Hello. As the title suggests, my (regal) jumping spider escaped her enclosure.

I’m not necessarily new to arachnids, but I’ve only had Clementine since May this year. I don’t handle my arachnids as I know they don’t have the capabilities to enjoy being handled. However, I wish I had worked with her (and myself) more in the past month or so to be at least “comfortable” with handling so this event wouldn’t have happened.

I had her lid off so I could grab and drop a (mini) cricket in for her meal. I didn’t realize how long it was taking my attempt to capture, and when I looked over at her again, she was on the top, outside of her enclosure. I attempted to very slowly bring my hand up under her so she would reactively go back inside. Instead, the little girl sprung onto my dresser surface where I had her enclosure sitting. I cupped my hands around her so she couldn’t get away and the idea was she would crawl onto my hand and I would carefully lift her back into her enclosure. She did crawl into the palm of my hand but as I slowly lifted her, she got scared of the feeling/movement of my hand and darted to the back of my hand from where she fell onto my carpeted floor. I immediately tried to locate her and could not see her on the floor. My best guess is she went under my dresser and jumped up inside of it.

I’ve read about other people’s jumpers escaping and being found soonish after escape. I also know she’s a spider who acts on instinct. Regardless, I really feel like I screwed up and I won’t ever see her again.

I’ve placed some white clothes flat on the floor so if she explores that route, hopefully I’ll spot her. I also placed her open enclosure at floor level in case she notices and chooses to return to her hammocks. My brother is going to help me move my dresser from its current position inside my closet later so we can remove the drawers and possibly find her hidden inside.

My questions: Is there anything else I can do to try to find her/encourage her to return to her enclosure? Should I not disturb the dresser to avoid possible injuries/death while looking for her?

Thank you in advance.

Escaped spood :(