t eat ants. That’s a theory on why ant-mimic spiders evolved (they look unappetizing). THEY do eat the ants the hide amongst. I’ve been working on my yard, I have lots of little grubs, maybe your sider would like a little grub. Maybe a small earthworm. A few drops of water near it would give it something to drink. My Cellar Spiders learned to drop down when they see me to drink from water I splash on house plant leaves. Grubs and pillbugs are the only common insects I’ve seen… Read more »
Okay thanks, I haven’t had any luck finding small enough grubs or worms but I’m going to be doing a lot of digging in the garden so I’ll let you know if that works. Growing up I almost always had a captive spider because my mother didn’t want them loose in the house and would tell us we had to squash it or catch it if she saw any.
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Found this spider next to a window in my living room.
Hi, it looks like Lyssomanes viridis, a Magnolia Green Jumping Spider. They aren’t commonly found in February in New Jersey. It isn’t dangerous to people. Jumping Spiders chase and jump on prey instead of using webs. Some will chase the dot from a laser pointer or a cursor on a screen, if you want to play with the spider. Just avoid pressing skin against it, that pains them and leads to warning bites. They can be held, just not with a closed hand.
I’ve been keeping one of these for a few weeks now any ideas on what I might feed it? So far it’s mostly been eating termites, the flies around here are too big for it right now it rarely eats the little ants that I give it I also tried a little caterpillar I found but it’s been 3 days and it hasn’t eaten it yet
It might be male, they don’t eat much. Many animals won’t eat ants. That’s a theory on why ant-mimic spiders evolved (they look unappetizing). THEY do eat the ants the hide amongst. I’ve been working on my yard, I have lots of little grubs, maybe your sider would like a little grub. Maybe a small earthworm. A few drops of water near it would give it something to drink. My Cellar Spiders learned to drop down when they see me to drink from water I splash on house plant leaves. Grubs and pillbugs are the only common insects I’ve seen… Read more »
Okay thanks, I haven’t had any luck finding small enough grubs or worms but I’m going to be doing a lot of digging in the garden so I’ll let you know if that works. Growing up I almost always had a captive spider because my mother didn’t want them loose in the house and would tell us we had to squash it or catch it if she saw any.