Human Gently Pets Their Jumping Spider

Little Centaurs created an adorable video where they pet their very calm Phidippus adumbratus jumping spider. The spider seems to not have a care in the world as Little Centaurs gently pets their head.

Personality among Phidippus jumpers can vary a lot from one individual to the next, but the Adumbratus (adumbrati?) I found in Oxnard seem to all have a very calm disposition. I’ve noticed that one of the differences between wild and domesticated animals is whether the animal has an instinctual bite response to handling. There are certainly Phidippus that I’ve owned that could have been incited to bite under various conditions, but for this spider, I am not sure it would be possible to elicit a bite response outside of when she’ll be guarding eggs. As this video illustrates, she does not seem to be bothered by much – even touching the dorsal side of the abdomen, which seems to be universally disliked by jumpers, just makes her lazily take a few steps in the other direction.