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Success, and further steps!

Winnie has eaten!! I am very proud of this and see it as a great step forward.

Following the advice I got from the Friendly Jumping Spider group on Facebook, I used a paintbrush to gently herd Winnie into a 300ml plastic container that I usually use to ferry yoghurt around in. It does not have any airholes in it, so I was quite anxious about leaving her in it for too long. Jumping spiders not only need ventilation, but they need cross ventilation, meaning airholes at the sides of the container, rather than in the top. But once I had ushered her into the container, I dropped 5 fruitflies in with her. I didn't dare to leave her alone in case I got distracted and forgot about her (one of the many symptoms of being a mother of a small child!) so I sat with her and watched.
She was definitely interested in the fruitflies - following their movements with a keen eye. - but I think I put too many flies in with her, as she kept switching her focus from one to the next to the next, without actually ever taking the plunge. Eventually I had the idea to guide the flies towards her fangs with the aintbrush, and success! She was on one in the blink of an eye, holding it in her fangs. I never realised that they could manipulate their food with their pedipalps, but it seems that they can, as she kept moving it around to get a better grip.
Through this I also learned that Winnie's chelicerae are a gorgeous purple colour! My little spood is not only the cutest little spood, but she is glamorous too!
She held onto her lunch for about 45 minutes before dropping it as a shrivelled up dry husk, about two millimeters long. Once she had dropped it, I shimmied another fruit fly towards her, and then another, until she had eaten a total of five fruitflies. I was a little anxious about over feeding her too much in one sitting, so I left it at that and will feed her again in a couple of days.

Following the high of this success, I keep finding myself drawn to the Spider Shop website. They have a great starter set of three tarantula siderlings - a Mexican red knee, a Mexican rose grey, and a Chaco golden knee - for the reasonable price of £27. For this, you get all three spiders, three boxes to keep them in, three bark hides, three water bowls, and the substrate. I can definitely see me getting more spiders before the year is out.
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