For Emily Hess, it was a Phidippus regius named Gretel. Hayden Shea's first was caught by her boyfriend's dad. Sunday Costell ordered her first one off eBay.

Those spiders were the gateway bugs into the booming community of jumping spider pet owners. And thanks to social media videos of their head-tilting, leg waggling antics, these web-slingers are in high demand.

"I went from selling three to four a week to thousands a week," said Costell, owner of Sundays Spiders outside Portland, Ore, who now has tens of thousands of "web puppies" in her shop.

These could-be pests have made the leap to hugely popular pets, particularly with women, sellers say, noting some women get interested as they try to overcome their fear of spiders, while others are simply enchanted by their unexpe

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