Phidippus adumbratus
California Red Jumping Spider: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A California native jumping spider with the same easy, interactive care as a Regal. It comes from dry chaparral and coastal sage scrub, so the setup leans harder toward airflow than toward humidity. A curious visual hunter that wants light and vertical climbing space more than floor room, and an escape-proof lid before anything else.
Group: Spiders & Other InvertsDifficulty: Spice 1: Kid FriendlySetup: Small arboreal jumper setupHandling: Handling discouraged. Fast, and easily lost once loose.
Use This Guide Safely
- Confirm the exact animal. Match this guide to the species, locality, size, and life stage on your label. If the ID is uncertain, use the more conservative part of the range and ask before changing the setup.
- Change one thing at a time. Treat temperature and humidity as target zones, then watch posture, burrowing, drinking, feeding, and molt behavior before making another adjustment.
- Respect the handling boundary. If the guide says no handling, fast, defensive, or medically significant, plan transfers with catch cups, locked lids, and no bare hands. For serious bites, stings, or symptoms, seek emergency medical care.
Quick Snapshot
| Temperature | 72-80°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Moderate (55-70%) with strong cross ventilation; dry substrate, wall droplets for drinking |
| Setup Type | Small arboreal jumper setup |
| Substrate | Minimal substrate plus climbing decor |
| Feeding | Tiny flies, roaches, or crickets sized to the spider |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 1: Kid Friendly |
| Handling | Handling discouraged. Fast, and easily lost once loose. |
Humidity zones: Very Low under 30% - Low 30-60% - Low-Moderate 40-70% - Moderate 60-80% - Moderate-High 70-85% - High 80%+ - Very High 90%+
Enclosure Format / Size Class
- Baby Buddy for spiderlings
- Bark-style micro setup for larger juveniles and adults
Warnings First
- Tiny spiderlings slip through small gaps, so a truly escape-proof lid comes first
- Over-misting is more dangerous than a slightly dry enclosure; hydrate with droplets, not a soaking
- Needs a good day and night light cycle to hunt and stay active
- Coloration in this species is variable, and juveniles rarely look like adults; judge the individual animal, not the species name
- Over-misting is dangerous mainly because most jumper enclosures are under-ventilated. Vent low on one wall and high on the opposite wall and the same misting becomes safe.
Simple Care
- Vertical space and anchor points matter more than floor area.
- Vents low on one wall and high on the opposite wall so air rises past the hammock and the enclosure dries between mistings.
- Mist a side wall lightly for droplets, never the spider directly.
- If you use a water dish rather than wall droplets, pack it with grit: a spiderling drowns in almost nothing.
- Feed size-appropriate prey and remove uneaten feeders.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Jumpers do best with good room lighting or indirect natural light; avoid overheating in direct sun.
- Provide upper anchor points where the spider can build a silk hammock, and do not tear the hammock down unless you must.
- The over-misting warning is really a ventilation warning. A tall jumper enclosure vented only in the lid stratifies: damp air rises and sits in the upper third, which is exactly where the hammock and the spider are. Put vents low on one wall and high on the opposite wall so air enters at substrate level, crosses the full height, and exits above the hammock. With that airflow, light wall misting dries back within a couple of hours and stops being a risk.
- Ventilation and ambient humidity are one setting, and on this species you push it toward air. It is a chaparral animal from a dry Mediterranean climate, so there is no humidity number to hold: keep the substrate dry, mist one wall for drinking droplets, and let it dry fully between times.
- Judge by whether the enclosure dries rather than by a gauge. Walls clear within a couple of hours of misting, substrate dry, no persistent condensation. Condensation in a jumper enclosure is the warning sign.
- If you keep a standing water source rather than relying on droplets, use a cap packed with grit so the waterline sits below the rim. Spiderlings drown in a few millimetres, which is why wall misting is the usual approach at small sizes.
- Mist the wall opposite the hammock rather than the hammock itself. The spider comes down to drink and its retreat stays dry, which is the right microclimate for an animal that sleeps in a silk sac up top.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Hydration is best delivered as tiny droplets on the walls or decor; avoid soaking the enclosure or trapping the spider in standing water.
- A compact, secure enclosure suits small jumpers because it makes feeding and molt checks easier.
- Molting: a jumper seals into a thick silk hammock and stops eating beforehand, so leave the hammock alone, pull any feeders, and wait a few days after it emerges, until the new exoskeleton hardens, before offering prey.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: California and northern Baja California, Mexico. Recorded from native chaparral and oak-sycamore-chaparral woodland at roughly 500 to 3,700 ft (150 to 1,130 m), and from coastal sage scrub near San Diego. The species was described from a specimen collected in Los Angeles.
- Habitat translation: A bright, ventilated, vertical microhabitat with perches, a hide, and droplet hydration covers what this jumper needs. It comes from a dry Mediterranean climate, so when you are unsure, give it more air rather than more water.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Phidippus care is genus-general, so this guide mirrors the Regal Jumping Spider setup; the differences are cosmetic and climatic, not husbandry.
- The scientific name is Phidippus adumbratus (Gertsch, 1934), placed in the insignarius group of the genus. Published common name is California Red Jumping Spider.
- Coloration is variable and species-level ID inside Phidippus is genuinely difficult from photographs, so treat wild-type appearance as variable and go by the photos of the individual animal.
- Wild females place their egg sacs under rocks, which is worth knowing if a gravid female arrives: give her a flat cover object to retreat under.
- Track feeding by abdomen size and activity, since overfeeding a female can shorten her healthy display life.
- Short-lived like all jumpers: adults live months, not years, so treat it as a season-long interactive display animal.