General Information

Handling can be a controversial topic, but is the decision of each individual keeper whether they want to or not. 

My personal thoughts on it are that I would never open an enclosure and force the spider to come out just so that I can handle it, or take photos.

I only ever handle spiders when rehousing or pairing, and even then I keep it brief as they don't usually like it, and will try to get off my hands.

If you have a spider that seems to be waiting to come out of the enclosure, consider if the living environment are as good as they can be. Spiders should be settled in their environment and shouldn't always be looking to escape their enclosure. Give thought to temperature, lighting, humidity and hiding places. If all is well, then maybe you just have a spider that likes to be handled, but this is not the 'norm'. 

If you do handle for whatever reason, make sure that your hands are clean, dry, and free from any chemicals; such as cleaning products, hand cream, and perfume as these could be fatal to the spider. Make sure that you handle over a surface so that a fall can't cause injury or death, and always put the spider back in the enclosure if it is trying to get away. 

Whatever your thoughts on this, handling will always be for our benefit, and not for the spiders'.

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Whether you choose a male or a female doesn't matter. They both make wonderful pets.

Often males are overlooked, which is a shame as they can be more docile and friendly than their female counterparts. 

Males will often live for a little less time than females. In some cases males will live for as long as females. It can be entirely variable.

Females may lay eggs, whether they've been mated or not. Eggs from unmated females will be infertile, but still put a strain on the female. This is unavoidable.

Mature males will make sperm webs and may roam in search of a female. This is also unavoidable.

Females usually are more colourful, and often grow larger than males, but males can be strikingly beautiful too.

Whichever you choose doesn't matter, and is just down to personal choice.

 

There has been a lot of confusion around this topic, and I'd like to straighten it out.

The word locale just means the region in which the spider originated. It doesn't describe a species.

Phidippus regius is the most common species in the hobby, and has several locales which I will now list:

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Phidippus regius Apalachicola - found in North America, Florida, Bahamas, Cuba & Jamaica.

Phidippus regius Florida - found in Southeastern America, the Greater Antilles & Bahamas.

Phidippus regius Everglades - found in the Everglades National Park in Florida.

Phidippus regius Soroa - Soroa region of Cuba.

Phidippus regius Blue Mountains - Also known as 'Rastafari'. Found in the Blue Mountains region in Jamaica.

Phidippus regius Sierra de Bahoruco - Found in the Dominican Republic. 

Phidippus regius Dos Gardenias - Cuba.

Phidippus regius Isla de la Juventud - Cuba.

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Some breeders cross breed spiders from different locales (eg Florida & Apalachicola). This produces 'hybrid' spiders. These could be mis-sold/mis-labelled, and cause loss of our separate locales. I personally don't cross locales, and don't produce hybrids. Other breeders may or may not share my opinion.

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