Jumping spiders are found all over the United States, and are an extremely common form of spider to be found in and around your home. Although they can look frightening, generally speaking jumping spiders aren’t dangerous to humans and they are good at eating other pests like mosquitoes, ants, and other insects. Maybe you’ve grown fond of your new jumping spider friend, or maybe you just want them gone. But in this article, we’ll be breaking down how long do jumping spiders live, and talking more about their general lifespan.
How Long Do Jumping Spiders Live?
Jumping spiders can live anywhere from 3 months to 3 years. Male jumping spiders tend to live under a year, while females can live slightly longer. Along with this, the lifespan of jumping spiders can also depend on where in the country they live, whether they’re in captivity vs in the wild, and many other factors.
The longest recorded age of a jumping spider was a female jumping spider that was in captivity. I would argue that the average age of a jumping spider is around 6 months – a year, but it can depend on a variety of factors.
Lifecycle of Jumping Spiders
Similar to other types of spiders, the jumping spider has three main life stages that it must go through. We’ll break down each life stage of the jumping spider below.
1. Egg
The first life stage that a jumping spider goes through is of course the egg stage. Once male and female jumping spiders have mated, the female spider begins to find a safe place to lay its eggs. Eggs are then laid in an egg sac which helps to house all the eggs, keep them all in one place, as well as keep them hidden and safe from predators. Female jumping spiders can lay thousands of eggs at one time, so it’s important to have an egg sac to keep them all together.
Generally, a female will lay the eggs in late Winter or early Spring so that the eggs can hatch after a few weeks during the warmer weather of Spring.
2. Spiderlings
After the spiders begin to hatch from their eggs, they are in their next stage known as spiderlings! Spiderlings are baby spiders fresh from the egg sac, and are often smaller than a tic tac in size. Some of these spiderlings will be able to walk out of the egg sac themselves, and others will have to balloon their way out of the egg sac. Ballooning is when they use their silk webbing to create a balloon or windsail-like feature that will carry them away in the wind to their new home.
During this period, spiderlings are constantly molting, and they will molt 5-10 times during the spiderling phase until they grow into their mature exoskeletons and become adult spiders.
3. Adult Spider
After the spiderlings have molted multiple times and their exoskeleton has fully grown in, they are considered adult jumping spiders.
During this period, jumping spiders are ready to begin reproducing, so they will immediately begin to look for a mate as well as a safe place to lay their eggs. Female jumping spiders tend to live longer, but male jumping spiders tend to die pretty soon after the mating process. Although female jumping spiders aren’t super involved with raising their young, their longer lifespans do give them the ability to help raise their spiderlings.
What Might Shorten A Jumping Spiders Lifespan?
As I mentioned above, jumping spiders can live between 3 months and 3 years, but the average is probably closer to the 1-year mark. There are a variety of factors that can affect this lifespan, including the following:
- Captivity vs Wild: Jumping spiders that are kept as pets or in captivity like a zoo tend to live much longer than jumping spiders that are in the wild. This is because when they are in captivity they don’t have to worry about food or water, they’re generally kept in ideal climates, and they don’t have to worry about predators.
- Predators: Although jumping spiders are excellent at killing pests, jumping spiders also have predators themselves. Some predators of jumping spiders include wasps and hornets, bigger spiders, lizards and geckos, and even occasionally birds. If a jumping spider is living in an area that has a high population of potential predators, it’s much more likely that it’ll die before living out its entire lifespan.
- Disease: Jumping spiders can also contract diseases which can lower their lifespan. There have been reports of spider mites transferring diseases to jumping spiders which makes them sick and reduces their lifespan. There have also been cases of spiders being infested with worms which can either kill them or greatly reduce their lifespan.
If you’re seeing jumping spiders in your home and you want them gone, then you should check out our guide on bug bombs for spiders!
Final Thoughts On The Lifespan of Jumping Spiders
As mentioned above, the oldest living jumping spider lived to be three years old in captivity. Generally, jumping spiders in the wild will only live between six months and a year, but it can really depend on a variety of factors such as temperature, climate, predators, and sex of the jumping spider.
I hope this article on how long do jumping spiders live was helpful and it gives you a bit more insight into these interesting species of spiders!
Resources:
https://entomology.wsu.edu/outreach/bug-info/jumping-spider/
